Back in the mid-1990s, in my book, The End of Victory Culture, I wrote the following about the adventure films of my childhood (and those of earlier decades):

"For the nonwhite, annihilation was built not just into the on-screen Hollywood spectacle but into its casting structures. Available to the Other were only four roles: the invisible, the evil, the dependent, and the expendable…. When the inhabitants of these borderlands emerged from their oases, ravines, huts, or tepees, they found that there was but one role in which a nonwhite (usually played by a white actor) was likely to come out on top, and that was the villain with his fanatical speeches and propensity for odd tortures. Only as a repository for evil could the nonwhite momentarily triumph. Whether an Indian chief, a Mexican bandit leader, or an Oriental despot, his pre-World War II essence was the same. Set against his shiny pate or silken voice, his hard eyes or false laugh, no white could look anything but good."

Having spent a recent evening in my local multiplex watching the latest superhero blockbuster, Iron Man, all I can say is: such traditions obviously die hard (even in the age of Barack Obama). The Afghans and assorted terrorists of the film, when not falling into that "invisible" category -- as backdrops for the heroics or evil acts of the real actors -- are out of central casting from a playbook of the 1930s filled with images of Fu Manchu or Ming the Merciless: Right down to that shiny bald pate, the silken voice, the hard eyes, and that propensity for "odd tortures."

It's lucky, then, that, in the real world, the Bush administration has made the decision to expand our no-charges, no-recourse, no-courts, no-lawyers prison network in Afghanistan to hold such monsters. Give Eric Schmitt and Tim Golden of the New York Times credit for their recent front-page scoop: "The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come… [the new prison will be] a more modern and humane detention center that would usually accommodate about 600 detainees--or as many as 1,100 in a surge--and cost more than $60 million." The real money quote in the piece, however, lay buried inside the fold. The reporters quote an anonymous Pentagon official speaking of the infamous older American prison at Bagram Air Base where some of those "odd tortures" have taken place: "It's just not suitable. At some point, you have to say, 'That's it. This place was not made to keep people there indefinitely.'"

So, the new prison, then, is apparently for holding people "indefinitely." Lurking in that word, of course, is the logical thought that we'll just have to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, too. Otherwise, who's going to do the necessary imprisoning? Perhaps it's worth noting as well that, at this moment, the Pentagon is also expanding its major prison in Iraq, Camp Bucca, already stuffed with up to 20,000 prisoners, to hold another 10,000, assumedly in case a future prisoner "surge" comes along, and assumedly once again "indefinitely." In fact, when it comes to prisons, the Pentagon and its contractors are the busiest of beavers. After all, they've been expanding Guantanamo in Cuba, too, while Bush administration officials talk idly about shutting that prison down. Even kids aren't immune. A recent report claims that the U.S. now holds at least 500 "juveniles," mainly in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan, and perhaps elsewhere as "imperative threats to security." (Guantanamo evidently now has no juveniles only because two prisoners have been held there long enough to grow into adulthood.)

These are expansive American facts on the ground in two occupied countries where, you might say (though you wouldn't know it from Iron Man), imprisonment is our middle name and "odd tortures" what we've built our rep on. Of course, at a time when the U.S. is hemorrhaging real jobs, Americans have made quite a living from building and expanding prisons and prison populations at home, too.

Once upon a time, there was an all-American superhero who fought for "truth, justice, and the American way." But that's passé today. As a nation, we're not much into justice anymore; what we're into is incarceration, punishment, and those "odd tortures." It's increasingly our métier, our truth, the American way. So maybe Iron Man, an arms dealer by day, is, as Nick Turse, author of the superb exposé of the new Pentagon, The Complex, indicates his latest piece "Irony Man," exactly the right superhero to illuminate our American moment.

Comments (33)

1. Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/21/2008

   Danny Glover

   Morgan Freedman blows them all out of the water.

   Posted by Benchrest at 05/21/2008 @ 11:01am

2. posted by Tom Engelhardt on 05/21/2008 @ 10:18am

   Blazing Saddles?

   Posted by Benchrest at 05/21/2008 @ 11:04am

3. "Pardon me while I whip this out."

   Posted by Benchrest at 05/21/2008 @ 11:05am

4. This has got to be one of the goofiest "all over the place" article posted since....well....Mr Nichols usually..heheh.

   From "the role of non-whites in movies 50 years ago"....to "Iron Man"....to the "prison industrial complex" stuff...and back to "Iron Man"?!?!??!

   BTW, two points on the movies (yes, I'm actually taking this seriously for a minute)....Jon Favreau needed a "war setting" to set up the origins of Iron Man, since it was set in Vietnam back in the 60s.

   and in the new Indiana Jones movie, the bad guys are WHITE Russians (Soviets actually since it's in the 50s).....some "hidden" message there, Mr Engelhardt????

