Storywatch

Thursday's story about the deaths of Afghan prisoners in custody has been widely reported, even making the New York Times (which has a 3-page article on the subject). As more detail has emerged, it's looking even more likely that at least one of the prisoners died as a result of US interrogation techniques. The Pentagon's response has been to quibble over the meaning of homicide, and stress that it doesn't neccessarily mean an unlawful or criminal killing, though they've been strangely unwilling to present any alternative scenarios as to how the prisoners died (e.g. it was self-defence). Given their "nothing we do is illegal" response to the Washington Post's original allegations of torture last year, it suggests that they're going to rely on the same legal game playing that allows them to keep people in legal limbo in Cuba, rather than engage with the moral issue here.

Why do Americans always conflate legality with morality anyway? Even if it's not technically illegal for the US government to torture and kill noncitizens outside the United States, it's contrary to the universal values which the US is supposed to stand for. If it isn't illegal, it damn well should be.