Clint and Cheney: a Tale of Two Dicks
Two scowling faces fill my head this morning, the result of taking in Dick Cheney's sudden flurry of media appearances, and Clint Eastwood's new film Gran Torino.
At first glance, the real-life vice president and Walt Kowalski, the fictional retired autoworker portrayed by Eastwood, seem to have a lot in common.
They are both gruff, prickly, taciturn, sandpaper-voiced men, given to conservative views, short, clipped responses, macho posturing, and a narrow view of right and wrong. And they both always seem on the verge of telling people around them to go fuck themselves.
But dig a little deeper and major differences appear, especially when it comes to questions of morality, justice, repentance, the willingness to examine long-held beliefs, and the limitations of violence -- the last of these being the core theme of Gran Torino.
Let's start with Cheney. In interviews this week with ABC and the Washington Times, Cheney has been a portrait in unabashed unrepentance.
Looking back over the debacle-filled landscape of the last eight years, Cheney sees little to feel bad about.
Asked if he has regrets, Cheney says, "Not a lot at this stage."
Does he feel the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used against "high-value" prisoners went too far? "I don't." Does he think the use of waterboarding was appropriate? "I do." Bush says his biggest regret was the bad intel on WMD. Would Cheney agree? "No, I wouldn't." Rove says if the intel had been better, we probably wouldn't have gone to war with Iraq. Would Cheney agree? "I disagree with that...we made the right decision in spite of the fact that the original NIE was off in some of its major judgments."
All right then.
In Gran Torino, a Hmong shaman does a reading on Walt and tells him he is "not at peace." Cheney, on the other hand, "appeared relaxed" during his interview with the Washington Times -- even when pressed on the Bush administration's use of torture. "I feel very good about what we did," he said. "I think it was the right thing to do."
Waterboarding, stress positions, hooding, and prolonged sleep deprivation are not torture because, well, because the vice president says they are not (and was able to strong-arm the Justice Department into agreeing). "I don't believe it was torture," Cheney said. "I thought the techniques were reasonable."
Reasonable? Remember, these are techniques originally used to train American soldiers how to resist abusive interrogations by enemies who refuse to follow the Geneva Conventions. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, which last week released a bipartisan report on the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, said the Bush administration's adoption of these techniques was a "particularly disturbing part of the story."
Or as Gen. David Petraeus put it: "What sets us apart from our enemies in this fight... is how we behave. In everything we do, we must observe the standards and values that dictate that we treat noncombatants and detainees with dignity and respect."
And Alberto Mora, the former Navy general counsel, told Levin's committee that "there are serving U.S. flag-rank officers who maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq -- as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat -- are, respectively, the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo."
But Cheney utterly refuses to consider the cost to our national security - and to our moral authority in the world -- that his approach has exacted. Indeed, he defends it as "moral" and "ethical." "I think it would have been unethical or immoral for us not to do everything we could in order to protect the nation."
Cheney, of course, has no problem making stuff up - including stuff about the effectiveness of torture: "Did it produce the desired results?," he asks. "I think it did."
The Armed Services Committee has another view. Its bipartisan report was highly critical of the information obtained through enhanced interrogation methods, noting that they were similar to Chinese Communist techniques regularly employed to obtain false confessions.
A quick recap of The World According to Dick: the ends justify the means, the invasion of Iraq was right (even though the justification for it was wrong), Guantanamo is a "first-rate facility" that should remain open until "the end of the war on terror" (though, he admits, "nobody knows" when that will be). What this reveals is an abiding, unshakable belief in the use of hard power.
At the beginning of Gran Torino, Walt Kowalski clearly feels the same way. He's quick to pull a gun and has no problem using his fists and the heel of his shoe to make a point. ""I blow a hole in your face and sleep like a baby," he tells one troublemaker.
But as his tough guy methods ignite a cycle of escalating violence, Walt rethinks his approach. I don't want to give away the ending, but suffice it to say that its take on vengeance and violence as the ultimate answers is not what you might expect from Dirty Harry.
Perhaps Walt's more nuanced take on violence is a result of his blood-soaked experiences as a soldier in Korea. Cheney, like Bush, like Rumsfeld, like Rove, and like so many of their fellow chickenhawks -- have a far more theoretical approach to war and its ravages.
The Bushies have always had a detached response to the human cost of their policies - be it the unwillingness to attend military funerals, the head-in-the-sand treatment of injured veterans, or the fly-over handling of Katrina's aftermath. Walt has killed and watched his friends be killed - and has spent his life haunted by both. On closer inspection, his "sleep like a baby" boast is revealed as false bravado. Cheney's insistence that he "feels good" about what he has done rings chillingly true.
Gran Torino, in some ways, is Eastwood's mea culpa for Dirty Harry. I won't hold my breath waiting for any such contrition from Cheney.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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Hard to believe Cheney can maintain his bravado after everything the administration has touched has become not a national but global disaster. It would be perhaps more understandable, albeit to a very limited degree, if they had managed to delay the repercussions of their ill-advised, ignorant, and morally repugnant policies to future generations. Not even there could they achieve success.
