Deep down in places...

So the dominoes are continuing to fall, and more and more my theory of what the real feelings of the Obama administration towards torture are. There were rumblings, mostly from the right, that Congress and some leading Democrats at least new torture was going on and did nothing to stop it. The Speaker of the House is not the latest to start back peddling.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/pelosi.waterboarding/index.html

The standard defense for Democrats accused of knowing supporting torture is to blame the Bush administration. That defense s going to run out of steam soon. All this may explain why Obama has been cautious when it comes to investigating and prosecuting Bush administration officials for this alleged torture. Obama knows that when it is all said and done, prominent Democrats will fall along with those same Bush administration officials.

I however tend to believe a different scenario. One that is simple and more personal and one that I have claimed existed before. They don't care that these people may or may not have been tortured. Think back to the mindset of the US in late 2001 and 2002. Would there have been any sympathy then if a few terrorists, men who were captured on the battlefield trying to kill American service members, were tortured? I think the percentage of outrage would have been low.

The great line in the movie "A Few Good Men" goes Deep down in place you don't talk about at parties is that you want me on that wall, you NEED me on that wall. I think that holds true here more then ever. Deep down in places that aren't PC, people want to see our enemies tortured.

And a word about some of the examples of "torture" which have been suggested to have been used on detainees. Sleep deprivation, uncomfortable positions. We have a name for this in America, it's called Army Basic Training and Marine Boot Camp. There were many a time I only had a few hours of sleep and was made to march or run or shoot the next day. And let me tell you about the Front Lean and Rest. Better know to you civilian types as the push-up position. The Army loves mass punishment, especially in basic training. So when one guy misplaced his gas mask, we stayed in that position until the drill sergeants checked every man's locker. Between two platoons of guys that was over 60 guys. Needless to say we were in that position for a while. And this is all after basic training had been softened to the point that the drill sergeants couldn't even lay a hand on us. Imagine what guys in the 40's 50's and 60's went through? I wonder how people would feel if they retroactively sued the US Government for abuse? I'm sure some people would say, well you were drafted or you joined so... Why can't the same reasoning be applied to the enemy? Well you attacked American forces so....