   Posted by Mask at 05/21/2008 @ 11:56am

5. They said you was hung?!?! They was right!

   Posted by abell12ct at 05/21/2008 @ 12:39pm

6. hollywood sucks.

   pure trash.

   no wonder everybody's ready to kill.

   and hollywood sucking the pentagon sucks more!

   Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 12:46pm

7. I know that facts are a stumbling block for Englehardt, but here is one for him to consider.

   These people are in effect, prisoners of war. The Taliban were the ruling authorities when the 9/11 attacks were launched. They refused to surrender Bin Laden and his associates to the US.

   The US had every legal right under international law to take military action in response.

   Using Geneva as a baseline, what the US is doing is entirely appropriate.

   SECTION II

   INTERNMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR

   CHAPTER I

   GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

   ARTICLE 21

   The Detaining Power may subject prisoners of war to internment.

   The point being that detaining enemies is fully lawful under any consideration of international law.

   Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008 @ 12:52pm

8. Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008

   Caddyshack

   Blazing Saddles

   Austin Powers

   Star Trek

   Blues Brothers

   National Lampoons multiples

   etc., etc., etc.,

   no no no, some really good stuff.

   Posted by Benchrest at 05/21/2008 @ 12:53pm

9. i teach kids 6, 7, 8 years old.

   they've seen transformers, iron man, 300.......

   wtf are their parents thinking?

   flush..............

   Wednesday, May 21, 2008 1:03:10 PM

   Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 12:57pm

10. Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008

    Lazy Town

    Blues Clues

    Dora the Explorer

    Max and Ruby

    Diego

    etc., etc., etc.,

    STUPID PARENTS

    Posted by Benchrest at 05/21/2008 @ 1:00pm

11. lvliberty1

    is my mom in hell?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 1:04pm

12. Benchrest

    that's done by the time they are 5.

    blood......

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 1:05pm

13. is my mom in hell?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008

    LVLIB cannot say since it says clearly "Judge not, lest ye be judged", but....

    but enough time and pliers...and he'll eventually say...

    yes, she is!

    (heheh)

    Posted by Mask at 05/21/2008 @ 1:11pm

14. "Once upon a time, there was an all-American superhero who fought for "truth, justice, and the American way."

    Well, you're in luck Mr. Englehardt. Your all-American superhero is coming to the big screen.

    The First Avenger: Captain America will arrive in 2011, according to the Marvel press release, and a proposed Avengers movie that same year would include the Captain, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, etc.

    Thor should get his own feature in 2010, while an Iron Man sequel is all but assured.

    Posted by ACook at 05/21/2008 @ 1:15pm

15. lvliberty1

    is my mom in hell?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008

    I never knew your mother. I don't know anything about her. I don't know what she knew of Christ or what she might have said to G-d before she died.

    The difference with my comment on Gandhi is that he is on record as refusing Christ.

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008 @ 1:19pm

16. Ghandhi is also on the record saying "The worst ememies of Christ in India are christians." Its true here as well.

    Posted by Guiles at 05/21/2008 @ 1:39pm

17. or what she might have said to G-d before she died.----Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008

    That's true, FROSTY.

    Ever hear that there's a "Get Out Of Hell" free card for those who have some inkling of their impending demise?

    Yep....Ted Bundy could repent 5 minutes before the lethal injection (moments before even)...."really meant it"...and he's in the Pearly Gates.

    Gandhi?...no acceptance of Christ when he breathed his last...and it's off to eternal torment for that rotten ol' liberator of 100s of millions who preached non-violence and peace!

    Ain't religion grand?

    Posted by Mask at 05/21/2008 @ 2:59pm

18. The US holds no POWs in Afghanistan in accord with the Geneva Conventions. The US has unilatterally expempted itself from applying the GVA Conventions to Afghanistan, Gitmo & Iraq. These "detainees", as the US classifies them, have the same "rights" as Nazi concentration campers, i.e. none. No charges, no trials, no POW status.

    Posted by sloper at 05/21/2008 @ 3:09pm

19. Posted by HAPPY3 at 05/21/2008

    After that Lincoln statement you"ll forever be looking for banana peels. Early onset.

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/21/2008 @ 3:39pm

20. The US holds no POWs in Afghanistan in accord with the Geneva Conventions. The US has unilatterally expempted itself from applying the GVA Conventions to Afghanistan, Gitmo & Iraq. These "detainees", as the US classifies them, have the same "rights" as Nazi concentration campers, i.e. none. No charges, no trials, no POW status.

    Posted by sloper at 05/21/2008

    You don't know what you're talking about or you just listen to and/or read what anti-war groups are saying without investigating the actual facts. What you fail to understand is that even under Geneva, prisoners have no right to demand to know charges against them, they cannot demand appearance before a court to protest their imprisonment, they have no right to a trial unless, they are brought up on charges related to their behavior while imprisoned.

    The prisoners in Afghanistan and Gitmo are being accorded the same human rights as Geneva without that formal status.

