Charles Pierce, as usual, gets it here:
But this is what can happen if you normalize torture in the public mind the way that the Avignon Presidency and its acolytes did and then, when a new administration comes in, it declines to prosecute the people involved and, indeed, it fights to keep secret what was done in the name of the American people. Authoritarians wear all kinds of uniforms, and they can convince themselves that almost everyone is a threat of some kind or another. This is now a country that tortures, and torture does not stop at the water's edge. It is a decision that was made for us, but it is a decision that nobody, not even the president the country elected twice, has chosen fully to reverse. This is a country that tortures. And we live with it.
His conclusion is 100% correct--once the use of torture becomes accepted abroad, it becomes far too easy to accept it at home. It becomes even easier when torture has a "bipartisan" patina.
Obviously, the concept of torture as accepted policy was the brainchild of an evil cabal that somehow managed to take power after losing the 2000 election. Its chief apostle makes no bones about using torture:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney revealed he has no regrets about the Bush administration's use of enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding, telling a crowd at American University in Washington, D.C. he would "do it all over again."
“If I would have to do it all over again, I would,” Cheney said, according to American's student newspaper The Eagle. “The results speak for themselves.”
The failure to call torturers to account (much less prosecute even 1 of them), however, was adopted by the other party.
John Kiriakou went to prison for
disclosing torture, but no one who authorized or committed torture had to face a congressional committee, much less a grand jury.
Now, we have a (nominally) Dem mayor, the Second City A. Cuomo, who has crushed unions and privatized services. Today, we learned that his police department runs a black site. Perhaps he was blissfully ignorant about its existence, but "ignorance" and Rahmbo generally don't belong in the same sentence. One of my parents' closest friends to this day was a major cog in the machine built by Rahmbo's most famous predecessor, and said predecessor was legendary for his knowledge of the workings of city government. Any mayor who would be ignorant of a black site being run by his cops isn't really a mayor.
Today, this mayor may get the majority vote he needs to avoid a run-off. Thus far, there has been little, if any, mobilization behind that mayor's chief challenger. If Rahmbo falls short of a majority, it behooves us all to get behind Garcia. While his odds of toppling Rahmbo will probably be slim, at some point we need to stand and be counted.
Those of us who were appalled by torture carried out on the watch of a WH wearing red jerseys should be equally appalled by torture carried out on the watch of a mayor wearing a blue jersey. Plus, does anyone here think for a moment that Chicago will be the only city to set up a black site? Perhaps others already exist in other cities.
There are things that simply are beyond the pale in any civilized society. The open acceptance (and even the open advocacy) of the use of torture is one of them. If tonight's Chicago election returns give us the chance to stand up and be counted against this blatant violation of this nation's founding principles, then we have to follow through.