The C.I.A. Detention and Interrogation Program (a.k.a. The Torture Program) is a symptom. The War on Terror is the disease. Both are based on lies, half-truths, false theories, greed and ambition, and exploitation of the fears of the American public. To get rid of the symptoms we must end the War on Terror.
When asked his definition of torture, former Vice President Dick Cheney said that he defines torture as "an American on his cell phone making his last call to his four young daughters shortly before he burns to death on the upper levels of the Trade Center in New York City on 9/11". (HERE )
Like many other things Cheney says in support of the War on Terror he is playing to the emotions and fears of the American people. He is a charlatan selling his brand of Snake Oil that he promises will produce the euphoria that will calm the fears of the American people and make them feel safe. Instead it is a habit forming narcotic that is highly destructive and requires larger and larger doses to get that same old-time feeling of well-being.
Cheney promised the American people that the War on Terror would keep them safe. Instead it has led to the loss of our civil liberties guaranteed under the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. Instead of feeling safer the American people have become more frightened and paranoid. They need to be pacified that they are safe all the time. They cannot even board an airplane or go into a government building without being searched. The more invasive their privacy is assaulted the safer they feel. People readily line up without complaint to have their genitals scanned by the Transportation Security Administration. Never mind that the T.S.A. has never stopped or caught a terrorist. (HERE )
The War on Terror has brought the American people the Surveillance State, the Militarized Police State, the Perpetual War State and the main stream media Propaganda State. Together they create a state of mind in the American people that is mesmerized and frightened by random acts of violence publicized by the Propaganda State to justify the Surveillance State, the Militarized Police State and the Perpetual War State.
Cheney uses the attack of 9/11 to tie the War on Terror and the Torture Program into one. He says they are both vital to keep the American people safe. In case anybody has forgotten how afraid they were on September 11, 2001 he is glad to remind them: "America was under attack. We did not know how many more attacks would follow, where they would come from or where they would occur." (HERE )
Cheney describes the events after 9/11 as if there were ticking time bombs everywhere. He says that since American lives were at risk the government had no other moral choice except to go to the Dark Side. The way Cheney describes it, it would have been immoral not to have tortured captured "Enemy Combatants" to find out where all those ticking time bombs were and who hid them. Extreme times call for extreme measures Cheney says. Extreme measures such as Preemptive Wars of Aggression and Torture Programs is what he is talking about.
According to Cheney, the men and women of the C.I.A., the Justice Department, the National Security Council, the Military and President George W. Bush are moral giants. He says they put their collective heads together and came up with an Enhanced Interrogation Program (a.k.a. Torture Program) that was legal under domestic and international law, effective in getting actionable intelligence from detainees and, according to Cheney, it was humane.
Most important Cheney says the Torture Program prevented a lot of terrorists' attacks on the Homeland, saved many American lives and resulted in the capture of many other terrorists. He cannot back up his claims with even a single example. For all his reasons, Cheney says that the Senate Intelligence Report on the C.I.A. Torture Program is a "flawed report, a terrible piece of work and just...well, a bunch of crap...just like Iran-Contra". (HERE )
For those that wanted to learn the truth, there has been a lot to learn since September 11, 2001 that is a very different story than the way that Cheney tells it. The conventional wisdom on September 12, 2001 was that the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncovered the identities of the 19 hijackers and tied them to Osama bin Laden and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; and the New York Times published that information the same day. Cheney said there was no need to investigate 911 any further because they knew who did it. The Bush Administration declared the case closed. That was the conventional wisdom then, and that was the way that the Bush/Cheney administration said it. But the Bush/Cheney administration and the conventional wisdom were wrong.
That is not the end of the story. There is a lot that we did not know about the attacks of 9/11 and that we still do not know. Even with the "9/11 Commission Report" there are still 28 pages that were deleted by the Bush/Cheney administration before its release to the public. (HERE )
Several sources have said that those 28 pages clearly connect members of the Saudi royal family to the 9/11 attacks. The former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee during the events of 9/11 and the co-chair of the Congressional Joint Inquiry into 9/11, former Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) goes even farther and says that "Saudi Arabia was essentially a co-conspirator in 9/11" attacks on the United States of America. (HERE )
The attacks of 9/11 should have been investigated as would have any other crime. Instead the crime scenes where spoiled and cleared without the benefit of an investigation. The Bush administration steadfastly refused to investigate 9/11 saying instead that there was no need because they knew who did it. It took the Congress to push for an investigation that resulted in the 9/11 Commission Report.
The U.S. rushed to conclusions in launching the War on Terror just as the C.I.A. rushed to judgment deciding that torture was an effective way to interrogate prisoners. Instead the U.S. could have used traditional methods of interrogation instead of torture. And the U.S. could have used traditional law enforcement, diplomacy and clandestine methods to track down those responsible for the 9/11 attack.
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