    Iraqi prisoners are treated in accordance with Geneva as POW's.

    As to Iraq, the U.S. government has recognized from the outset that the Geneva Conventions apply by law and all Iraqi detainees are covered by them. All Iraqi military detainees have had POW status. As we all know from the horrible photos, some detainees in Iraq have been abused, but that mistreatment violated the Defense Department's policy as promulgated by the secretary.

    http://tinyurl.com/599tu6

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008 @ 3:43pm

21. Captain America will arrive in 2011,

    Posted by ACook

    ooh, just in time for OPERATION IRANIAN LIBERTY!

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 3:52pm

22. lvliberty1

    "religion is bunk!" - mom

    so?

    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 4:01:26 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 3:56pm

23. lvliberty1

    god loves torture!

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 3:58pm

24. lvliberty1

    "religion is bunk!" - mom

    so?

    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 4:01:26 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008

    If you're not being sarcastic, but if your being serious, that makes me quite sad.

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008 @ 5:18pm

25. lvliberty1

    "religion is bunk!" - mom

    so?

    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 4:01:26 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008

    If you're not being sarcastic, and you're being serious, that makes me quite sad.

    Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008 @ 5:19pm

26. As we all know from the horrible photos, some detainees in Iraq have been abused, but that mistreatment violated the Defense Department's policy as promulgated by the secretary.-----Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008

    Oh, come on, LVLIB.....you don't believe those photos are real, do you?

    Don't you know those Iraqis deliberately posed for those as part of the Muslim doctrine of Taqiyya-deceit?

    Posted by Mask at 05/21/2008 @ 8:20pm

27. As we all know from the horrible photos, some detainees in Iraq have been abused, but that mistreatment violated the Defense Department's policy as promulgated by the secretary.-----Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/21/2008

    ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞&# 8734;∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

    The former head of the U.S. prison system in Iraq told The Signal this week that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally authorized the same types of coercive interrogation methods for detainees at Abu Ghraib that he approved for use on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

    ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞&# 8734;∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

    The former head of the prison said she believed Rumsfeld had authorized the tough interrogation techniques because she had seen a memo bearing his signature on which, in the same handwriting, a note urged the document's recipients to make sure its instructions were carried out.

    •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

    read some of mr. rumsfeld's non-involvement.

    http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB127/02.12.02.pdf

    ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

    larry, god will punish you for defending such people.

    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:01:33 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 9:55pm

28. Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008

    Take it easy, FROS....go read my piece on LL on "Dirty Work" thread.

    I'd tell CONSHAM/LIBSWARNED to lighten up too....but without 30ccs of Thorazine, just don't see it happening!

    heheh

    Posted by Mask at 05/21/2008 @ 10:06pm

29. LVL is fraudulent. Assertions do not equal fact.

    The US holds no POWs in Iraq. It declares its hundred thousand plus prisoners "detainees," not POWs, and does not extend GVA convention rights to them, but claims the "equivalent," i.e. whatever the US wishes to do. The Iraqi prisoners have not been seized in a war zone, as the US president declared major combat operations in Iraq over as of May '03. Remember Mission Accomplished? What the US has built & is building in Iraq & Afghanistan are concentration camps where "detainees" will be held for indefinite duration, as per US declarations. This is the record. Rightwingers like LVL may have no problem with it, but clearly feel the need - embarrassed? - to cosmeticize US illegal practices. As long as the US behaves abroad like Nazi Germany & Stalin's USSR, it reaps what it sows. Disgust & condemnation, as it destroys the US republic with perpetual undeclared war. The US rightwing has done & is doing vastly more damage to the US beyond any foreigner jihadist's dream.

    Posted by sloper at 05/21/2008 @ 10:15pm

30. what is "warn it"?

    i warnitted myself and nothing happened.

    Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:33:17 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/21/2008 @ 10:26pm

31. I think 'it' is 'us'. We are 'its', but 'it' doesn't do anything. Yet. 'It's' busted.

    Posted by Benchrest at 05/21/2008 @ 10:30pm

32. Back in the mid-1990s, in my book, The End of Victory Culture, I wrote the following about the adventure films of my childhood (and those of earlier decades):

    "For the nonwhite, annihilation was built not just into the on-screen Hollywood spectacle but into its casting structures. Available to the Other were only four roles: the invisible, the evil, the dependent, and the expendable….

    Happy, you need to work on your reading comprehension. Engelhardt was referring to the films of his childhood. I'm willing to bet that was a number of decades before Wesley Snipes in Blade.

    Posted by brunowe at 05/22/2008 @ 11:08pm

33. LL

    The problem is working out which prisoners are actually Taliban and which ones were just caught up in the sweep; perhaps fingered by a neighbor with whom he was having a dispute over a goat. You need to have some sort of hearing to determine that, you should also try to avoid things like waterboarding when finding out if he is Taliban.

    Posted by brunowe at 05/22/2008 @ 11:11pm