In his recent Nobel acceptance speech Harold Pinter spoke at length about the US and while not everything he said was negative, the compliments will probably not be well received. Besides their rampant global crime spree of the last half century or so, Pinter points out that the US has done exceptionally well at managing its image throughout.

Having got away unchallenged with so much for so long we are now to point where, as Pinter describes so well, the US "...no longer sees any point in being reticent or devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent..."

This assessment has been show to be painfully accurate during the re-emergence of the 'extraordinary rendition' issue that has once more reared its ugly head. Nineteen jets(1) either owned or chartered by the CIA have used UK facilities apparently in the process of moving 'suspects in custody', or rather kidnapped civilians, from one country to another to facilitate torture.

Now Condoleezza Rice's defence of the practice focussed on three main points. Firstly she absolutely denies that the US uses torture, but does so in the context of the US's own definition of the word torture which excludes things like half drowning people for example. So what she's saying is that she wouldn't call what's happening to these guys torture even though she knows full well the rest of us would.

Secondly there's the defence of, 'just fuck off!' Not only has the practice been standard policy for ages, the governments of the European countries involved have all been in the know. Also, even if it is a bit dodgy, she gives us her word that the practice has saved European lives so we should quit the bitching and be grateful I guess.

Finally there's the argument that extraordinary rendition is necessary, 'in instances where local governments did not have the capacity to prosecute a terror suspect, or in cases where Al-Qaeda members were operating far from an operational justice system'.

From a woman who's cited as a worldly wise academic these are some pretty lame arguments, it really is as if they just don't care. The slightest application of considered thought is enough for all three points to crumble away, watch:

Of course they're flying these guys around to have them tortured, what other possible reason could they have for going to such effort? If the questioning is to be up to acceptable standards why not just take them to the US? This is surely the most obvious flaw and they choose to counter it with a semantic technicality.

The ends justify the means huh? Nope, that's as weak as it is old. Finally, if what Condi says is true, then how come guys like Maher Arar are being kidnapped from New York, JFK airport to be precise, and flown to Syria? Is she trying to tell us that Syria has a better capacity to prosecute or perhaps a more operational justice system than the US?

The truth is they really don't give a monkeys and clearly resent what lip service they do have to pay to the international community. Had a minor discussion with some peeps a few posts back about regime change. I asked how we could go about removing dangerous regimes without slaughtering the people they oppress and two solutions were offered.

One was assassination about which I had some qualms but, regardless of those, is not appropriate here. If Bush was shot through the head he'd become a martyr and the right wing backlash would be even worse. That assumes that a direct shot to the head would kill him, I'm not convinced there's much in there to damage to be honest.

The other suggestion was that the only way for a country to be freed was by a rising up from within. In other circumstances my concern would be the moral problem of leaving people to be oppressed but in this case it seems the only way.

No amount of foreign pressure is ever going to change the US, they are a nation built and weaned on bloody warfare, conflict and pressure are their elements. Our only hope is that the new silent majority, that half of the US that didn't vote for Bush, the half that we know must be there and yet never hear anything from.

So you, the US left, Democrats, Independents, radicals, whatever, where the hell are you guys? You're the only ones who can get your runaway wreck of a country under control and if you don't we're all in the shit. The darkest hours of the eighties are starting to echo, nuclear proliferation, space based weaponry, it's coming back and this time they'll go all the way, unless you guys do something!

Without a sudden and fundamental revolution among the left of the US there is only a single chance left for the world and it's not something I'd be prepared to put any money on. There is a theory you see, that if US citizens keep gaining weight at their current rate then eventually the whole middle section of the North American continent may sink into the sea...

footnote

(1) And here are their registration numbers, anyone who has the opportunity to notice jet registration numbers keep your eyes peeled:
N129QS, N368AG, N368CE, N478GS, N829MG, N85VM, N970SJ, N8068V, N379P, N313P, N4476S, N8183J, N2189M, N173S, N4009L, N187D, N196D, N4466A, N6161Q,