Mukasey: What to do?

Having sat on the sidelines for a few weeks I feel impelled to re-enter the fray with a few words about Mukasey, Bush’s nominee for Attorney General. First up, here’s the New York Times article from today:Nominee’s Stand May Avoid Tangle of Torture Cases

Now here’s the problem: the Time’s article is giving credence to the notion that Mukasey’s stand on torture, and waterboarding in particular, is somehow a clever or astute tactic because it helps the Administration avoid potential legal cases against officials who may have engaged in such activities. The Times focuses on the nuances of the legal system and the niceties of courtroom argument rather than on the abhorrence of torture.

The plain fact is that waterboarding is torture. It is unequivocally so. No one outside of America would even consider it otherwise. Torture is illegal. Thus anyone engaging or authorizing waterboarding as an interrogation technique is committing a crime. America has prosecuted people for exactly this many times in the past.

So why are we even discussing this whole topic?

Because America has fallen so deeply into the moral cesspool of its erstwhile enemies that we completely fail to see reality any longer. We are tying ourselves up in legalistic knots when we should be rounding up and incarcerating the criminals. America has lost its moral compass so totally that it tolerates this debate. It indulges in earnest discussions over the finer points of torture rather than saying clearly that all torture is wrong. Any torture. For any reason. Period.

Why are we in this mess?

Because of the moral terpitude of Bush and his cronies. They are so weak that their only policy is to whip up fear. They are so pathetic that their only approach is to adopt the tactics of our enemies. Instead of standing tall for the time honored moral principles that stood America apart from its enemies, they caved instantly and became a craven imitator.

The shame is that America allowed this to happen. The result of the cowardice of Bush and his regime is that we find ourselves debating torture rather than condemning it, and we find ourselves debating the merits of a potential Attorney General who seems to be determined to avoid calling torture criminal. So far removed are we from the moral certitude of the “American Way” that we are reduced to this: crawling in the moral gutter with all the enemies we have castigated in the past for their vices.

So much of the American myth has been shattered by this awful and evil regime I am left to wonder what America stands for after all.

I certainly hope torture is not part of it.