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| Fear, waterboarding, and "good" liberals |
| 2007-12-14 |
| Jonah Goldberg . . . Earlier this week, we learned that congressional leadership, Republicans and Democrats alike, had been informed in 2002 that the CIA had harshly interrogated high-value al-Qaeda operatives, using, among other methods, waterboarding. One of the Democrats in the room: Nancy Pelosi, the current speaker of the House. This is, shall we say, intriguing, since Pelosi and her party have been until recently reaching new heights of sanctimony on the issue of torture and waterboarding. There “was no objecting, no hand-wringing,” an official who was there told the Washington Post. “The attitude was, ‘We don’t care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.’” Not only did Pelosi not offer a peep of protest, the Washington Post reports that at least two lawmakers (out of only a few present) pressed the administration about whether the methods were “tough enough” to get the job done. Either Pelosi asked the question herself, or she sat quietly while one of her colleagues inquired whether the screws were being turned tightly enough. Either way, her defenders say we need to look at the context. This was just after 9/11, and Pelosi was as angry about the attack and as eager to prevent another one as anyone. Time magazine’s liberal columnist Joe Klein writes: “There was fear that we would be attacked again by terrorists, and on a regular basis. Few were thinking clearly about the nature of the threat and how to deal with it.” So, what’s the big deal? Well, it’s a big deal for a lot of reasons. But the one that left-wingers should take to heart is that you can’t rely on your leaders and champions when the buildings collapse, the bombs explode or the planes fall from the sky. If it’s O.K. for liberal Democrats to condone what they consider to be torture when they’re scared and angry, then the lesson is that the only way you can count on Democrats not to be scared and angry is to prevent future 9/11s. . . . . . . we’re not talking about me and my right-wing pals. We’re talking about good, decent liberals. And if you’re the sort of person who thinks George W. Bush and his evil henchmen have stolen our civil liberties and our souls, you need to at least consider the likelihood that in the wake of another 9/11 a President Hillary Clinton or President Barack Obama wouldn’t do things very differently. Or, if that’s too gloomy for you, comfort yourself in the fact they’d be powerless to do things very differently. In the wake of another 9/11, the voters and Congress would roll right over them. The point is that terrorism has consequences beyond life and property. It requires a tightening of liberty no one desires. The prevention of terrorism prevents the need, real or perceived, for further tightening. The Pelosi cop-out is that if you’re scared and angry, you get a free pass to do things you find morally objectionable. Well, terrorism makes people scared and angry; that’s sort of why they call it “terrorism.” The Left loves to snicker at Bush’s assertion that the war on terror is a war for the freedom of Iraqis and Muslims abroad. However dubious that proposition may be to the Left, it seems that by their own standards we need to win the war on terror if we are going to better secure freedom at home. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #5 I want her under oath and questioned about who she may have leaked this to. We know full-well "when she knew it"... I care only about who did she or her staff leak to. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-12-14 15:14 |
| #4 #3 - Palamino! from the SNL skit |
| Posted by: Rambler 2007-12-14 13:57 |
| #3 I'll bet some of Nancy's constituents enjoy doing some shit to each other that makes waterboarding look like recess at kindergarten. See what she thinks about outlawing that... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-12-14 11:01 |
| #2 It occurs to me that waterboarding is closer to Baptism than it is to torture. Of course most liberals are equally afraid of Baptism and torture. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-12-14 10:56 |
| #1 Well in 2002 both parties were afraid of another 9/11. Nowadays they've afraid of other things. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2007-12-14 09:48 |