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The US owns up to torture, finally. But who else does? The US owns up to torture, finally. But who else does?
(35 minutes later)
The amiable Matthew Barzun, top Obama fundraiser turned US ambassador to London, sidestepped questions about CIA torture at Westminsteron Tuesday, though he was happy to defend US tech giants against well founded allegations of tax avoidance. They play cleverly by the rules, he said. We now know the CIA did not. The amiable Matthew Barzun, top Obama fundraiser turned US ambassador to London, sidestepped questions about CIA torture at Westminster on Tuesday, though he was happy to defend US tech giants against well-founded allegations of tax avoidance. They play cleverly by the rules, he said. We now know the CIA did not.
As newspapers of all persuasions have rushed to declare the (heavily edited) findings by the Senate intelligence committee a day of shame for the US, and by extension for its allies, including Britain, the varying degrees of complicity is as yet unclear. As newspapers of all persuasions have rushed to declare the (heavily edited) findings by the Senate intelligence committee a day of shame for the US, and by extension for its allies, including Britain, the varying degrees of complicity are as yet unclear.
But it is also a day of redemption for the American system of imperfectly accountable government and that country’s many enemies should remember that as they hurl bricks and demand the prosecution of offenders. Few countries do as well – certainly not Britain – in investigating its own failings, certainly no globally dominant superpower at a time when its brief historic hegemony – no more than a century – is under such challenge. But it is also a day of redemption for the American system of imperfectly accountable government and that country’s many enemies should remember that as they hurl bricks and demand the prosecution of offenders. Few countries do as well – certainly not Britain – in investigating their own failings, certainly no globally dominant superpower at a time when its brief historic hegemony – no more than a century – is under such challenge.
The ever-quotable Winston Churchill, himself the son of an American adventuress, Jennie Jerome of New York, once said that the US always does the right thing in the end – “but only when it has tried everything else”. It did right by embattled Britain (more or less) after entering the second world war, less late than the first, in 1941. “So, we have won after all,” Churchill confided to his secretary on hearing of the Japanese attack on the Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor.The ever-quotable Winston Churchill, himself the son of an American adventuress, Jennie Jerome of New York, once said that the US always does the right thing in the end – “but only when it has tried everything else”. It did right by embattled Britain (more or less) after entering the second world war, less late than the first, in 1941. “So, we have won after all,” Churchill confided to his secretary on hearing of the Japanese attack on the Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor.
Al-Qaida’s attacks on September 11 2001 were the modern Pearl Harbor, a doomed assault by a fanatical, anti-modernist foe, enemies of us all. But in its shock, the US overreacted. Al-Qaida’s attacks on 11 September 2001 were the modern Pearl Harbor, a doomed assault by a fanatical, anti-modernist foe, enemies of us all. But in its shock, the US overreacted.
Writers in reputable publications like the New York Review of Books have routinely referred to their country being under a semi-state of emergency, civil liberties curtailed, the justice system abused, ever since. Just read the torture details as an illustration.Writers in reputable publications like the New York Review of Books have routinely referred to their country being under a semi-state of emergency, civil liberties curtailed, the justice system abused, ever since. Just read the torture details as an illustration.
Anyone who doubts that proposition need not rely on the Senate report on on the excesses at Guantánamo Bay – which the US supreme court will one day declare unconstitutional – or in Iraq, but on the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, a shameful government failure of a different kind in 2005. Read Dave Eggars book, Zeitoun, on the shocking treatment of Syrian-Americans wrongly suspected of looting and effectively rendered to “dark sites” within their own country. Anyone who doubts that proposition need not rely on the Senate report on on the excesses at Guantánamo Bay – which the US supreme court will one day declare unconstitutional – or in Iraq, but on the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, a shameful government failure of a different kind in 2005. Read Dave Eggers’s book Zeitoun on the shocking treatment of Syrian-Americans wrongly suspected of looting and effectively rendered to “dark sites” within their own country.
US history is strikingly violent, the product of a frontier culture, waves of turbulent immigration, the suppression of native peoples and, of course, the “peculiar institution” of slavery; a streak of paranoia in its politics which routinely produce red scares and much else. But it has also often been what its noblest president, Abraham Lincoln – the greatest public official of the 19th century – called ‘the last, best hope of mankind”. US history is strikingly violent, the product of a frontier culture, waves of turbulent immigration, the suppression of native peoples and, of course, the “peculiar institution” of slavery; a streak of paranoia in its politics which routinely produces red scares and much else. But it has also often been what its noblest president, Abraham Lincoln – the greatest public official of the 19th century – called “the last, best hope of mankind”.
