Topic: General
The other day, it was reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross has reported that the United States of America- "my country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty"- has systematically used at least moderate torture during interrogation of "unlawful combatants" captured during the War Against International Terrorism and thereafter held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba... the ICRC is correct-- what the U.S. is doing in "Get Down G't'mo" IS torture and no sugar-coating can possibly define it otherwise!
The Constitution of the United States, in its 8th Amendment- part of what we Americans call "the Bill of Rights"- specifically forbids "cruel and unusual punishment", yet there are far too many former officers of the American intelligence and military communities who are only too willing to become "torture shills" in their respective capacities as "talking heads" for the various cable news networks and other televised public affairs programs on this side of the Atlantic: these being people who most sorely wish to, in their rather twisted vision of how best to deal with post-9/11 reality, make torture- of however mild a type- that much more palatable, possibly eventually acceptable- heck, even (dare I say it? Dare! Dare!) "sexy"! They attack organizations such as the ICRC and Amnesty International as anti-Law of War, as only interested in taking on Terrorism as a "mere" law enforcement issue...
well, guess what? Terrorism IS a law enforcement issue (and not a "mere" one at that!)-- after all, terrorists are- indeed- criminals, criminals of the worst kind... and the actions of terrorists are, therefore, criminal acts which are, in the main, best handled AS criminal acts, albethey of the most heinous kind imaginable... but, if you are going to take them on as criminal acts, you have to also then follow the rules of Due Process once you have the perpetrators in custody, else it is all abject hypocrisy...
in addition, to do any less only serves to give the terrorist enemy ever more ammunition to be used in more easily recruiting whole new generations of terrorists... if you are going to preach Democracy, Liberty and the Rule of Law, then you yourself have to willingly embrace that same Rule of Law...
and America, right now, seems to be falling well short of doing so!
Posted by the graying champion
at 7:40 PM EST
