The Torture Apologia Chart

[kpete]

The Torture Apologia Chart

by batocchio

What follows is a chart of torture apologist arguments, the text of the chart, and an explanation. I might make a sort of annotated version later, with more detailed explanations, rebuttals of the major arguments, and links. But many fine sites (including Hullabaloo) have offered detailed debunks of individual arguments in the past, and I've given my shot in "Torture Versus Freedom." (This is also in part a companion to an earlier piece, The Torture Flowchart.) Regardless, if you like visual aids to dissect your daily dose of hackery - and somewhat busy, low-res charts - here ya go.

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You'll notice some repeats and overlaps, and I've tried to use a rough color scheme, but feel free to improve on this sucker if you find it at all useful. Red roughly corresponds to authoritarian arguments, fear-mongering, bullying and bigotry. Somewhat contradictory to those are the claims of responsibility and utility in blue. Green is for legal matters, and purple is mostly for arguments about politics and fallout (often a mix of authoritarian and utilitarian pitches). Black is for particularly noxious, immoral arguments (all of which have actually been made, unfortunately).

I've got "We were panicked after 9/11" in grey (C1), separate from the more bullying, don't-challenge-us, "Remember 9/11!" (F1). Personally, I think "we were panicked after 9/11" would be the most compelling argument for mitigating a sentence in court, but the problem – for the key figures, at least - is that the evidence and timeline simply don't sustain a defense of "good faith." (See Marcy Wheeler's invaluable "The 13 who made torture possible" and her torture timeline for more, as well as Digby's recent post, "Panic Artists," on Richard Clarke – who was recently trashed by Dick Cheney.) The Bush administration was repeatedly warned off this course, but ignored counsel, squelched and punished dissent, hid what they were doing (even from some of their own people), and reportedly started torturing at least some prisoners only after they wouldn't "confess" to the Al Qaeda-Iraq connection the Bushies wanted to justify a war with Iraq. That level of evil and abuse of power shouldn't be blithely excused, especially before a full investigation. I think mitigation and forgiveness also depend on some recognition and admission of wrong-doing by the culprits, and Cheney and the gang are instead warning doom, attacking all critics and insisting they were right, dammit. Why should anyone believe they won't abuse power in some way again if they can? There are indeed true believers in the cause (Torture! War! Monarchial powers!) but it's very easy to be both a zealot and a liar, and the many lies and omissions in prominent torture apologist arguments just don't support a "good faith" interpretation, either. Most every torture apologist argument really seems to boil down to two items – (G10) 'We're all going to die!' and (D9) "Reports? What Reports? (Red Cross, Senate, JPRA, etc.)" (in its own special yellow at the bottom center). The strategy is to keep everyone afraid and to ignore/hide/challenge the growing mountain of damning evidence. But this chart can certainly be improved.

more at:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/torture-apologia-chart-by-batocchio-it.html
Text:

[BlooInBloo]

1. Niiiice. Thanks for the new episode of What Digby Said!

[JDPriestly]

2. K&R Thanks for posting this.

[chill_wind]

3. K & R and bookmarked. n/t

[Dragonfli]

4. K&R