Interrogating WWII German war criminals. (Hint: They didn't waterboard.)

the interrogators recently reconvened and discussed their methods, in stark contrast to what our criminal presidential administration has been up to... it's rather dramatic stuff and really ought to be front-page, headline, lead-story news around the country... at least the wapo put it on page one...

some of the eye-openers...

[The interrogators] and their commanders wrestled with the morality of bugging prisoners' cells with listening devices. They felt bad about censoring letters. They took prisoners out for steak dinners to soften them up. They played games with them.

"We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture," said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.

no shit... but wait, there's more...

"We did it with a certain amount of respect and justice," said John Gunther Dean, 81, who became a career Foreign Service officer and ambassador to Denmark.

The interrogators had standards that remain a source of pride and honor.

"During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity."

so, what do they think of bushco's methods...?

[W]hen the time came for them to accept honors from the Army's Freedom Team Salute, one veteran refused, citing his opposition to the war in Iraq and procedures that have been used at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

"I feel like the military is using us to say, 'We did spooky stuff then, so it's okay to do it now,' " said Arno Mayer, 81, a professor of European history at Princeton University.

When Peter Weiss, 82, went up to receive his award, he commandeered the microphone and gave his piece.

"I am deeply honored to be here, but I want to make it clear that my presence here is not in support of the current war," said Weiss, chairman of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy and a human rights and trademark lawyer in New York City.

how very, very interesting... timely, too...

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A Thursday puzzler: find the missing piece in this Robert Kagan essay

in all the gobbledegook about democracy, power, influence, military supremacy, ideological convictions, freedom, oppression, catalyst for change, unique abilities, and unique responsibilities, there's one major - actually HUGE - underlying motive to america's foreign policy that is only faintly touched on, if it can be said to be touched on at all... see if you can guess what it is...

End of Dreams, Return of History
By Robert Kagan


Robert Kagan

Since the end of World War ii at least, American presidents of both parties have pursued a fairly consistent approach to the world. They have regarded the United States as the "indispensable nation" and the "locomotive at the head of mankind." They have amassed power and influence and deployed them in ever-widening arcs around the globe on behalf of interests, ideals, and ambitions, both tangible and intangible. Since 1945 Americans have insisted on acquiring and maintaining military supremacy, a "preponderance of power" in the world rather than a balance of power with other nations. They have operated on the ideological conviction that liberal democracy is the only legitimate form of government and that other forms of government are not only illegitimate but transitory. They have declared their readiness to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation" by forces of oppression, to "pay any price, bear any burden" to defend freedom, to seek "democratic enlargement" in the world, and to work for the "end of tyranny." They have been impatient with the status quo. They have seen America as a catalyst for change in human affairs, and they have employed the strategies and tactics of "maximalism," seeking revolutionary rather than gradual solutions to problems. Therefore, they have often been at odds with the more cautious approaches of their allies.

[...]

So long as Americans elect leaders who believe it is the role of the United States to improve the world and bring about the "ultimate good," and so long as American power in all its forms is sufficient to shape the behavior of others, the broad direction of American foreign policy is unlikely to change, absent some dramatic -- indeed, genuinely revolutionary -- effort by a future administration.

[...]

Six decades ago American leaders believed the United States had the unique ability and the unique responsibility to use its power to prevent a slide back to the circumstances that produced two world wars and innumerable national calamities. Although much has changed since then, America's responsibility has not.

didja figure it out...? if you did, post it in the comments... extra points to anyone who figures out what it is AND goes to the full 11,835 word essay and finds i'm wrong and that it's actually discussed in any detail there...

p.s. it's people like robert kagan and his ilk that are providing the "intellectual" underpinning for united states foreign policy... if you have the stomach to read the entire piece, you will clearly see why we are in the mess we're in today...

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In Japan, when government officials say or do something stupid, they quit

for those of us in the u.s., it's a stunning display of how to accept accountability for one's words and actions, something we've not seen in this country for many years...

Japan [Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma] resigned on Tuesday over remarks that appeared to accept the 1945 atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, attempting to quell the latest furor plaguing the ruling camp ahead of an election this month.

[...]

Kyuma had apologized several times and Abe had tried to dampen criticism by reprimanding the 66-year-old minister, who said on Saturday the atomic bombings just days before Japan's surrender in World War Two "could not be helped".

and, if that wasn't astounding enough, there's this...

"It is natural he should resign. The heavy responsibility of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has many problem cabinet ministers, remains for appointing him," Yukio Hatoyama, a senior leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, told reporters.

"natural...?" it's the prime minister's "problem" for "appointing him...?" holy crap...! what a concept...! i'm emailing this to gonzo immediately...

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