You would be forgiven for thinking that Jack Bauer was actually running in the fall elections, as his name is being continually invoked on the campaign trial. The Daily Beast has even been moved to identify a new breed of candidate: “Jack Bauer Republicans.”
As a presidential candidate in 2008 Mitt Romney famously promised to “double” Guantanamo if he got elected. Freshman Senator Scott Brown has made political capital out of his support for enhanced interrogation. Now a fresh crop of candidates in this fall’s election are going one step further and making their disregard for the law a national security virtue.
In April 2004 2nd Lieutenant Ilario Pantano shot two unarmed prisoners in Fallujah, Iraq, killing them both. He emptied between 50-60 rounds into the two men and actually had to reload his weapon to fire this many rounds. He then left a sign on their bodies bearing the popular Marine slogan: “no better friend, no worse enemy.”
Pantano is running for Congress in North Carolina. He claims that he acted in self-defense but the US military found his story sufficiently implausible that he was charged with premeditated murder. The case collapsed because investigators were unable to corroborate key witness testimony which came from another member of Pantano’s unit.
Pantano remains unrepentant and has been spinning the incident as evidence of his hard-line credentials on security issues. It should come as no surprise that on the campaign trail he has expressed support for torture and impunity for those who carry it out:
“What our men and women were doing in enhanced interrogations was not torture and the prospect of investigations smacked of politics.”
In August 2003 Lt. Col. Allen West stood and watched while his men beat up a suspected insurgent, Iraqi policeman Yehiya Kadoori Hamoodi. He then threatened to kill Hamoodi, drawing his own handgun and discharging it next to the man’s head – all in an attempt to force him divulge information he was believed to be concealing.