Robert L. Terrell

John McCain’s admission during the first presidential debate that the U.S. government is engaged in torture was probably the most notable aspect of his fractious exhibition with Barack Obama.But one would not know this by the responses of the television commentators who provided instant analysis at the debate’s conclusion, nor the plethora of articles and commentaries that have dominated accounts of the affair during the past few days.

Initially, television’s talking heads focused on which of the two candidates won the debate, and tactics employed as they maneuvered for supremacy.  Some of the commentators mentioned McCain’s comment about torture, but the vast majority of them avoided the topic as if it is somehow or another politically incorrect to even acknowledge existence of the crime.

Nonetheless, McCain’s’ public confirmation of the Bush administration’s torture tactics, and the ho hum response to it by the press, government officials, and average citizens tells us much about the degraded nature of pubic discourse in the United States at this moment.  It also reveals the manner in which imperial hubris fundamentally distorts and compromises people’s sense of what is moral and/or legal.

For example, it would be quite difficult to find any member of the mainstream, national press corps or  political establishment who believes that Iran and its leaders are not required to honor international laws such as the Geneva Conventions, or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The vast majority of them hold the same opinion regarding Serbia, China, Russia, Syria, and, of course, North Korea.

In keeping with this belief, members of the mainstream press and the political establishment regularly call for sanctions to be levied against individuals and states that violate international laws, particularly those which challenge U.S. imperial interests.  Thus, we are treated on a daily basis to calls for the international community to get tough via political isolation, economic sanctions, targeted assassinations, or military attacks, against those perceived to be in violation of such laws.

Nonetheless, those same voices fall dramatically silent on those rare occasions when the subject of U.S. engagement in illegalities manages somehow to become the focus of inadvertent, momentary attention.  Therefore, I am not surprised that Senator Obama passed up the opportunity to comment on the Bush administration’s torture tactics, nor am I surprised that the venerable host Jim Lehrer also remained mute in the face of McCain’s almost casual admission that the U.S. government engages in torture.

This longstanding practice of collective denial serves many useful purposes, one of the most important being the fact that it fundamentally negates virtually all efforts to engage in critical dialogue regarding the overall legality, or lack thereof, of the U.S. global empire. In addition, it conveniently subverts attempts to address the broad range of questionably legal tactics employed around the world by the U.S. government, including gruesome torture tactics, to maintain and expand the empire.

The general public is no more ignorant of these affairs than were “good German” citizens during the Nazi era.  Nonetheless, by deftly employing various modes of plausible deniability, average citizens acquire cover under the guise of alleged ignorance.  One of the most notable results is that the few individuals and groups that attempt to inject commentary on torture into normal public dialogue are almost always promptly dismissed as if they are either delusional, or mentally incapacitated. Given this, there is little opportunity in this nation at this time to discuss the overall ramifications of the Bush administration’s torture regime, and its inevitably negative consequences.

Despite the national embargo on discussion of the Bush administration’s torture tactics, those who are being tortured know that they are not being delusional, or insane.  Their relatives, comrades and governments are also aware of the criminal procedures being employed against them by agents of the U.S. government.  The net result is that world opinion is becoming increasingly hostile toward the U.S. in ways that will almost certainly engender negative consequences for this nation during the years immediately ahead.