GRINNING GONZALES... AND THE RIGHT TO TORTURE ANYONE THEY DAMN WELL PLEASE

I watched portions of the questioning of Grinning Gonzales by the Senate yesterday. I was watching when John McCain who, whatever issues he is wrong on is right on this one, asked Gonzales if he thought that information obtained through torture should be legal. I watched Gonzales grin and sit there, mute. Then, he began to speak, though you could tell he did not want to. You could tell that he thought questions like this should not have to be answered at all. In fact, it seemed he felt a certain outrage that he should be questioned at all. He continued to repeat that the administration would like the congress to clarify and specify the treatment that could be meted out to prisoners. You see the administration does not like the Geneva Conventions much. You know, those pesky rules instituted after the heinous acts of the Germans in WWII.

When McCain asked him if evidence that had been obtained through coercion should be used, Alberto looked as if he may not speak again. He could not find a way to duck the question, so he just grinned that inappropriate grin.

The pictures we have seen from Abu Ghraib are horrific. There is a cruelty in those that are the stuff of civilian nightmares. But, the ones we saw, no matter how bad they were, were only the tip of the ice berg. They did not let the ones of the women and children get into the hands of the public. Wonder what Rush would have had to say about that. Oh surely he would have laughed those off too.

The quality of the pictures we have seen is undeniably is homo erotic. And, as information of the torture seeped out, many, and I mean many, folks reacted violently to the accusations that the United States could or would do such a thing. The reactions since we learned this really happened has been a bit different, especially from the sick minds of the right. It has been suggested that these people are being treated to the high jinks of those goofy American service men and women. Or that they flat out deserve it because they want to kill us all. I would imagine those still alive after that do. And, I don’t wonder why.

Susan Griffin in Pornography and Silence suggests that pornography is not about naked bodies of women. That pornography contains within it or ,according to her, must include an element of humiliation. Take a moment to think about that. Pornography is not about nudity or sex. Pornography is about power for the abuser and the suffering of the victim. Grinning Gonzales knows that. I think Donald Rumsfeld knows that. Certainly, Cheney does. [Note from Editor: Mags are you trying to backhand Mr. Bush by excluding him from this list, implying he is too stupid and clueless to know any better?]

If the daily body count of women and children in Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel were going to bother them, then most assuredly they would not have ordered the detention and torture of women and children at Abu Ghraib and other secret detention centers around the world. And, if they did not order those detentions and tortures, then why are they working so hard to make sure they have the right to continue torture now?

Grinning Gonzales and the Senator’s questions is prime time fare. Or, it should be. Maybe then the public can see the haunting quality of his insistence on the right to torture.

We have a right wing in this country that is a clear minority. They are loud and they are following their emperor over the cliff and into the sea. These are the folks who call Guantanimo a country club or a resort. But, here is my question today. The lies and negligence of this regime stretch from September 11th , through Iraq and all the way to Katrina and now Lebanon. They spy on Americans and out CIA operatives who disclose those lies of George Co. They publicly humiliate anyone who shines a light on their incompetence. They do not hesitate to smear the names of genuine heroes.


In this environment and considering these are the men in charge, do you really want them to have the power to torture? Do you really want them to have the power to imprison anyone they want? Aren’t there a lot more questions you want grinning Gonzales to answer? Here’s one: Mr. Gonzales, do you think you will enjoy the homoerotic and pornographic torture of your victims as much when we make it legal as you do now that you must hide your war crimes behind talk radio type rhetoric? And, what information can possibly be worth the torturing of the wives and children of the inmates at any detention facility? Huh?

Humiliation and unbearable suffering.

I am afraid of a man who can grin when he knows what Alberto knows. I am haunted by that grin. I am afraid of what lay behind it.

-Mags