Two destroyed tapes - overreact much?

This is a continuation of my earlier post here. In the United States in an election year, how can we expect anything less than partisan hyperventilation over every miniscule issue?

Christopher Hitchens is an author with whom I alternately agree and disagree on many issues. He was born in the UK, and became a US citizen earlier this year. And what better way to celebrate this than to engage in the age-old American tradition of political hyperbole with this article in Slate?:

It's time to abolish the CIA

Destroying the interrogation tapes amounts to mutiny and treason...The system is worse than useless—it's a positive menace. We need to shut the whole thing down and start again.

I agree with him on a few points here, for example that we cannot entirely trust the CIA estimation that Iran is not pursuing any nuclear weapons. But abolish the CIA over two tapes that the agency had no duty to make in the first place, much less preserve? And "mutiny"? "Treason"? C'mon.

And even if you did abolish the CIA, the organization that replaced it would be made up of largely the same people, doing the same things, and eventually people would call for it to be abolished too. Meanwhile you rack up millions upon millions of dollars in costs during the transition (I'm not joking here either - even simply replacing the CIA logo from buildings, ID cards and letterheads could cost millions by itself).

In another example of supreme melodrama:

Torture Tapes are the Watergate of Our Times

As I write these words on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 19, high- and low-level officials of the Bush administration involved in torture, and the destruction of the torture tapes, are consulting their criminal lawyers as The New York Times reports that highest-level lawyers in the administration had discussed the destruction of the tapes.

"Had discussed". That's all? And even if it happened, is that a crime? Moreover, the NYT article claims that some, not all, of the attorneys suggested destroying the tapes. In fact, White House counsel Harriet Miers advised against it. Since there is nothing illegal here, are these discussions truly worthy of another "Watergate"?

While the political pundits are obsessing over this, and the media at large are obsessed with the pregnancy of Britney Spear's younger sister, real issues are being ignored...

I wonder if we'll hear the worldwide community condemn this?:

Iraq 'torture complex' discovered

Intelligence provided by local Iraqis led the troops to the torture centre
US and Iraqi forces have discovered a "torture complex" in an al-Qaeda safe haven near Muqdadiya in central Diyala province, the US military has said.
Three buildings containing chains on the walls and ceilings, and a metal bed connected to a power supply were found during an operation on 9 December.

Mass graves containing 26 bodies were uncovered...

Maj Gen Mark Hertling, said he believed the torture facility had been run by al-Qaeda in Iraq as it was located in one of their strongholds.

Does anyone really think we shouldn't be fighting psychopaths like this?

Incidentally, Major General Mark Hertling is the commander of the 1st Armored Division, my Division commander (I stayed behind with the rear elements of the Division back in Germany, because I just came back from deployment earlier this year).





Interested in reading more? Click on any label below to read related articles, bookmark this site, or subscribe to my  RSS Feed