Scott Horton draws tellingly on Auden and Homer in this follow-up to his remarkable piece, "The Guantanamo 'Suicides'," the story of three captives – all of them innocent men, cleared for later release – who were almost certainly murdered in a secret site in the American concentration camp in 2006, apparently for protesting prison conditions. (We examined Horton's story here.)

The men were evidently killed during "strenuous interrogation" -- i.e., they had rags stuffed down their throat while being beaten. When they died, a ludicrous story of a mutual suicide pact -- under impossible physical conditions -- was concocted by American authorities, complete with outright lies about the men being "hardcore" terrorists who killed themselves as an act of "asymmetrical warfare." The cover-up of these killings goes up to the highest levels of the U.S. government – and it continues most forcefully to this day under the Obama Administration. It is a sickening -- but most instructive -- story.

In his latest piece, Horton notes:

The three men who died in Guantánamo on the night of June 9, 2006 certainly had failings and foibles as all men do; no one will portray them as angels. To its credit, the Bush Administration even seems to have determined to set two of them free; the third had only to await resolution of diplomatic problems between the United States and his homeland. These men were not warriors engaged in some vicious military campaign against the United States, nor was there a scintilla of evidence linking them to any crime. “They were small/ And could not hope for help and no help came,” Auden writes. And what was the reaction of the world to their plight? Auden describes it perfectly, and indeed it was only to be expected: “A crowd of ordinary decent folk/ Watched from without and neither moved nor spoke.” The only difference here is the sentries, who at great risk to themselves and their families have stepped forward to place on the record exactly what they saw. They know it defies the official story; they know they may suffer retribution for it; and they know that what they saw is not conclusive in any event. It is only a fragment of the truth, which needs to be put forward and made a part of the historical record. It was offered out of respect for the dignity of the dead and out of conviction that the truth should not be suppressed, no matter how unpleasant. In the corridors of power, however, a river surges past, indifferent to all these questions, viewing them as an insignificant distraction from the troubles of a war.

Auden’s poem is a work of beauty and power. It has prophetic vision, but that vision is a nightmare. It is born from the horrors of World War II. The barbed wire of concentration camps and death camps brings the Homeric epoch up to date. Auden is not portraying the tragedies of the last war as such. He is warning of a world to come in which totalitarian societies dominate and the worth and dignity of the individual human being are lost. He warns those who stand by, decent though they may seemingly be, and say nothing–perhaps because political calculus or the chimera of national glory have blinded them to the greater moral imperatives against homicide, torture and the dissemination of lies in the cause of war.

You should read the whole piece -- and keep it constantly in mind when wading through all the earnest, endless disquisitions about the weighty affairs and political fortunes of our great and good, all of them written as if these people, our leaders, our bipartisan elites, are somehow normal, as if they are not brutally depraved and indifferent to the point of moral insanity.
 

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Jimmy Montague said:

	MORALLY insane? I read a little about Obama's state-of-the-union speech this morning. Seems he's wound up to offer workplace-funded retirement plans for people who have no jobs and tax breaks for people who have no income. Joe Biden came up with many of the ideas expressed therein. Makes me more certain than ever that the only sane course of action the American people can take is revolt.
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January 25, 2010
Votes: +5

Grandma Jefferson said:

The People Here.. ...are as insane as their leaders, and as brutally depraved. These things flow from the top of any culture downward to the "common folk", and a depraved leadership creates depraved citizens. How they love wallowing in the blood of the innocent. There are no more words to describe the US. We've gone beyond our own ability to define the atrocious depths to which the nation has sunk. We need new words.

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January 26, 2010
Votes: +7

Rubina H said:

Nodding in agreement ...to Grandma J. I'm glad you didn't use the lame 'gullible' or 'brainwashed' to excuse the lack of protest amongst the masses for what these "sickening wretches who run our country" (as Chris espoused some days ago) engage in. Brutally depraved, and loving wallowing in the blood of the innocent is both apt, and a national sport. In the unlikely event there is a revolt by the US populace, it will be when there is widespread inability to continue gorging on the materialistic indulgence and excess consumerism that is a feature of US life. The governing elite will not have their ability ravage the lives of people here and worldwide disrupted or curtailed because there are insignificant numbers of North Americans and Brits who care. I disagree with any assertion that the Guantanamo prisoners deserve a "fair trial". Trials under any jurisdiction is not a process that a single one of them should be subjected to. They should be immediately freed, monetarily compensated (as if that could make suitable amends), and their future livelihood and safety guaranteed. The same for the countless US political prisoners to include Muslims like Dr Dhafir and Fahad Hashmi; African Americans many of whom have been incarcerated for decades; and their defenders such as Lynne Stewart. The US has long had a power structure managed by the cruellest human beings in history, a massive military burgeoning with horrific weaponry encircling the globe both terrestrially and in space, yet I share space with a majority of fellow Americans wanting the most brutal and ongoing retribution against hapless individuals, and impoverished nations, whose 'crime' was to confront the real terrorists and greatest threat to our earth. Thanks Chris for all you do.

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January 26, 2010
Votes: +7

Donald L. Smith said:

Rick's Cafe When I returned from Viet-Nam in 1967, I felt like I had been in one of those old WWII movies where the Germans are surrounded by sullen, hostile people as the policies of occupation are carried out. Against my conditioning, I had to admit that I was playing the part of the Nazi occupation. Being so young then, it was easy to believe that the growing movement against the war, the pressure for civil liberties, and all the other liberal policies which were so bright and strong in those days, represented the majority opinion among my fellow citizens. With teach-ins, awareness grpoups, underground papers, we tried to raise the consciousness of the public. As the army fell apart, the protests continued. Then came Kent State, Jackson State, the murder of the Black Panther leadership, all this in the wake of political assassinations which branded fear into the public and stifled dissent in what seemed to me, a very short time. The rulers had reminded us as to just who was really in charge, and that death was their final trump card always, whether against foreign or domestic opposition. Since those long ago days, I have observed as fear puts the stamp of comformity upon the public, with the majority now supporting torture, the loss of civil liberties and a national policy of continuous warfare. I now recognise that the great nation I had once thought I was a part of never really existed, and that my patriotism was to a sham. I have no nation now, and my loyalty is to the planet and all the creatures trying to survive a dark age of ignorance and folly. I am grateful to Mr. Floyd for his anger and sanity.

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January 26, 2010
Votes: +10

john kelley said:

	... "I have no nation now, and my loyalty is to the planet and all the creatures trying to survive a dark age of ignorance and folly." Hear,hear! If we can just make it through the Argus-eyed drone wars. Check out, 'The Drone Surge' Today, Tomorrow, and 2047, by Nick Turse over at TomDispatch
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January 26, 2010
Votes: +3

Debbie(aussie) said:

	... What wonderful comments. Have to aggree with Mr Smith. It was Australia Day,yesterday(26th)and I really don't like the over bearing push of the flag etc. Would much rather just be a citizen of the world.
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January 27, 2010
Votes: +4