The conservative attempt to redefine torture as "enhanced interrogation techniques" has led to some of the greatest rhetorical dissembling in history. Despite GOP claims that John Yoo and Jay Bybee were "exonerated" by the OPR report, the truth is that their legal reasoning for arguing such techniques weren't torture was so poor that their successors said the memos couldn't be relied on.
But the absurd rhetorical chicanery over torture does have a purpose -- it's to get around the fact that most Americans don't really like torture:
"Overall, a majority of Republicans agree with the use of torture on terror suspects ... and the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. They also condone the use of waterboarding (58 percent)," Angus Reid reported.
"Almost half of Democrats justify the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, while 30 percent justify the use of torture and the same proportion agrees with officials using waterboarding on terror suspects.
"Most Independents think enhanced interrogation techniques are acceptable (60 percent), but fewer justify the use of torture (32 percent) and waterboarding (43 percent)."
Call it what it is, support drops. Call it "enhanced interrogation," and people rationalize it.
Well most people, anyway. A majority of Republicans believe in torture no matter what you call it. The upside though, is that:
Ex-Vice President Dick Cheney remains its defender and advocate, but a new national poll shows rising public distaste toward waterboarding and using torture against suspected terrorists.
We'll see if that continues. Public opinion on torture has been pretty stable since part of the GOP decided to accept it as part of their platform. I suspect that ultimately support for torture depends on whether or not we see another major attack during Obama's presidency.
-- A. Serwer
