Philip Mudd, jinxed not by his surname but by his acts, is no longer in the running to become head of Homeland Security’s intelligence division, a.k.a. its top spy-guy. He withdrew when it became clear that his role in the bureaucracy of torturing prisoners would come up for review in the confirmation process.
‘A chill wind is blowing through the intelligence community as operatives and analysts are now being forced to consider shifting political sands along with the national security decisions they make’, said Mudd-loving Michigan Representative Pete Hoekstra.
Yes, Congressman, that is called ‘democracy’—you should study up on it someday.
The ‘political sands’ referenced would be our national revulsion at the practice of torturing defenseless prisoners as a means of increasing our safety, whether or not said victims actually are guilty of anything.
Indeed, the rack, the thumbscrew and burning at the stake are no longer acceptable procedures to be used in rooting out witches, heretics and common criminals among us, despite Hoekstra’s and Mudd’s best efforts. Instead, we must fall back on boring old DNA analysis, forensic science and videotaped interrogations of subjects aware of their Miranda rights. How tedious.
This most welcome development is another sign of how the torture albatross will weigh on all those even slightly associated with it for decades to come. Anyone who got near this nauseatingly criminal activity will be haunted and cursed by it until the end of their miserable days. I hope they suffer a lot.
Meanwhile, Obama’s scandalous attempt to ram through Congress special dispensation for himself to arbitrarily ignore the Freedom of Information Act may be running into trouble. Obama wants this bill (conveniently introduced by two reactionaries: Lieberman and Graham) to help him avoid a court challenge on releasing the Abu Ghraib photos. If he fails, it will be yet another sign that our unescapable national confrontation with institutionalized torture is coming soon.
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