In case you were wondering why Bush and the boys are so avidly trying to legalize torture - besides putting the Democrats on the defensive and labeling them "soft on terrorism" - here are two suggestions.
In yesterday's (Monday's) New York Times, Bob Herbert suggests "The Kafka Strategy." He wrote: "The people at the top are getting scared.... The fog of secrecy is lifting, and the Bush administration is frightened to death that it will eventually have to pay a heavy price for the human rights abuses it has ordered or condoned in its so-called war on terror."
He continues: "Bush, Cheney & Co.are desperately trying to hold together a house of cards that is ready to collapse because their strategy and tactics for fighting terrorism were slapped together with no real regard for the rule of law."
Herbert's Op-Ed page buddy Paul Krugman has another suggestion. He writes:
"...why is the Bush administration so determined to torture people?
To Show that it can. [Despite its relative uselessness as an information gathering device.]
The central drive of the Bush administration - more fundamental than any particular policy - has been the effort to eliminate all limits on the president's power. Torture, I believe, appeals to the president and vice president precisely because it's a violation of both law and tradition [and,I would add, all civilized behavior]. By making an illegal and immoral practice a key element of U.S. policy, they're asserting their right to do whatever they claim is necessary."
It's clear that these explanations - as well as the purely political one - are hardly mutually exclusive. They are almost surely all working to some degree in what passes for the Dick and the Bush minds.
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