The only positive result from the Bush/Cheney fiasco is the election of Barack Obama. For that we can all be grateful.
Thanks George. Thanks Dick.
My sentiments exactly. What galls me is how does this guy sleep at night? He has no conscience whatsoever. I'd hate to be around him when the heavens decide to dish out his punishment for his hypocritical indifference this past eight years.
as far as being a positive result lets wait and see buddy because unless you can somehow look into the future I definitely have my doubts
Proponents of waterboarding say it merely simulates drowning. They would be wrong. It is ACTUAL drowning which simulates death. Christopher Hitchens underwent this procedure after being for it, and now he is a VERY vocal opponent of it and says that anybody that says it isn't torture is a liar, an idiot, or both.
Bad bad Leroy Brown
badest man in the whole damn town
and meaner than a junkyard dog.
Don't assume they'll get away with it. Bush has already bought a million-acre ranch in Paraguay - a country from which he cannot be extradited to stand trial. Cheney has been charged with war crimes by German courts and currently can't travel there without being arrested.
It's not over yet!
Where do you get your information? If either of these things is true, why isn't it on CNN?
"True" and "CNN" used in the same sentence..
Oh well, anyway, now that the honorable President Elect has been briefed by the CIA on the realistic state of world affairs we see him steering a rightward path......
Occurred in Feb of 2007; look it up; however, mr. dear bush must fulfill residency requirements in Texas before moving so he can get all his dough moved when he goes. MSM does not publish what they don't want you to know, wise up.
Bush land buy in Paraguay:
http://www
http://www
Cheney /war crimes
http://raw
http://www
Cheney does not believe Waterboarding is torture. I suggest we Waterboard Cheney, Bush, Rove, and all other cohorts. We then can get their opinion after hours of torturing them.
Professionals have tried waterboarding and said they asked it to be stopped within a minute as it was so horrible, and these were men who are tough.I beleve after enduring torture, and being degraded these cowardly men would have a change of heart on what is torture.
Torture does not work and though Bush lied and said it got information those in charge said they got nothing but lies out of those tortured. On the otherhand those that were treated decently and in accordance with the Geneva Convention rules gave information if they had it. Many did not have any information as they were not the criminals Bush and Cheney said they were.
Bush brought shame to the American people, and now we are considered people of low integrity. How sad for us to have been considered people of empathy and integrity to now be considered low lifes with out morals.
If you're holding your breath, that means you don't plan on actively pursuing his conviction, either, I would suppose. Let me be clear, if we ignore this atrocity to our moral reputation and standing in the World, we are no better than those we attack in this "War on Terror". If our next President does not establish a truth commission, appointed with figures beyond moral reproach, then he is as much as "aiding and abetting". This is not political "vengeance", this is JUSTICE. The important difference is with Justice you promote and ensure DETTERANCE. This has never been a blue or red thang. This is the RIGHT and HUMAN thang. There is absolutely nothing (economy, health insurance, gay rights etc) that is more important than this. If you think there is, you are pretty much trying to decorate a sinking ship. First things first. Insist upon it and get involved. Patriotism is an activity, not a spectator sport.
Letting Nixon get away with his crimes led to this. Ford should not have pardoned him. If we'd have tried him and thrown him in jail, I don't think BushCo would have gone this far. If we let Bush, Cheney, etal get away with their crimes, just think what we can expect in the future.
If we ignore this, we guarantee it will happen again. (detterance should be spelled deterrence-from above).
Right.
Wow...my husband and I were just talking about issues like these at dinner: truth, accountability,how pi**ed we are that Bush and Co. are going to get away with everything,etc. I said that everything has been so doctored, spun or covered up--we don't know what "truth" is anymore. My husband agreed and suggested we need the next admin. to form a Truth Commission!! I totally agree with everything you said: it is IMPERATIVE that we do whatever it takes to regain our moral authority in the world. The truth, however horrible, must be fleshed out. Doing so is not vengeance it IS justice and until we straighten our moral compass, nothing else can be fixed.
God, what a mess.... I do wonder if Obama escapes into a dark closet every night and weeps because of the nightmare he is inheriting.
We have turned the political page-- these types won't come back and get elected-- we have learned the hard way
i hope you are right. i hope to never see their type in power again.
a part of me will always be worried though. after all, 30% of americans still think that way.
You will never see the likes of Dick Chaney, nor any of his cohorts face any kind of justice, not in this life anyway. The new admn. is going to take an "out of sight, out of mind"..too many problems to waste our time" approach, and in case bobody noticed, thay rhymes.
That's probably the most naive thing I've heard in quite some time. It'd be cute if it wasn't so pitiful.
