I've never claimed to be a "moral giant," but it doesn't take a moral giant to understand that torture is wrong. It just is. One visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial museum is more than enough to teach most of us that simple truth. So I've been wondering just why the administration seems so determined to hold open the torture option against overwhelming public opinion and the express wishes of a near-unanimous U.S. Senate. After all, we've fought wars before against brutal regimes who used terrorism and torture (see the link above or consider Vietnam). But even in the worst of those conflicts, the nation never articulated anything evan vaguely resembling an official sanction of torture. Now the administration balks at inscribing in law a prohibition against torture. Why?
A post on Common Dreams today offers the best theories I've read.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Have you seen the cover of the Nov. 21 issue of Newsweek? "The Truth About Torture" by Sen. John McCain (And Why The White House Doesn't Want to Hear It)". In case you haven't seen it, it's a big ol' article. I started to read it but, to tell you the truth, I couldn't get past the first page. It made me feel ill.
I suspect a lot of Americans feel like this when the subject of torture comes up in the media. They want to trust the govt. to do the thinking (and do the right thing) on their behalf because they can't bear to think about it.
I don't think this issue will be one of Newsweek's bigger sellers.
Post a Comment