Augustus

Self-described "accomplished, well-rounded writer" Burt Prelutsky has some thoughts on torture and the media.

Sometimes I get the idea that America’s MSM is nothing more than an off-shoot of Al Jazeera, a well-oiled propaganda machine for all things Islamic.

That would certainly explain why Lou Dobbs has renamed his most popular segment to "Jihad on the Middle Class," unless that didn't happen. Note, anyway, that Prelutsky takes it for granted that Al Jazeera is some sort of Islamic propaganda machine, even though it's clearly not, which is why actual Islamic governments have had a tendency to give it a hard time over the years. Still, it does bear an Arabic name, which is indeed pretty suspicious.

For instance, we’ve been hearing for the longest time that torture is the worst possible way by which to extract information from the enemy. Who says so? When something that is so nonsensical is passed off as common knowledge, I, for one, get very suspicious.

Me, too. Let's hop into the Mystery Van and try to solve this one together! Or, barring that, I guess we could just Google "torture doesn't work" and see who thinks this to be the case. Why, here's a former Army interrogator who "says so"! Oh, and here are 38 former U.S military leaders who also "say so"!

I think a problem we have when discussing, say, water-boarding is one of semantics. The question isn’t whether water-boarding constitutes torture. (If it’s not, then it’s just a big waste of time and a small waste of water).

How ribald!

When you get right down to it, torture takes many forms. For one man, it’s being dunked repeatedly in water, while for another it’s being forced to sit through a Sean Penn speech or a Dixie Chicks concert.

I know, right? Don't get me started on those Dixie Chicks! Talk about torture, amirite?

In all seriousness, though, I'm genuinely curious at to whether or not the hundreds of minor conservative commentators who make the whole "You want torture? How about listening to X? Now that's torture!" joke actually think that they're the first ones to pull that out of their sleeves. Do they not read each other's stuff?

Lately, I’ve been wondering if the folks who spread the rumor about the failure of torture to garner results are the same ones now insisting that Iran is not trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

Hey, maybe Prelutsky could pick up the phone and call those 38 former U.S. military leaders and ask them what they think! Or not!