why we can't see the trees or the forest: the torture memos and historical amnesia


	why we can't see the trees or the forest: the torture memos and historical amnesia

doodleicious

5-19-2009 6:42 PM

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tags:

chomsky, speaks

doodleicious says:

of course there is much more at source- chomsky is verbose- why I love him- this did have a not at bottom - of this that a slightly longer version will be posted at Chomsky.info within 48 hours

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/b9f26cec-ebcf-45e9-874a-0128cc586a0f/3241F999-7A76-42B6-9215-2B97C666861A/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21865" href="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21865" style="font-size: 11px;">www.smirkingchimp.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21865"><B>Why We Can't See the Trees <I>or</I> the Forest: The Torture Memos and Historical Amnesia</B></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21865"><P><I>By Noam Chomsky</I></P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21865"><P>The torture memos released by the White House elicited shock, indignation, and surprise.  The shock and indignation are understandable.  The surprise, less so.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21865"><P>For one thing, even without inquiry, it was reasonable to suppose that Guantanamo was a torture chamber.  Why else send prisoners where they would be beyond the reach of the law -- a place, incidentally, that Washington is using in violation of a treaty forced on Cuba at the point of a gun?  Security reasons were, of course, alleged, but they remain hard to take seriously.  The same expectations held for the Bush administration's <A href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mayer">"black sites,"</A> or secret prisons, and for <A href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/7789/the_cia_s_la_dolce_vita_war_on_terror">extraordinary rendition</A>, and they were fulfilled.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21865"><P>Historical amnesia is a dangerous phenomenon, not only because it undermines moral and intellectual integrity, but also because it lays the groundwork for crimes that still lie ahead.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/3241F999-7A76-42B6-9215-2B97C666861A/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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