Cowardly lawyers across America are outraged at the Department of Justice memos authorizing torture and the suspension of civil rights by the Bush Administration. And they wait until Bush is out of office to say it as loud as possible.
The contents of memos written by John Yoo have been in the public domain for years. Only now are members of our esteemed legal community are getting up in arms. Where were they when it was a real risk to speak out?
Let me tell you something. When I was fired from the CIA as a contractor for using my classified blog to denounce the practice of torture and waterboarding in particular, I was told that everything I had ever read and everything I had ever written would be examined for criminal activity and forwarded for possible criminal prosecution. And that's what I've had hanging over my head for two years. The only reason I was in that precarious position is that I crossed the Bush Administration who openly threatened me with a political prosecution.
And I would do it all again. Waterboarding is torture, and torture is wrong. Not to mention stupid, shortsighted and ineffective.
So you will forgive my disdain for the lawyers who find their consciences late in the game.
You can read references to the Torture Memos in previous blog posts of mine back in 2006. You will see that the legal reasoning was available for outrage even then.
http://econo-girl.blogspot.com/2006/09/torture-memos.html
http://econo-girl.blogspot.com/2006/09/torture-memos_15.html
torture, waterboarding, torture, waterboarding, torture memo, john yoo, berkely law school, war crimes, Bush, Bush Administration, DOJ, DOJ torture memo
3 comments:
So then what now?
Is there any chance you can take action over what happened?
Do not underestimate the power of torture. The purpose of torture is not to cause pain but to break the enemy psychologically, to reduce him to nothing more than a living, dependent slave. It is not ineffective, and the idea that it is "wrong" is a fairly recent development in society. Don't think what society tells you to think. Think practically, and think for the good of your country and humanity (even if that means being a little "inhumane".) The greater good always, ALWAYS, requires sacrifice of lives, wealth, and bleeding-heart senses of morality. To truly help humanity, you must first lose part of your "humanity." It is the first test of selflessness anyone must face, and it is a big test because most people enjoy "being human" for no reason other than they feel good.
There are other ways to acquire information than through the use of torture. Whether it is inhumane or not is merely a relative judgment. However, since most people disagree with torture, it is probably best that the government finds a more popular method for acquiring information. If torture saves innocent lives, then I believe it's justified because innocent life is worth more than freedom from pain for someone who did something. However, again, there are other ways to acquire information and those ways should be used first, with torture as a last resort. Be careful what you label as the "greater good." Remember, Hitler thought his ideas were for the greater good and his ideas required the sacrifice of much life and wealth and he promoted "selflessness" more than any other leadership figure (not saying he was a good one) I know. Anyway, back to torture, it should only be used as a last resort, but it's better than innocent people dying.
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