Authoritarian Stupidity at Captain's Quarters

In a post titled Now They Complain of Overcrowding, the folks over at Captain's Quarters are stupidly claiming that war opponents are somehow being inconsistent in both opposing the surge and in opposing the detention of Iraqis -- many or most of whom are innocent -- in overcrowded jails.

Not only do they applaud cruelly packing 705 people (including women and children) in a room meant to hold 75, these willfully-blind types are also claiming that the new tactics being employed by American and Iraqi forces -- which amount to basically arresting everything that moves in targeted "troubled neighborhoods" -- automatically means that huge numbers of insurgents are being jailed. Never mind the fact that most of the insurgents have long-since departed these areas, since they were given ample warning of the targeted locations of the surge and the new tactics -- the pro-Bush crowd is sure that this absurd waste of time and resources is going to help America win the war.

What this tactic will actually accomplish will be turning many more innocent Iraqis against the coalition forces and the Iraqi government, since people tend to despise being treated like cattle, being held in extremely unhealthy and unsafe conditions (with their children, in some cases), and being detained for long periods of time when they did absolutely nothing wrong.

When people like the guys at Captain's Quarters applaud this kind of tactic, which should be recognized as obviously stupid by any reasonable person, it really makes one wonder if these mass roundups don't simply appeal to a latent authoritarian fetish in these people. Every time the Bush administration does something that radically violates freedom or shows a complete disregard for civil liberties or human rights, whether in Iraq or in the U.S., it seems like the same conservative sycophants are there to cheer on the totalitarian fun. I guess with their well-established love of militarism and penchant for solving every problem with massive, overwhelming military force, none of this should really be surprising, but it sure is disturbing.