John McCain did not deserve to be tortured. Neither does anyone else – even putting aside the fact that it just doesn’t work. The fact that he had to endure the physical and emotional suffering that he did – for more than five years – is a testament to the determination he showed during that terrible time in his life.
But that doesn’t make him more fit to lead the US military and exercise the measured, calculated, deliberative judgment that is required if that White House phone rings at 3AM. Rather, it raises questions about whether his decision making ability is clouded (and if you listen to his republican Senate colleagues, it certainly isn’t for the better) by his experience.
Of course, John Kerry, who heroically served in Vietnam and receive Purple Hearts is a terrorist loving traitor, and the press will no doubt be just as fair to someone whose fellow soldiers in Vietnam remind us as the one who lost 5 US Navy aircraft and was a below average student in the Naval Academy.
Our own CIA declassified documents that were prepared in the 1960s that dealt with brainwashing and torture. Other than the fact that there are “interrogation techniques” referred to as “torture” in these documents that are way less extreme than some that our own administration and much of the republican party thinks is just peachy keen, there are some interesting notes.
For starters, note the passage in bold regarding isolation. John McCain spent approximately 2 years in solitary confinement. That’s a helluva long time. The CIA document referenced in the link above (the link in the diary is broken but if you play around with it, you can get to the entire document) has the following to say about isolation and the impact on a person subjected to it (emphasis mine):
A major aspect of his prison experience is isolation. Man is a social animal; he does not live alone. From birth to death, he lives in the company of his fellow man. His relations with other people and, especially with those closest to him, are almost as important to him as food or drink. When a man is totally isolated, he is removed from all of the interpersonal relations which are so important to him and taken out of the social role which sustains him. His internal as well as his external life is disrupted.
—snip—
After a few days it becomes apparent to the prisoner that his activity avails him nothing and that will he will be punished or reprimanded for even the smallest breaches of the routine. His requests have been listened to but never acted upon. He becomes docility of a trained animal. Indeed, the guards say that prisoners are “reduced to animals”. It is estimated that in the average case it takes from four to six weeks of rigid, total isolation to produce this phenomenon.
Four to six weeks in isolation will produce that. John McCain was in isolation for two entire years. And within those two years, he was also bound into painful positions with rope and beaten every two hours.
This is terrible to do to any human being and way more than McCain should have ever had to endure. But it changed him. That is a fact, not a guess. And certainly not his fault, nor is it something that should be looked down or poorly upon. Sadly, we have seen from the far too many of our troops who are coming back to the US with PTSD and a life that revolves around emotional or physical therapy as well as just trying to get through the day – let alone trying to piece their lives back together.
The long term effects of solitary confinement have been well documented, and there is little doubt that the torture that McCain endured had a profound effect on him, both short and long term.
There is, of course, the quote from none other than republican Senator Thad Cochran, who has known McCain for over 30 years:
“The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine,” Cochran said about McCain by phone. “He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”
Is there any doubt that McCain feels some level of anger, bitterness, holds a grudge or wants revenge for what was done to him? Hell, I know I would. I’d be permanently pissed off and looking for a fight – and I’m a pretty mild mannered guy. But, do we want to have a Commander in Chief who is even more hawkish on foreign policy than Bush is? On Iraq? On Russia? On China? Someone who talks openly about more wars, especially at a time when we are hated around the world for our confrontational and reckless foreign policy, not to mention with troops already stretched to the breaking point?
It is extremely telling that McCain would not vote to outlaw torture, yet he tells 60 Minutes that torture is wrong and the US shouldn’t do it anymore.
Can we afford to have someone who endured such horrific treatment that has been well documented to have profound negative effects on their personality and judgment? The fact that McCain served this country is admirable. The fact that he was tortured is horrific and more than regrettable – in fact, it is inexcusable.
