An American in Brussels

Read this sentence very carefully: "The United States does not engage in torture." Now compare it with the report by ABC news that the prisons were shut down last month. The statement is technically true. Again, compare the statement: "U. S. forces world wide have been prohibited from using torture...." to the report by ABC. Again, the statement is true at this time. The problem is, the truth does not convey the information it seems to. Remember Rumsfeld's "Millions of Iraqis support our presence"? At the time, the percentage of Iraqis that supported our presence was twenty. Now twenty percent of twenty-seven million is five and a half million - millions, true but not quite representative of the situation. It's become a favorite Republicanism: Lie with the truth. I believe the technical term for that is spin.

Now, ah, did, um, you, er, hear Condi, ah, speak, um, in Brussels? Listen to parts of the speech on NPR. A big attention slap (not torture by Administration weasel-wording), that's the speech pattern of someone who is having to think real hard about what they're saying and that generally means something the speaker doesn't believe. That's representative of our leadership. At least Condi has the good grace to stutter. Bush delivers bushit with a straight face. But then, maybe it's because he doesn't think at all.

Condi will neither confirm nor deny the network of overseas CIA detention centers. If we didn't have them, don't you really think she'd deny it? There's nothing to hide if you don't have something. It's only if you do that you can neither confirm nor deny.

Bush spoke before the Council on Foreign Relations, a captive audience of conservatives, today before a captive audience forbidden from questioning him after the speech. Have you noticed all his audiences now are military or cherrypicked? I do find it amazing that he would suddenly grow enough scruples to be unable to face the population he's so sorely screwed.

It still disgusts me that we in the United States of America are engaged in a serious discussion as to whether it's legal to torture people and the President is on the side favoring it.