You can't be serious. Forgive me if I sound condescending, but I am wondering if you are very young. Politics and culture move in cycles. We are moving from one cycle to another. This type of nonsense has most assuredly not gone away.
Everything moves in spirals, not circles. There is always at least an infinitesimal gain every time around. I always have hope that we are learning faster, but then we regress so quickly I am reminded that this will probably take a lot longer than we would like.
Think of the horrors that american prisoners in our gulag system are experiencing NOW. Cheney in an investor in THEM to.
eastwood lost it after he made that movie with the monkey.
I was thinking the same thing about that inferior B grade movie star. You know, Ronald Reagan.
Good one!!!!
I definitely spend my entertainment dollar politically. I look into the political persuasions of anyone whose movies, businesses, or restaurants I am thinking of frequenting or utilizing. I avoid Domino's Pizza, Walmart, Faux Network, and Clint Eastwood (among others).
Like you, I decide where I eat/shop and who's movie I will or will not see based upon their political views. But I believe you have been misinformed in regards to Clint Eastwood's political views. He has gone on record in multiple interviews stating that he is a Libertarian with many decidedly liberal/left views, such as his support of gay marriage. I've met and talked to Clint many times in the past, and I can assure you that he is no Republican, not by a longshot. Why does this article have to have Clint Eastwood in it at all? I don't see the connection here.
Maybe Cheney will express his regrets on his deathbed. But Arianna is wise to say, don't hold your breath.
The most amazing aspect of this entire administration is the fact that they are getting off without being held accountable. If it isn't the fault of all of us for allowing them to behave in such unAmerican ways, then whose fault is it? Can anything be done to Bush/Cheney? Does anyone care enough to take steps?
Augusto Pinochet left power in Chile clearly thinking himself beyond the reach of justice. Pinochet spent his final days a fugitive from a Spanish judge who would not back down on issuing warrants for his arrest to stand trial for the murder of Spanish nationals.
Justice is not always swift, but it can be relentless
Leland R. Erickson
Citizen
Tell that to Nancy Pelosi. She took it off the table so her table is clear for the cash they give her.
Sigh. Another person who can't do math. It takes a super-majority to convict upon impeachment. That's 2/3 of the Senate which currently is 49 Democrats plus two independents, one being Joe Lieberman.
As for your comment that Pelosi was bribed -- prove it.
There are a few of us brave and patriotic enough, but we can always use more. http://www
ArrestBush
Backbone Campaign
Campaign for Liberty
Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice
Chesapeake Citizens
Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox Action Coalition
CODE PINK: Women for Peace
The Critical Voice
Cynthia McKinney
Democrats.
Eastside Fellowship of Reconciliation
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Granny Peace Brigade
grassroots
Green Party Action Committee
Green Party of Virginia
Impeach Colorado Coalition
Impeach Groups - ImpeachThe
Individuals for Justice
Michael Ratner of Center for Constitutional Rights
National Impeachment Network
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Northwoods Peace & Justice Fellowship
Progressive Democrats of America
Proposition One Committee
Radio Free Maine
Republicans for Impeachment
RINF Alternative News
United Nations Assoc.-USA Dane County Chapter, Madison, WI
Veterans for Peace Impeachment Committee Clarence Kailin
Chapter 25, Madison, WI
Veterans for Peace of Chicago
Veterans for Peace Atlanta 125
Voters for Peace
Washington for Impeachment
WI Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition
World Can't Wait
wtpnet.org
As far as I am concerned this WH has alot to answer for. The mortgage melt down and doing nothing about that when they were warned in advance. The Wall Street mess, same thing. Cities across the country without funds because of the mortgage melt down (no tax dollars). The credit crises. Two wars, (one needless in Iraq). Yeah, this WH has alot to answer for. They were asleep at the wheel and were content to be so.
I do not believe they were asleep at the wheel as you so politely suggest. They weren't just ignoring the Constitution and turning a blind eye to the Rule of Law, they made a mockery of them. And regardless, as Mr. Cheney freely admits, at long last they have no shame.
I'm convinced now that it is elitist hatred of the middle class. Bush may have been strong armed by Cheney the entire time, he doesn't seem smart enough to do all the damage that has been done. Cheney was the man calling the shots (in my opinion). Every decision seems aimed to weaken our country, the environment and its people. There is a war going on and the dark side has had it day for the last eight years.
It's easy for the soon to be pardoned for doing nothing wrong to be unrepentant.
I'm afraid yer on to something.
Presidential pardon, perhaps. Pardoned by international law? maybe.
Pardoned by History? Never.
Leland R. Erickson
Citizen
Ummm comrade, history has a way of revelence. Five minutes after the President elect was out of the high level CIA briefing he had the truth of history that President Bush has had to contend. Have you not noticed a rightward tendency in the good man, the next President?
Just a observation: 3 sense
When things are going well everyone looks like a genins, it's when things aren't
going well to see were we really stand.
way to go Ariana
As the saying goes (maybe misquoting but here it goes) Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan
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