The Secretary's Words

1. The Secretary's Words

The Secretary of State recently told us recently,

The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture.

2. Credibility

You'll have to forgive me, but the time has passed when I can give such statements any weight.

They have finessed their words. They have redefined common terms. They have spun minutiae at the expense of the facts. They have grandstanded. They have waved the flag. They have attacked all critics. They have evaded the heart of the issues. They have ignored their own experts in order to have their political calculus reign supreme. And in the interest of advancing their agendas and extending their rule, they have lied.

So you'll forgive me if I don't believe what the good secretary had to say. She has no credibility. And what's more, her very words drawn one to ponder where the deceit must lie.

3. Pondering the Definition of "Is"

The United States does not transport...

After all, the United States is a nation. Nations are geopolitical concepts, and as such can't transport anything anywhere.

...has not transported...

Notice the missing term, never. It is certainly implied but conspicuously absent. She did not say has never transported, but do you think that might be what we were supposed to hear?

....detainees from one country...

Perhaps from more than one?

...from one country to another...

Perhaps not from one country to one other. After all, didn't the extraordinary renditions involve the transport of detainees thru many countries, not only two?

...for the purpose of interrogation using torture.

And here we have the crescendo. Of course the purpose wasn't torture. The purpose was to get them to talk. Torture was at worst an accident and at best the means to an virtuous end.

4. Baloney

Or maybe I'm just being silly here. There are people, after all, who believe in the noble lie and the need for philosopher kings to wield it for the greater good.

Perhaps, then, this hair-splitting is a waste of time, and we should just see it for what it is: baloney.

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