Legalized Barbarism: The Federal Regime Consolidates Power Once Again
Randolph Bourne once penned an essay titled “War is the Health of the State” that continues to have relevance for our times. War has rountinely led to the expansion of the Federal government’s power over society. An extremely dangerous continuation of this trend occurred recently. We were witness to the grotesque spectacle of our imperial emperor invoking the name of justice to sanctify his latest power grab.
“We will meet our obligation to protect our people. And no matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” Bush said at a White House bill-signing ceremony. “With the bill I’m about to sign, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people will face justice.”
No justice is to be found in the ability of someone to declare himself above any meaningful constraints on imprisoning individuals. To speak of justice being served in the context of a legalized suspension of habeas corpus makes a gross mockery of the term. Provisions of the bill dealing with the immensely important issue of torture further cement the damage done. Seemingly warding off danger in this area:
The law protects detainees from blatant abuses during questioning — such as rape, torture and “cruel and inhuman” treatment
While simulateously allowing this:
The legislation also says the president can “interpret the meaning and application” of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts.
Given the Bush administration’s rather narrow view of what constitues torture stated in the infamous Gonzales memo:
In the view expressed by the Justice Department memo, which differs from the view of the Army, physical torture “must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” For a cruel or inhuman psychological technique to rise to the level of mental torture, the Justice Department argued, the psychological harm must last “months or even years.”
I’m not optistimic about this power to set aside international standards not being used to order treatment that amounts to torture.
This legislation serves as yet more evidence that what need be transcended is the entire notion of the state coupled with the deferential attitude towards aritificial authority it embodies. Organizations posessing a monopoly on the provision of a legal framework have every incentive to abuse that power. What ultimately allows this kind of authority to be exercised is a cultural attitude of indifference towards it. Such a phenomenon being prevalent in the context of a statist legal system is especially dangerous because of the inability to opt out. It’s time we abandoned the idea of monocentric law along with cultural apathy regarding power in favor of liberty. Here is the wider totality that need be addressed in any attempted resolution of this problem.
Natasha | Civil Liberties, War and Peace
