An End to Torture?

Things are seldom as they seem to be on the surface. While some people are upset with Obama on a whole range of issues from his appointments of warhawks to his support of the Israeli assault on Gaza and his continuance of state violence despite his shallow claims for representing change there is a whole other level of misrepresentation just below the sleek and shiny surface that Obama presents us with.

Dennis Perrin links to an essay by Allan Nairn, an award winning investigative reporter, on the topic of torture and how what Obama has done has not really stopped the practice of torture by the United States but has only removed it further from public view. Again this is the danger of “charismatic” leaders like Obama. At least with Bush we knew who the enemy was while with sneaky weasels like Obama one is never quite sure what is really happening.

According to Nairn…

What the Obama dictum ostensibly knocks off is that small percentage of torture now done by Americans while retaining the overwhelming bulk of the system's torture, which is done by foreigners under US patronage.

But do go read all of what Nairn has to say, it certainly takes some of the sheen off our shiny new prez.