August 4, 2009

Reining In the Leash

Some people might have dared to think that the relationship between the United States and Great Britain had equaled out a little bit since both Prime Minister Blair of GB and President George Bush of the USA both left office. But as we found today, that's not quite how it works.

Blair was mocked for being Bush's "poodle." The citizens of Great Britain weren't very happy with him (their proud and fearless leader on a leash held by George Bush? always a fun thought) and the citizens of America seemed to have only either contempt or pity for him (neither, of course, desirable for a world leader). He might have had good points but many people missed them completely because once he had been compared to a yipping lap dog, well, his image tanked.

Today, however, we're in a new age where America doesn't get to tell Great Britain what to do... right? I thought the whole show-that-political-muscle we're-the-superpower-not-you thing was done with when Bush left office. Apparently not...

You see, the British High Court will soon be ruling on a case concerning torture. This wouldn't concern America but for the apparent fact that CIA documents admitting the use of torture by the States' military are included in the body of evidence used in the case.

Hillary Clinton doesn't like that.

So here's the deal: America minds its own business and admits to torture, Great Britain rules on its case in peace, and the world is all the better for some honest-to-goodness okay, we-did-something-wrong from America.

Or...

What's actually going on: Hillary threatens the British by saying the USA will withhold important secret information unless the British cave and withhold the accounts of torture from their courts' record and from the public.

Okay, first of all, that's a nasty, nasty threat- pretty much like saying the US will kill British operatives by not giving them the information they need. And second, why are we making it? The British are our allies; they seem to be admitting their torture boo-boo; why can't we?

I guess someone's still mad about that whole colonial thing...

No comments:

Post a Comment