the Shackle Report

Hey, we won. If by “we” you mean the majority of Americans who just somehow couldn’t fit condoning torture into their personal profiles.

Yes, facing a flat-out rebellion in the House as well as the Senate, our president has finally capitulated to Senator John McCain. No more cruel and degrading treatment — as defined in military field manuals — of detainees,. No more Fed-Exing interrogation subjects to secret Eastern European prisons or Egyptian torture chambers. Maybe.

Now we can hold our heads up while trying to wiggle out of whatever it is we’re fighting in Iraq: Instability? People who hate democracy? People who are uncomfortable seeing women dressed in scanty clothing out in public? People who hate the feeling of their faction suddenly being out of power? People upset about being invaded? People who feel exploited when foreign business that pay low wages and few taxes take over their country’s largest industries? People who would prefer that the world’s second-largest oil supply be under the control of Islamic fundamentalists? People with nothing better to do? Whatever.

I already miss the moral simplicity of the torture issue, and the way it winnowed out the compassionate conservatives from. . . well, from those whose compassion is so highly selective, most of us would probably call it something else, if we thought about it hard enough.

Anyway, break out the champagne. As of Dec 16th, we’re not torturers anymore. The nightmare is over. If only.