Why are Bush and his fellow thugs so anxious to torture people?

[Cyrano]

It's been stated often enough that torture doesn't work, so there must be another reason they're so anxious to inflict horrendous suffering on others.

After giving this subject much thought, all I can come up with is that Bush & Co is comprised of sadistic, sociopaths. Face it. What normal human being would want to go down that road? King George amused himself by blowing up frogs when he was a kid. I guess this is his "adult" version of the same.

I'm damned if I can figure out another reason, but I'd like to hear why you think they're doing it.

(Edited for spelling.)

[Alpharetta]

1. because the videos are awesome

Those guys think they're so chummy and select, keeping the Abu Ghraib torture videos exclusive to their little torture club.

[Warpy]

18. I was gonna say 'because it's FUN'

but the WH stag flick angle is probably appropriate, too.

The truth is that these are deeply ignorant, violent men. They don't know torture doesn't work because they've never read the studies on it. They just, like so many ignorant, violent people, just want to lash out and hurt anyone they remotely suspect of plotting against them.

That would pretty much be the entire world right now.

[indepat]

20. It's almost like they like it

[SpiralHawk]

2. If you were a Connecticut preppy AWOL cheerleader Skull & Boner member

like commander George AWOL Bush, you would understand.

Question for AWOL Bush: Would Jesus do this cruel and inhuman shit, like you?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. they need to practice abroad before they do it at home.

If you can be accused of being a traitor, a supporter of an ill-defined enemy, in a non-existant war, then arrested, tortured, never see a lawyer AND they get you to confess on video of things you never did, just think of the power they will gather.

[marmar]

5. Exactly...

How long before Greg Palast, Amy Goodman and Harry Belafonte are labeled as "enemy combatants?"

[meldroc]

26. Those guys in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo are canaries in the coal mine.

What was done in those places could soon be done here, to us. Sadistic pleasures like blowing up frogs and torturing people are like an addictive drug. The more they do it, the more they want to do it, and the practice WILL spread.

[Cyrano]

30. Well, these particular canaries seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Although an argument can be made that they are not as guilty as those who gave the orders (from the top on down) they joined in with glee.

Many of us have seen mob mentality at work. A loud mouth rouses up the masses, they give up their own will, and then they just go along. It has lead to lynchings, murder (in Vietnam and elsewhere) and countless other acts of barbarity.

Stopping a mob is relatively easy. Confront and face down the leader. The rest usually go home with their heads between their legs.

However, in what is happening now, the "leader" is comprised of a cabal of a handful of evil, desperate people. And although it's true that we are the many against a mere handful, they currently hold all the power. And therein lies our problem.

But I, for one, wouldn't be too quick to forgive the canaries.

[saigon68]

4. The CHIMPANZEE gets sexually aroused by thoughts of disembowelment and

other perverted acts

[waiting for hope]

6. I believe it's because

they are so inept at anything else, i.e. intelligence gathering, diplomatic maneuvering and the like, that they have to resort to the bully tactic. I just keep getting a mental picture of the big smelly kid on the playground, beating up on the other kids for their lunch money.

[stella]

7. I believe Bush likes war

and torture, it makes him feel important like he is god but I fault the house and senate for giving this little twit so much power.

[Cyrano]

8. The house and senate are aiding and abetting our criminal-in-chief.

And so is anyone who casts a vote for a Republican for national office.

[warrior1]

10. simply

because they are evil incarnate.

[A wise Man]

24. Bush needs an excuse

to torture so that if Dem decide to impeach his ass and ad war crimes to the charges he can use congress as hi9s link to get him off the hook.

[panader0]

9. They want to protect themselves from prosecution they might face

when a Democratic House and Senate are in power. If they can pass a law that says they have done no wrong, then they are safe. I can't believe McCain folded.

[Cyrano]

14. My OP refers not to the law, but to their reason for wanting to do it to

begin with. These are people with no conscience, empathy, or any redeeming values. Sometimes, I wonder if we are part of the same species as them.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. They are weak and scared, and it makes them feel strong.

It's not needed to gain information; everybody knows it's not effective for that. The reason the righties are so insistent on torturing prisoners in this conflict is that it makes them feel powerful and strong. A few years ago 19 guys armed only with box cutters kicked us in the nuts, and there are a lot of people who aren't satisfied with a careful, intelligent, effective response that would merely capture the terrorists and neutralize the threat. They are scared (many thanks to Bush's Terra 'Lerts for that) and they want revenge. They want to degrade and humiliate the "enemy". Makes 'em feel tough and manly.

