Pixelated Semantics

The Calculus of Shame

The "calculus of shame": op-ed on the "S&M War" in Irak. Four Corner's outstanding "Chain of Command" story is also now in transcript, underlining and illuminating many facets of these brutal porno operations. This includes Civil Contractors at Abu Ghraib whose organisation is also linked to Israeli torture practises, indeed, perhaps providing cover for Israeli "consultants" as employees of "private" contractors in Irak. However, while some commentators observe the potential for these revelations to be part of wider Pyschological Operations, there is as yet little discussion of the extent the images and reports of torture in Irak and Gitmo and Israel serve to de-sensitise the population to behaviour which until recently would have been totally unacceptible to Western peoples. Speaking of which, at least Reuters is prepared to remember the dark side of Reagan's presidency, but still does not mention apparently forgettable details such as negotiations with Iran to keep hostages imprisoned during the US election campaign, training and direction of Right-wing death squads for Latin America, the sale of chemical and biological WMD to Saddam, the encouragement of the illegal drug trade to support CIA 'black operations', the illegal weapons trade with Iran to support the Contras, and to cap a dismal list, authorising the support of Mujahideen in Afghanistan resulting in the massive 'blowback' of 9-11.

Update: More on Reagan's 'capacities' at MSN:

Ronald Reagan claimed that the Russian language had no word for "freedom." (The word is "svoboda"; it's quite well attested in Russian literature.) Ronald Reagan said that intercontinental ballistic missiles (not that there are any non-ballistic missiles?a corruption of language that isn't his fault) could be recalled once launched. Ronald Reagan said that he sought a "Star Wars" defense only in order to share the technology with the tyrants of the U.S.S.R. [ ... ] Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they'd both unite against an invasion from Mars. Ronald Reagan used to alarm other constituencies by speaking freely about the "End Times" foreshadowed in the Bible. In the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan told Yitzhak Shamir and Simon Wiesenthal, on two separate occasions, that he himself had assisted personally at the liberation of the Nazi death camps.

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