Torture

In this Sunday's New York Review of Books, Andrew Sullivan presents his case against the Bush administration's tacit approval of culture. Part of the problem was a series of overlapping command structures (CIA, military intelligence, officers in charge at Guantanamo Bay) so confusing that it becomes to understand what, in essence, the administration wanted done to its prisoners (many of whom were innocent or at worst guilty of minor crimes). The issue puts those of us who supported the Iraq war and a robust prosecution of Islamic terrorism in a quandary.

Most of those who made the most fuss about these incidents - like Mark Danner or Seymour Hersh - were dedicated opponents of the war in the first place, and were eager to use this scandal to promote their agendas. Advocates of the war, especially those allied with the administration, kept relatively quiet, or attempted to belittle what had gone on, or made facile arguments that such things always occur in wartime. But it seems to me that those of us who are most committed to the Iraq intervention should be the most vociferous in highlighting these excrescences. Getting rid of this cancer within the system is essential to winning this war