Dick Cheney's speech this morning defending torture and arguing against the rule of law left me in a semi-furious mood. As I listened to him argue that the abuses at Gitmo and elsewhere around the world haven't inflamed public sentiment against us I couldn't decide if he's being deceptive or dumb. But it came to me that, really, Cheney's problem may simply be that he's been a member of the elite for so long now that he's forgotten how the common man thinks and operates, and especially the uneducated common man who has little or no opportunity ahead of him.
It's certainly a fact that Cheney's speech was deceptive. But I think there is a larger issue, which is that the former Vice President is naive. I never would have thought it possible to be both naive and cynical at once, but Cheney certainly seems to embody that seeming paradox. It's this passage in particular that leads me to say this:
Another term out there that slipped into the discussion is the notion that American interrogation practices were a, quote, "recruitment tool" for the enemy. On this theory, by the tough questioning of killers, we have supposedly fallen short of our own values.This recruitment-tool theory has become something of a mantra lately, including from the president himself. And after a familiar fashion, it excuses the violent and blames America for the evil that others do. It's another version of that same old refrain from the left, "We brought it on ourselves."
It is much closer to the truth that terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by, not by some alleged failure to do so. Nor are terrorists or those who see them as victims exactly the best judges of America's moral standards one way or the other.
Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values, but no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them.
As a practical matter, terrorists may lack much, but they've never lacked for grievances against the United States. Our belief in freedom of speech and religion, our belief in equal rights for women, our support for Israel, our cultural and political influence in the world, these are the true sources of resentment, all mixed in with the lies and conspiracy theories of radical clerics.
These recruitment tools were in vigorous use throughout the 1990s, and they were sufficient to motivate the 19 recruits who boarded those planes on September 11, 2001.
Bullshit.
There is a major difference between the view that we might be exacerbating a situation, and the view that a situation is our fault. There's not to be gained by placing blame, but there is very much to be gained by understanding others' motivations--especially your opponents. Cheney's argument assumes that terrorism will always exist. And there he is correct. But it then goes on to make the leap that we make it no worse when we inflame passions in the Muslim world. Yet while he gives a brief nod to the "radical clerics," he ignores the effect that news of abuse and torture and desecrating the Quaran (rumors of which would be easier to dispel if our secret prisons followed the rule of law) have on the common man.
If Cheney seriously believes that these things haven't created more foot soldiers--if not leaders--then he's a fool. There's no other way to put it. He is a naive, worldly-unwise, fool. And we would all do well not to listen to the rantings of fools.
There were other things about the speech that really bothered me as well--the false choices, the argument that there can be no middle ground (And if that's true, then why don't we torture? Why don't we simply nuke Iran? Why not form a global police state in the interest of keeping the homeland safe?) the knowing misrepresentations of others' statements, the outright lies. But it was this basic, fundamental naivete that left me slack-jawed that a man with such a simple worldview was ever entrusted to power.
There is no question that global terrorism is more widespread today than it was on September 10, 2001. And it stands to reason that there are so many more small-scale attacks precisely because of inflamed passions. While the "radical clerics" may hate our lifestyle and worldview, the 19 year old kid who straps a bomb on his back likely simpler and more immediate motivations. The question isn't whether or not we can stamp out terrorism. We can't. The question is whether or not we can help reduce it. And one way to help reduce it is by giving these radical clerics fewer foot-soldiers; fewer young men with no future who are all too willing to blow themselves up over perceived slights to their culture and security. We don't need to give these evil men more pawns, whom they will cynically and murderously cast aside as weapons delivery systems in an attempt to cast ever wider circles of death.
Put aside notions of right and wrong, or the rule of law, for a moment. I think everyone can agree that we need to act in our own self-interest to save our own fragile necks. The radical clerics need a steady stream of young, aggrieved men to accomplish anything. It makes common sense that we give them fewer grievances to work with in order simply to act in our own interest.
Finally, as everyone knows, Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs. Cheney's speech this morning reminded me of one of his best.
A South politician preaches to the poor white man,
"You got more than the blacks, don't complain.
You're better than them, you been born with white skin," they explain.
And the Negro's name
Is used it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid,
And the marshals and cops get the same,
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool.
He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks,
And the hoof beats pound in his brain.
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide 'neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain't got no name
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
Let's make fewer pawns.
