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From TOR RAVEN
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From MALCOLM BLAIR-ROBINSON
These two mega thrillers are a must for those who love historical drama and political intrigue.
What the world suspected is now confirmed. Torture was used on post 9/11 suspects to gain information of little true value from people who may have given disinformation because they were either too clever or innocent with no information to give. Whatever the outcome torture is an absolute NO for a civilised democracy to use in whatever circumstances. It is truly shocking to learn that elements of the CIA could see nothing wrong is using methods pioneered by the Gestapo and Stalin’s NKVD and then lying to the American people about what they were doing. Britain is not in the clear either. It allowed refuelling stopovers for rendition planes and may have had MI6 agents listening in on the torture sessions.
There are plenty of Americans who will say that in defending the lives of Americans in their homeland, nothing is off limits, but the right wing Republican senator for Arizona, John McCain, made a brave speech yesterday criticising torture as an interrogation method not only because it is cruel but also because it yields sub-standard intelligence. His words have power, because he himself was tortured by the North Vietnamese and he is a hawk who speaks from the Right. President Obama stopped the practice when he came to office and believes that by owning up and taking the criticism, America can atone for this blot upon its national character.
Atonement is one thing, but recovering a shattered reputation is quite another. America has lost much of its moral authority through the calamitous foreign policies of the Bush era. The continuing detention of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay shocks the whole world and inspires only North Korea. The torture blow will prove fatal to any pretentions that its moral authority is intact or can be repaired. Moral authority once lost is gone. It relies on purity and when the purity is sullied, it is over.
This is the end of America as world leader. It does not mean that America will stop playing a role nor that it will stop being a force for good. But it does mean that the era when it bestrode the globe as the mega power in which everybody believed and had faith is past. From now on it will be an important voice, but there will be others to whom the world will listen and which ever more will prefer. In the end it may mean that the world will be a better place as may America. It will do the rest of the world good to have to take responsibility for its problems and it will do America good to look inside itself. There is a lot which needs fixing, but there is more that continues to inspire as the outstanding example for good in the extraordinary achievements of world’s greatest democracy. Those achievements will keep on coming. Make no mistake about that.