The Debate On Torture

To be quite frank about this, I am not sure why Americans are debating whether or not we should be torturing our prisoners.  Throughout history, atrocities have been committed during times of war and conflict, but as Americans we have always held ourselves to a higher standard.  Or at least that is what I would like to believe.

The impulse to exact revenge is certainly understandable, but civilized societies do not rely on this principle to administer justice.  In ancient times, the “eye for eye” code resulted in one tribe or clan taking out revenge on another.  They in turn would attack their tormentors in kind.  The never ending cycle of violence that results from this destroys order and civilization for all parties concerned.

We should always be vigilant in defending our country, but mistreatment of individual prisoners should never be condoned.  As a nation, we have signed on to Geneva Convention treaties that layout standards for how we should treat prisoners of war.  Attempting to circumvent these standards by calling prisoners “detainees” is detestable.  It is a bad policy, and should be changed.

To argue about the fine points of what qualifies as torture is equally as bad.  The previous administration said that water boarding is not torture.  The current administration seems to want to change the policy and not have water boarding of prisoners any longer.  I agree with the suggested change.  We should change our policy to be more humane, and move on.

Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress want to use this as an opportunity for grandstanding.  For some unknown reason, some Republicans are obliging.  If it is not bad enough that some Republicans are actually defending acts of torture, Democrats are being caught in lies saying they did not know it was taking place! (Google Nancy Pelosi and water boarding for news stories on this).

The politicians are trying to turn this into a left-wing vs. right-wing issue.  For most Americans, it is an issue of right and wrong.  It is not a partisan issue.  Trying to bash Bush does not help us move forward.  Those that engaged in these policies in the past were misguided.  Hearings and possible prosecutions will not be the answer.

We need to RESPECT all people.  Even the brown-skinned people who practice a different religion.  If we accept torture of anyone, it won’t be long before the government practices it on everyone.

The U.S. military has certain schools and training that service men and women go through where they might experience “water boarding”.  One justification for doing it to prisoners has been that we do it to our own military members.  This is wrong-headed.  The conditions of training do not mirror those of the real-world application of the practice.  Recently disclosed documents show water boarding being done 80 times and more to the same prisoners.  It is my personal belief that there is a different motivation going on than just the simple extraction of “actionable intelligence”.  When you keep doing it that many times, it is about something else.  Our military service members are not routinely subjected to this technique that many times, and over an indefinite period.

Recently, I have been engaged in some debate on another blog about this issue.  While I disagree with some of the comments from others, I respect their patriotism and determination to see our country protected.  Our debate is about the techniques used, and in a larger context, what our  overall values system should be.

The following video gives just a little incite into what water boarding is.  If you think it is alright for us to do this in government prisons outside of the U.S.; then why not at the police station in your local town?  Just something to think about.