"We're in the disappearing business"

Notes from a lecture by Seymour Hersh at the University of Chicago (though there is no link to a transcript, so can't be confirmed as yet).

From My Lai, the transition to the current scandals was seemless [sic.]. He connected the dots, and spoke of the CIA secret prisons we haven't heard about yet: "We're basically in the disappearing business." He made the first of several criticisms of our humble profession: "there's no learning curve in America. There's no learning curve in the press corps."...

Unsurprisingly, he flagged the extraordinary importance of the WSJ memo revealing the government's plans to torture, including its assertion that it's not against the law if the president approves it, and mocked the New York Times headline "9 Militias Are Said to Approve a Deal to Disband," suggesting in its stead, "Bush Administration Offers Hoax in Hopes of Convincing U.S. There's Some Peace." His assessment of the postwar settlement: "It's going to come down to who has the biggest militia will win."...

The note taker goes on to report that Hersh claims to have seen photos and video from Abu Ghraib that are worse, far worse, than anything we've yet seen, involving the wives and children of prisoners. After saying that, the writer claims, "[Hersh] looked frightened."

We are in a world of shit.

Hersh also sheds light on the true nature of the similarities between this administration and the god-like benevolence of the Reagan administration -- a comparison Bush & Co. are so desperate to make. Specifically, both administrations were/are marked by a complete and utter contempt for congress and the truth.

I sometimes despair that this blog is becoming so despairing.