06.03.2009 10:13 am
Torture never has been the American way
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The fact that there is any debate over the use of torture by the government of The United States is, to say the least, troubling. Proponents are taking two approaches to their defense of torture. One is to rename it, as if calling it by another name makes it permissible. The transparency of that argument makes it the least dangerous of the two. What constitutes torture has been clearly defined throughout history. Simply calling it by another name will not elevate it to legality.
The most frightening defense of torture is the argument that “the end justifies the means.” As if the nobility of the cause determines what actions are justified in its defense. Nothing can be more corrosive of our great nation’s values. When you compromise the values that make us noble, you invalidate the measures taken to defend those values. One of our historic values that elevates our nobility well above that of the evil regimes that exist throughout the world is our stand against torture. By resorting to torture, we undermine that nobility, we inflame anti-US sentiment around the world, and we expose our brave men and women in the military to torture by enemies who, while they are wrong, believe in the nobility of their cause just as much as we believe in ours.
We have faced enemies and suffered causalities before, and we have always been able to prevail without abandoning our core values and principles. To say that we must now torture, even in selective cases, in order to endure as a great nation is to sacrifice our greatness to fear. That has never been the American way, and it should not be our way going forward.
Doc Holliday
Lake Saint Louis
Ok Doc
How many American lives are worth waterboarding 3 terrorists? None of you bleeding hearts will answer this question. How about you?
You are in the minority Doc
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/03/poll-half-americans-say-torture-ok/?test=latestnews
Hey Doc, I didn’t know you were still kickin. We should get together and tear up the town for old time’s sake.
Doc, not to correct an old buddy from the past, but read a few first hand accounts of our servicemen in the big war. True, many opposing troops were captured and treated much better than our captured guys were treated, but just as many were shot on site instead of dealing with the added baggage of POWs. We haven’t always been holier than thou fighters and I would think that even the rootin tootin Doc Holliday would attest to that.
Now I know what it is to be in a minority. As an ex military person, I do not wish the US to torture prisoners on both moral and pragmatic grounds .
You are entitled to your opinion there HK.
Under no circumstances might you inflict pain on an enemy?
No American life is worth waterboarding even 1 terrorists. It is not what we do. “The tree of freedom must be watered by the blood of patriots.”
Having true freedom means we risk bad things happening. That’s the risk of being free.
So says you Mr. Smith. I’d put a serious hurtin’ on nearly everyone on this planet if they intended to harm or kill one of my children.
Amazed-
The role of a Marine is an interesting one. I STAUNCHLY and steadfastly state that I would not torture a prisoner.
However, within the rules of engagement I would absolutely kill an enemy.
And I think there is morality and honor in both circumstances, and no person who has not been faced with similar choices could understand the personal trauma that goes with both decisions.
You CAN have an opinion, but intellectual understanding is NOT the same as the visceral knowledge that what you do will take ( or save) a life.
HKCHAS
If I remember correctly, you have an 11 year old grandaughter. You cannot honestly tell me, you wouldn’t beat the crap out of someone if your grandaughters life was in danger, and you know you could get info with that beating, that would saver her life.
You will NOT be telling the truth if you say no.
Nazi lawyers justified the German prison camps under the banner of “National Security”.
In 1930, Germany was bankrupt and the German people were starving because the evil Jews monopolized German banks….It was an obvious threat to their economic security and in many cases their physical survival.
So magnum…In 1930, how many German lives were worth a few boxcars of Jews headed for the gas chambers?