Thoughts on torture.

Nothing is more stirring than watching American troops liberating people from tyranny’s yoke in the film record of World War's One, Two and in Korea.

(Even in the open sore that was Vietnam, our troops were most often greeted with more friendliness than those of either of the other combatants.)

Showers of flowers, hugs and kisses greeted them everywhere.

This was because they’d chased the people who tortured out of town. They weren’t just bringing in new ones.

The pride our veterans have in this universal recognition of their decency is well deserved.

Over the years, while the US did build up a reserve of hatred for supporting every brutal and corrupt dictator, king, and “President for Life” anti communist it could find, even the most oppressed peoples knew that when our military was around, no war crimes were going to be committed.

Not any more. Thanks to conservatism with it’s built in lust for absolute authority.

There is never a “ticking time bomb” scenario either. Terrorists usually only know of the one plot they’re involved in-and not much of that one either.

Even if there were a ticking time bomb, the enemy who had the knowledge of it would just lie until it went off. They'd be giving up all sorts of addresses in Des Moines right up until Buffalo blows up.

Also, as Americans, many of us would rather take this risk then become vile, evil thugs who torture. We’d rather die than become them.

Until Bush, until the GOP, until conservatives and conservatism showed their true colors as incompetent, cowardly, lying Anti-American thugs.

After all the psychotic shifting of rationales for their pre and post 9/11 crimes up to and including the crime of attacking Iraq, the conservatives and their media sycophants have finally come up with one that at least sparks of truth: cowardice and panic.

The Chicken Hawks admit that they were wetting their pants, and flailed about wildly trying to hide their abject failure to prevent 9/11 and ignorance about how to react. They were terrified,

But we now know that they’re still lying about why they tortured. As true as the admission that they were cowardly incompetent fools is, they were also criminals in that they tortured only to make their false case for the completely unneeded war on Iraq.

This, at bottom, fundamentally is about pride. Being proud of the actions of our past veterans in liberating people from tyranny, inspires a deep, abiding desire to be among their numbers.

As Americans we always were deeply proud of our conduct during war. The conduct that provoked those flowers, hugs, bottles and kisses. It’s our deepest hope that we’ll always be that kind of America and Americans.

We were always proud, until Bush and the GOP defined us as the torturers, the ones people are afraid of when we show up.

We will reap the bitter harvest for these anti American people and acts for a long, long time.

They should be held to account.

They should be sent to prison.

There’s a project whose fruition will restore our pride in ourselves for removing tyrants, thugs and oppressors and then punishing them.

Let’s do it.