"the torturer has become — like the pirate and the slave holder before him — hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind."
From an essay cited in a Kos post today citing Seymour Hersh's account of child rape at Abu Ghraib.
Somehow, the Latin gives it more weight.
Hostis Humani Generis
Commenter over at Sullivan's blog says this:
President Obama is making a realistic, cold, clear-eyed cost-benefit analysis. This is the choice: Does he fix the economy, fix healthcare, get a handle on the two wars he’s dealing with, or does he prosecute Bush era war crimes? He has chosen his agenda and is asking us to choose that to.
But Greenwald notes that the Second Circuit judge who wrote the opinion ordering release of the photos also rejected the "national security" argument that the Administration plans to use. I'm sticking with my kabuki theory, or what Sullivan calls the rope-a-dope Obama play, or his "long-game" until I see evidence otherwise. That could come, of course, but even Boener got caught calling for a truth commission today. Hard times.
Besides, if there were a Truth Commission, I don't see the either/or choice that convincing. This country has been through such sideshows before, namely Congressional hearings that have happened in my lifetime. We can walk and chew gum at the same time and I don't see the Far Right having all that much clout anymore to raise any kind of significant stink.
It's a risk though. Like poker, maybe. Kabuki isn't our game.
One more thing, I'm reminded of the story about FDR telling a contingent of good guys pleading their case that they had to make him do it by raising such a public stink that he would be forced to act. There's that, too.
There's a rising cloud of stink here. I will have to start blogging outdoors.
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