[Jawja]

27. And unfortunately,

you are correct and the torture issue was a calculated campaign tactic, IMHO. Evidently, this resonates with voters because his numbers are rebounding from the Katrina disaster.

TORTURE THE BOOGYMAN plays well, apparently. I am ashamed for my country.

[Solly Mack]

12. The "laws" regarding the "war on terror" aren't exactly confined

to "terrorists"...they potentially can be used against American citizens as well (and have been - spying,"no flight" lists etc.). Greater control of the citizenry. Label someone a terrorist and off they go to prison to be indefinitely held without their full rights...to be "aggressively" interrogated using those "alternate" means of interrogation. And the fact is, as long as you can jail them indefinitely, there's not need for further torture...you've silenced them. Even worse? If you can control their movements (no flight) and spy on their every move (wiretapping), they're already jailed.

That's why.

Also, executive powers have been obscenely expanded.

That's why.


The profits reaped...WOW.

That's why




Interest of national security? That's not why

So they torture...simply because they can. Simply because they are delusional and believe they are right. For the sake of the power rush....they get a thrill out of it.

[BootinUp]

13. Krugman calls him "King of Pain"

Here's a snip:

What torture produces in practice is misinformation, as its victims, desperate to end the pain, tell interrogators whatever they want to hear. Thus Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi — who ABC News says was subjected to both the cold cell and water boarding — told his questioners that Saddam Hussein’s regime had trained members of Al Qaeda in the use of biochemical weapons. This “confession” became a key part of the Bush administration’s case for invading Iraq — but it was pure invention.
So why is the Bush administration so determined to torture people?

To show that it can.

The central drive of the Bush administration — more fundamental than any particular policy — has been the effort to eliminate all limits on the president’s power. Torture, I believe, appeals to the president and the vice president precisely because it’s a violation of both law and tradition. By making an illegal and immoral practice a key element of U.S. policy, they’re asserting their right to do whatever they claim is necessary.

subscription required:
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/opinion/18krugman.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fPaul%20Krugman

[C_U_L8R]

15. They aren't threatening terrorists

they are threatening us. They want to shut us up.
If history is any example.. this big dick intimidation won't work.

The republicans have already lost... because they've lost every bit of decency

[datasuspect]

16. they aren't anxious

when you have a group of people who are considered "other" it is much easier to dehumanize them and decontextualize their fundamental humanity.

it's just business as usual.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. It's how NAZIS act!

And Saddam.

[MadHound]

19. Hammer, meet nail, spot on

Yes, they're goddamn sick motherfucking psychopaths, every last one of them. Witness Bushboy's blowing up frogs when he was younger. Witness Bushboy's mocking of Carla Fay Tucker's imminent death. Hell, the folks who are doing to actual torture probably have orders to film it all and send the tapes to the White House for a "private screening"

[Mist]

23. This administration is a "perfect storm" of psychotics. And yes, they

believe in torture simply because they're sadists.

[BlooInBloo]

21. Because Americans will support it.

[Fuzz]

22. It's the same attitude they have toward our judicial system really

Whenever there is some salacious criminal case in the news, conservatives are quick to call for punishment, death penalty etc. They want to make it harder to appeal, put people to death faster and make prison less 'fun'. Then there is the obligatory tough talk from them when they don't get their way like 'give me 5 minutes alone in a room with that guy' etc.

They don't appeal to reason, but emotion. They aren't out for justice, just revenge.

[KansDem]

28. You've got a point here. I see all this torture talk as a prelude...

...to what the neo-con fascists want to do in this country. Sure, George W and his gang of thugs and cutthroats like us to believe that this torturing is only about "terrorists" in faraway lands, but when I saw the article last week about animal-rights activists being tried as "terrorists," I thought this was the next step: torturing Americans suspected of a crime.

And, like death row, you won't see any millionaires on the waterboard...

[leesa]

25. It's how they got their war in Iraq. The vote to go to war was based

directly on a coerced (false) confession. It justifies many things they either HAVE done or want to do.

[SmokingJacket]

29. Because they already did it, and want retroactive approval? nt

[Algorem]

31. they don't want to get sued and lose some of their precious money.

+it's probably their weekend recreation.

[wiggs]

32. Because they want more people to hate us. Seriously. This question

deserves more discussion in the media....there are enough ex-military and ex-cia and parents of military out there to make a strong, irresistable case against it.