Missed both Obama speech and Cheney’s speech, but in reading about Cheney’s over at GOPolitico, I get a sense that the America Dick Cheney celebrates and the one I celebrate simply are not the same place.
In Cheney’s world, the barbarians are perpetually at the gates. This war on terror will last as long as the war on communism - and so throughout, we are required to use methods that we ourselves have denounced as inhumane; protecting civilization requires us to descend to a level below civilization.
“You can look at the facts and conclude that the comprehensive strategy has worked, and therefore needs to be continued as vigilantly as ever. Or you can look at the same set of facts and conclude that 9/11 was a one-off event – coordinated, devastating, but also unique and not sufficient to justify a sustained wartime effort.”
What Cheney doesn’t say here is that we will need to continue these “a sustained wartime effort” forever. You know, horrific as 9/11 was - it was eight years ago. World War II lasted half that long; Vietnam ran its course, 1965-1973. But Cheney seems to think we’re just getting warmed up. The United States must therefore retain the right to waterboard or utilize whatever, harsher method it deems necessary in perpetuity.
In other words - there no rules in wartime. And wartime is forever.
Update: Sullivan’s reax to the Cheney speech is pretty much right on target:
A simple note having now read the former vice-president’s despicable and disgraceful speech. It confirms the very worst of him, and reveals just how callow, just how arrogant, and just how reckless and unrepentant this man is and has long been. There was not a whisper of regret or reflection; there was a series of lies and distortions, a reckless attack on a graceful successor, inheriting a world of intractable problems, and a reminder that while serious men and women will indeed move on, Cheney never will. He remains a threat to this country’s constitution as he remains a stain on its honor and moral standing. I never believed I would hear a vice-president of the United States not simply defend torture but insist on pride in it, insist on its honor. But that is what he said, with that sly grin insisting that fear always beats reason, that violence always beats dialogue, and that torture is always an American value.
Under Cheney - it was. But that’s what we’ve been fighting about all these years, isn’t it?
