I won't tar those with a different view on this issue as torture apologists. We face difficult choices. But please understand that, for some, this feels like a hurricane offshore that has already caused untold suffering, and threatens - in 4, 8, or 20 years - to make landfall again.
If this is a struggle of years, so be it. Many will point out that US complicity in torture goes back much further than the last 9 years. In moral struggles, there are critical moments to seize the initiative, to build on failure as well as success - for the future. This is one of them.
The Civil Rights Movement was waged over many decades. The NAACP came to prominence (Dave Neiwart noted yesterday) generations ago, fighting the horror of commonplace public torture and lynching. That movement has not ended.
In the fight against torture, we see, laws alone don't cut it. Like Civil Rights, this is a deep cultural and institutional battle. The growing prison reform movement ties in here as well. Fear, and a tacit cruelty, have become drivers for far too much of our national energies. We need to work patiently (not slowly) to spur our nation to recognize this tragedy, and change it.
How will Kossacks move on this?
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