However, it is a fact that is far from helpful for someone that would be our Commander in Chief, even more so at this time in history, and who would be answering that hypothetical phone call at 3AM.
hmmmmmmmmm
i dont know clammy….i see your point but i think there are sacred cows and that might be one….there could be lots of fallout from presenting that as a criticism in a campaign.
and really dont we have tons of ammo to go after mccain without it?
this is a surrogate argument, and a not very pretty one. But, it is an argument that was used by the Bush team in 2000, and it is true that McCain’s temperament is a MAJOR concern.
oh, I agree. It isn’t pretty, but it can be done in a much better way than the Bush team did it in 2000.
But it would be at a surrogate level way down on the food chain like us and others who can get it out there while being far enough removed.
yes his temperment is a concern
but i think its better to frame him as an asshole just because he is an asshole than an asshole because he survived torture….his temperment could be forgiven if its seen as a result of his service.
I’m extremely sympathetic to this argument – mostly because it’s true – but as a campaign strategy I believe it’s doomed to create more sympathy for McCain than questions about McCain. Unless we have McCain on film unleashing a Turret’s Syndrome-style rant on someone I wouldn’t go near this line of attack. However, if such a situation presented itself (if someone can goad him into a good cussing fit) then I’d love to have this line of attack at the ready, so the research is definitely a good thing.
Keep the powder dry on this one, but keep a match at the ready…
This is what I hate about politics and I just don’t have the stomach for it. I see the tapes of McCain surfacing now that were taken during his years held and tortured by the NV. He was forced to disavow his country in no uncertain terms. The tapes are the very essence of why this country should never allow torture.
What is hard for me to reconcile is McCain, with all that he has been through and hopefully overcome, still is a contradiction. Solely on this topic, I can’t get beyond that someone who knows explicitly the raw side of service can be found doing anything but demanding no torture, adequate armour for our troops, negotiation with our enemies until everyone at the table drops from exhaustion, and the myriad of things that he does daily to conflict with who I would expect him to be. It’s as if he fights these demons regularly and finds a way to lose to them.
to john mccain…
http://www.nojohn.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCtaN_ztjuU
This is precisely why Obama should be the nominee, I think. He could address this to the degree it should be addressed effectively, but do it in a way that seems sober, rational and respectful, giving McCain the fair hearing on the matter that the media and others would demand. I wouldn’t want to see Hillary get within 100 feet of it. It would just feel too… perilous and creepy somehow.
So, let’s see- this criticism is over the top. Keep the powder dry. We have enugh other things to go after him. His 5 years in prison are a sacred cow.
Well, HELLO!!!!! Hill is a lesbian! Hill has little i any experience and her time in the wh as the wife doesn’t mean a thing. Look at the travelgate and other gates!
The O man is a Muslim. The O man is a lightweight. The O man needs more seasoning. The O man supports Al Qeida!(spelling?)
I gotta tellya all that what we are involved in is a war and I don’t mean Iraq! I know that it has been a LONG TIME since Sen Kerry held back from attacking the Viet Nam bullshit and the commie lover and the rest and look what that behavior got him! For all I know, mccain is a hero but he is not the person that went into prison. He is dangerous. He refuses to seperate himself from some very twisted folks. He shifts with the political winds. I cringe every time he employs his famous “my friends” line. And, he supports- at least now- the most disgraced President of the United States in our history.
Sure, there will be alot of angry folks out there that will be fired up by the right wing media machine but will someone tell me just what garbage will be dumped on us by that machine when the campaign begins?
Mope- clammyc is right on target when this post is read in the context of the times we are living in.
And, just for the hell of it– How much of a war hero is a person that flys at over ten thousand feet and drops bombs on civillian targets?
Holy God. First of all, the man’s been in Congress for 25 years. Whatever you want to say about him, he wasn’t psychologically damaged enough by his wartime experiences to fail to live up to the pressures of that job. Or of campaigning for President multiple times. War scars people, it doesn’t necessarily make them unfit for responsibility later on in life. Second, what anna in philly said. This is exactly the kind of argument that the right wingers would take and run with to unfairly paint liberals as people who have some sort of problem generally with the idea of military service. Maybe not even unfairly.
He’s weak without this – his voice cracks – his military only stance is just not going anywhere at this time in our history – he’s too old to stay awake etc. but harping on being a prisoner – that will lose support