Comments on: This is not the country I was taught to love. https://habitablezone.com/2014/12/09/this-is-not-the-country-i-was-taught-to-love/ Sat, 11 Apr 2026 02:11:35 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2014/12/09/this-is-not-the-country-i-was-taught-to-love/#comment-32111 hank Wed, 10 Dec 2014 23:40:21 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=48322#comment-32111 Of course, none of these revelations is new, they've been around for years. The only thing that's new is that they are all written down in one place, with some authority and accountability by official agencies. Now it can't be dismissed, or brushed aside, or swept under the rug. This time, someone's signed the indictment and filed a warrant. Sooner or later it will all come out; remember the U-2? They are now open to inspection by historians and journalists, and true or false, there will be accountability and debate and maybe, eventually, resolution. There will be follow-up, and just when they thought they were out of the woods, too. Whether or not you agree with the official record, at least now there IS an official record and its being rubbed in our faces and shoved down our throats. And those who challenge it will also become part of that record. "There was no torture". "There was torture, but it was legal." "We got all sorts of actionable intelligence, but we can't tell you exactly what it was, its classified", "Besides, they are nasty people, we had no choice, and anyway, they had it coming." Successive, concentric, nested levels of deniability and justification; previously prepared and fortified multiple fallback positions of denial, just like global warming, eh? This is our Warren Commission Report, our Project Blue Book. Now come the conspiracy theories. The usual suspects are already popping up on cable news, pointing fingers and making excuses, and they are scared shitless and sweating bullets. Its only a matter of time before their apologists and defenders start showing up here, spouting the party line. And why? Not because they necessarily like to torture people; but because <em>anything </em>even slightly critical of their ideology and stewardship might possibly discredit their policy and that might mean their taxes will go up or their precious profits threatened. That is, after all, the only thing they really care about. Yellowcake, aluminum tubes, WMDs...its <em>deja fucking vu </em>all over again. You'll have to excuse me if I don't participate. I do believe I've had enough. Of course, none of these revelations is new, they’ve been around for years. The only thing that’s new is that they are all written down in one place, with some authority and accountability by official agencies. Now it can’t be dismissed, or brushed aside, or swept under the rug. This time, someone’s signed the indictment and filed a warrant. Sooner or later it will all come out; remember the U-2?

They are now open to inspection by historians and journalists, and true or false, there will be accountability and debate and maybe, eventually, resolution. There will be follow-up, and just when they thought they were out of the woods, too. Whether or not you agree with the official record, at least now there IS an official record and its being rubbed in our faces and shoved down our throats. And those who challenge it will also become part of that record. “There was no torture”. “There was torture, but it was legal.” “We got all sorts of actionable intelligence, but we can’t tell you exactly what it was, its classified”, “Besides, they are nasty people, we had no choice, and anyway, they had it coming.” Successive, concentric, nested levels of deniability and justification; previously prepared and fortified multiple fallback positions of denial, just like global warming, eh?

This is our Warren Commission Report, our Project Blue Book. Now come the conspiracy theories. The usual suspects are already popping up on cable news, pointing fingers and making excuses, and they are scared shitless and sweating bullets. Its only a matter of time before their apologists and defenders start showing up here, spouting the party line. And why? Not because they necessarily like to torture people; but because anything even slightly critical of their ideology and stewardship might possibly discredit their policy and that might mean their taxes will go up or their precious profits threatened. That is, after all, the only thing they really care about.

Yellowcake, aluminum tubes, WMDs…its deja fucking vu all over again. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t participate. I do believe I’ve had enough.

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