Whose record can match it ? Certainly not revolutionary France, though many of its impulses in 1789 sprung from the same Enlightenment spirit that animated the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Torture – a symbol of old corrupt Europe – was deemed anathema to both, another reason why the CIA’s collapse into barbaric practice under pressure is so shameful. Pointless too, of course – it doesn’t deliver the goods. We and the French lapsed too in wars of colonial retreat. Algeria? Kenya anyone? Whose record can match it ? Certainly not revolutionary France, though many of its impulses in 1789 sprang from the same Enlightenment spirit that animated the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Torture – a symbol of old corrupt Europe – was deemed anathema to both, another reason why the CIA’s collapse into barbaric practice under pressure is so shameful. Pointless too, of course – it doesn’t deliver the goods. We and the French lapsed too in wars of colonial retreat. Algeria? Kenya anyone?
The defence of decent values under pressure is often touch and go and sometimes not straight forward. I wrote here about bishop Bell of Chichester’s attacks on the RAF’s wartime bombing of German cities. In the US many people – including brave army lawyers who risked their careers – fought to defend the constitution against the Bush administration’s corner-cutters and cynical pragmatists. The defence of decent values under pressure is often touch and go and sometimes not straightforward. I wrote here about Bishop Bell of Chichester’s attacks on the RAF’s wartime bombing of German cities. In the US many people – including brave army lawyers who risked their careers – fought to defend the constitution against the Bush administration’s corner-cutters and cynical pragmatists.
To his credit Senator John McCain, a Vietnam PoW who knows his subject, was rare among senior Republicans in welcoming the CIA report. Would it have been suppressed by the incoming Republican majority in January, as the Guardian’s editorial ruefully speculates. I hope not, and in the US it would have leaked sooner or later. To his credit Senator John McCain, a Vietnam PoW who knows his subject, was rare among senior Republicans in welcoming the CIA report. Would it have been suppressed by the incoming Republican majority in January, as the Guardian’s editorial ruefully speculates? I hope not, and in the US it would have leaked sooner or later.
It matters because – morality and accountability aside – a willingness to address error and failure openly is critical to American survival and prosperity (and our own) in the decades ahead. The Chinese, who now run an ancient and highly confident state, resurgent after its “century of humiliation” know this – though they are not sure how to get from where they are to where they ought to be. The Russian oligarch who bought James Watson’s Nobel prize and returned it to the old man – the day’s more wholesome story of human behaviour – clearly knows it too, as Vladimir Putin, authoritarian ravanchiste nationalist, does not. It matters because – morality and accountability aside – a willingness to address error and failure openly is critical to American survival and prosperity (and our own) in the decades ahead. The Chinese, who now run an ancient and highly confident state, resurgent after its “century of humiliation”, know this – though they are not sure how to get from where they are to where they ought to be. The Russian oligarch who bought James Watson’s Nobel prize and returned it to the old man – the day’s more wholesome story of human behaviour – clearly knows it too, as Vladimir Putin, authoritarian ravanchiste nationalist, does not.
As excellent Le Monde-to-Guardian newcomer, Natalie Nougayrede explains a lot of countries, not just the UK, have a lot of soul-searching to do about their own complicity in what the panic-stricken US did after its 9/11 crisis. In Britain many claims have been made, some proved, some dismissed, some opportunist greed driven by lawyers. There are parallels with the dirty war in Northern Ireland where no one side has a monopoly on morality either. And we still await the Chilcot report on the run-up to the Iraq war. As the excellent Le Monde-to-Guardian newcomer Natalie Nougayrede explains, a lot of countries, not just the UK, have a lot of soul-searching to do about their own complicity in what the panic-stricken US did after its 9/11 crisis. In Britain many claims have been made, some proved, some dismissed, some opportunist greed driven by lawyers. There are parallels with the dirty war in Northern Ireland where no one side has a monopoly on morality either. And we still await the Chilcot report on the runup to the Iraq war.
It is now clear that the CIA lied to the Senate, lied to its own government and, by extension, to its allies. The Bush White House misled Downing Sreet – though Tony Blair was probably too keen to be misled. British intelligence played its usual ambiguous game, as fading imperial powers do. As with the bankers – whose collective 2008 collapse in moral disarray and incompetence eerily mirrors the disastrously mishandled occupation of Iraq – some prosecutions are appropriate and overdue. It is now clear that the CIA lied to the Senate, lied to its own government and, by extension, to its allies. The Bush White House misled Downing Street – though Tony Blair was probably too keen to be misled. British intelligence played its usual ambiguous game, as fading imperial powers do. As with the bankers – whose collective 2008 collapse in moral disarray and incompetence eerily mirrors the disastrously mishandled occupation of Iraq – some prosecutions are appropriate and overdue.
Whose? I don’t know and nor do you, even if you think you do. Policy choices and decisions taken under conflicting pressures are always complicated in ways that “torture – yes or no?” are not. Let’s see where it goes from here.Whose? I don’t know and nor do you, even if you think you do. Policy choices and decisions taken under conflicting pressures are always complicated in ways that “torture – yes or no?” are not. Let’s see where it goes from here.