Kos nicley sums up my feelings on Dick Durbin’s cave-in. He “fucked up.”

But I don’t really blame Durbin, so much, as I blame the cowardly D.C. Pussy-crats who didn’t stand up for him.

But as bad as the “run for the hills” crowd in D.C. was, the coup de grace was delivered by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. Once Daley repeated the completely bullshit, manufactured GOP propaganda that Durbin was talking about “our troops,” then Durbin really had no choice, politically, other than to cave.

And then, Daley actually one-upped the rightwing Republican lie machine, and all but accused Durbin of being a “holocaust denier.”

What the fuck?!?

The really disguting thing about this humiliation is that, ironically, even the NAZIS figured out that torture wasn’t necessarily an effective interrogation technique. I pointed out the classic case of Nazi interrogator, Hans Joachim Scharff on my blog over a year ago. [Post archived here]

Scharff was the most effective interrogator the Nazis had. And his technique was to…gasp…treat the prisoners humanely, build up a rapport, and get them to drop their guard!

This is also the interrogation technique tthat was taught as standard practice by the FBI pre-9/11. And it was highly effective in gaining actionable intelligence from one of the Millenium bombers within 6 hours!

Take that “ticking time-bomb scenario” enthusiasts!

The Atlantic Monthly also has an article on Scharff out this month. [Due to an inaccessible link, you can read an excerpt from it here].

Adding to the irony is that when we think of Nazi interroigations today, we don’t think of people like Hans Scharff. We think of cruel and sadistic villians like Klaus Barbie.

And with good reason!

What Durbin, and folks like me are concerned about is that all of the US interrgators who DO IT THE RIGHT WAY will become, at best, historical footnotes. While the Lyndie England’s and Jeremy Sivitz’ will become the poster children for how the United States treats it’s prisoners in the war on terror.

Apparently, the Bush apologists just don’t care. They are so blinded by their short term political interests, and dare I say complete and utter cowardice, that the very foundation principles of our Republican, and our moral standing in the world is completely irrelevent to them.

There are a few conservatives who see the truth for what it is. They get it. They, along with we liberals, have faith in our country’s principles.

This whole torture issue is seperating the pretenders from the patriots.

The true patriots are the ones who believe the principles upon which this country is based are SO POWERFUL that we don’t NEED to act like thugs and sadistic SS officers in order to win this war against Islamic extremists.

We choose to act humanely not just because it’s practical and effective, but because it shows how much BETTER we are than the scumbags who attacked us. It’s the ultimate way to rub it in their faces.

Those who think torture is necessary have no faith in America.

Let me repeat that for emphasis.

Those who think torture is necessary have no faith in America.

They don’t actually think we can win this war unless we resort to the very tactics we are fighting against in the first place.

They will make all kinds of arguments that we have to protect life and limb here at home, even if it means breaking all the rules. But that elevates their own personal security as the highest ideal — over freedom, human rights, rule of law and justice.

If all we care about is protecting people’s lives, then why not just SURRENDER to the Islamists, pass out Burkhas and start growing beards? Surely they’ll stop when we cave in to their demands.

Then, guess what, we won’t have to worry about that nuke going off in Mayor Daley’s Chicago anymore. Mission Accomplished!

But, if we are fighting for something more than just personal safety…then surrendering is the LAST thing we should do.

There’s a reason we won’t give in. We cherish freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law MORE than life. We’ve proved that over and over again with the sacrifices our men and women have made in wars fought for two centuries…especially in WWII. Why didn’t we simply conclude a seperate peace with Hitler? Because we were fighting for freedom. For real.

The jackasses who attacked Dick Durbin aren’t fighting for freedom. They are fighting to protect their own asses from harm. If that means pissing on freedom, human rights and the rule of law…tough shit. Their personal safety comes first.

I’m sorry, but that’s not patriotism. That’s piss-stained cowardice.

The sad thing is, they all know it too. Deep down. They do. That’s why they bellow about protecting our troops from bad words here at home. They are covering up their own fears…and doubts.

And, as we all know, these people are not willing to send their own kids into Iraq. Hell, they won’t even pay higher taxes to support this war. Why should we expect anything different from them than pure cowardice?

Maybe, just maybe…people with consciences are starting to get it. Maybe.

In a perfect world, the news media wouldn’t cater to the liars and the cowards. They’d treat them as the demagogues they truly are.

Unfortunately, they didn’t do that. They bought the bullshit.

Or, perhaps, they knew it was bullshit, but were too scared to say that the Emperor has no clothes.

Either way, our country is in some serious trouble.

True patriots like us can’t give up hope though. That faith in what America stands for holds up no matter whether we are battling this country’s enemies foreign…or domestic.

Final Irony Note: The unspoken reasoning of the pro-torture crowd is that following the rule of law and protetcing human rights is a sign of “weakness.” It will cause us to “lose” this war against a determined and cruel enemy.

This is monumentally ironic, because that is EXACTLY what Adolph Hitler thought about the United States when he declared war on us in 1941.

He felt that, in part, our fealty to these principles would make us easy to defeat. He thought that his (and by extension Germany’s) iron-will, and win at all costs mentality would always prevail. He believed in the power principle. The Will to power.

And…as we all know, we