In the North Carolina woods
Submitted by James Protzman on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 2:15pm
Of all the assaults on decency perpetrated by Republicans in the name of country, none compares to their blithe use of torture to extract information from god-forsaken prisoners. In a chilling article in the August edition of Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens writes about his decision to choose to experience waterboarding in an undisclosed location in western North Carolina. Toward the end of the article, he says:
I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.
If there is a god, she will most certainly damn George W. Bush to hell.
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and I will second that.
n/t
Progressive Democrats of North Carolina
Hitchens
Hitchens's view on the Iraq War (he lent it his full-throated support) is maddening, but in the balance of things I think he's one of the good guys.
I admire him for having the fortitude to undertake this. The neo-con chicken hawks with whom he has forged alliances of convenience simply don't have the balls to do the same. Douglas Feith? Paul Wolfowitz? Please.
While I furiously disagree with Hitchens about some things, I would commend his writing to everyone. His views aside, he is a master of the craft. He demands a lot of his readership in vocabulary and cultural literacy, but to the extent you rise to his challenge, you are rewarded ten times over.
He is a polemicist, yes, but he shows us how polemics should be done, and his work could not be a starker contrast to the slack-jawed, know-nothing irrationalist idiocy that permeates the traditional media.
--
recently transplanted from Indianapolis, IN to Durham, NC
I wouldn't recommend drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. -- Hunter S. Thompson
Maddening
The perfect word. I tend to steer clear of him, but when this article on torture presented itself, it was hard to ignore.