It Was No Accident
Just in case you still think Abu Gharib was accident, aberration, or random acts of a few bad apples, consider this:
What, has "extraordinary rendition" to torture subcontrators gotten too tedious for them?
Or is it that they are just tired of feigning disgust and shock when photos of their horrors hit the press?
This from the administration, and a man, currently under investigation by a federal grand jury for their reaction when man merely said publicly that they might not have told the truth. They struck back by destroying his wife's career and exposing a CIA front organization. These guys think they deserve the power to legally operate secret torture chambers?
Are they kidding? Does anyone outside of the White House really think that would work out well? What's next, the authorization to sell prisoners into slavery? At least slavery wasn't prohibited in the original Bill of Rights.
But the strongest argument against the use of torture is the effect it has on the torturer, not the victim. This is a country founded on the highest principles and aspirations for human beings; its leaders should never aspire to the lowest, most cruel and useless degradations of mankind. Americans should not be torturers.
There are those who argue that denying ourselves the tool of torture is an unrealistic nicety that we can't afford in a cruel world. But this nation great is founded on belief in unrealistic niceties: that all people are created equal, that they have inalienable rights, that they can govern themselves, that government derives its authority from the consent of the governed. All of these ideas made no 'practical' sense in the 1700s, and sometimes seem questionable even now. The world in 1776 was even more cruel and brutal. It was in making the choice to believe in such things that America found the heart of its greatness.
The governmental use of torture is a fundamental corruption of our national soul. It is a sign of how low we have sunk that the Vice-President isn't profoundly embarassed to be suggesting such a thing.
Cheney leads White House fight against torture banThere you have it. For all their talk, and their willingness to send enlisted soldiers to jail for political cover, the administration doesn't really think that torture is wrong. They are actually fighting to keep from being told yet again that torture is illegal and un-American. They want the President to be given the power to authorize agents to use torture in secret.
By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Congressional negotiators are feeling heat from the White House and constituents as they consider whether to back a Senate-approved ban on torturing detainees in U.S. custody or weaken the prohibition, as the White House prefers.
Led by Vice President Dick Cheney, the administration is floating a proposal that would allow the president to exempt covert agents outside the Defense Department from the ban.
Meanwhile, a provision by Sen. John McCain would bar the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held.
What, has "extraordinary rendition" to torture subcontrators gotten too tedious for them?
Or is it that they are just tired of feigning disgust and shock when photos of their horrors hit the press?
This from the administration, and a man, currently under investigation by a federal grand jury for their reaction when man merely said publicly that they might not have told the truth. They struck back by destroying his wife's career and exposing a CIA front organization. These guys think they deserve the power to legally operate secret torture chambers?
Are they kidding? Does anyone outside of the White House really think that would work out well? What's next, the authorization to sell prisoners into slavery? At least slavery wasn't prohibited in the original Bill of Rights.
But the strongest argument against the use of torture is the effect it has on the torturer, not the victim. This is a country founded on the highest principles and aspirations for human beings; its leaders should never aspire to the lowest, most cruel and useless degradations of mankind. Americans should not be torturers.
There are those who argue that denying ourselves the tool of torture is an unrealistic nicety that we can't afford in a cruel world. But this nation great is founded on belief in unrealistic niceties: that all people are created equal, that they have inalienable rights, that they can govern themselves, that government derives its authority from the consent of the governed. All of these ideas made no 'practical' sense in the 1700s, and sometimes seem questionable even now. The world in 1776 was even more cruel and brutal. It was in making the choice to believe in such things that America found the heart of its greatness.
The governmental use of torture is a fundamental corruption of our national soul. It is a sign of how low we have sunk that the Vice-President isn't profoundly embarassed to be suggesting such a thing.
posted by Paul at 8:41 AM |
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