Between the claims about the magnificence of torture and the calls to get tough on Pakistan (Syria, too), it's clear conservatives want us to do it all over again.
They long for the darkest of the dark years when the U.S. was building extralegal dark sites and putting in place the Bush-Cheney program of official barbarism.
They want us to piss our pants like it's 2001.
Indeed, conservatives in Congress are pushing a new AUMF even more expansive than the one passed a week after 9-11. It would give the President virtually unlimited authority to go to war in the name of fighting terrorism.
That same bill, Buck McKeon's Detainee Security Bill, would expand the role of the military in fighting domestic terrorism, make closing Gitmo impossible, and permanently ban civilians trial for terrorism suspects, including American citizens.
Conservatives are worried that now, with OBL gone, their effort to broaden and further Gitmo-ize the "war on terror" might (might: Dems, hello?) get less traction.
And to add insult to insult, the new head of the CIA is "soft on torture." That's right: the architect of conservatives' beloved awesome fake-successful "surge" in Iraq is an outspoken opponent of abusing prisoners. Confusing times for conservatives.
But what truly concerns them is that they won't be able to win elections absent OBL and the fear he generated. What're they gonna do when they can't morph the faces of Dems into OBL's? Oh how they miss the specter the Scary Brown Menace.
But cheer up, sad faces. You can still scapegoat Latinos! And you will.