Monday, April 24, 2006

"The Dividing Line of Torture"

by Jane Hamsher 4/24/06 - reposted from Firedoglake.

"American captor inflicting Freedom on a prisoner"

"I don’t know how to write about torture being committed by the US government. It’s an incredibly difficult subject to dissect, in large part because it gets to the heart of why most liberal bloggers do what they do. I don’t know many in the liberal blogosphere whose advertising revenues generated in the free market (as opposed to the wingnut welfare system) even pay for the maintenance of their sites, and those very few whose sites cover their costs could inarguably be making much more money doing something else. But there is something so deeply wrong and at such dissonance between the country we grew up to believe in and what this government is now engaged in that its unspoken presence informs every post, every word, even the decision to get up every morning and turn on the computer. To sit back and do nothing while this happens is unthinkable for anyone who genuinely believes in this country and the principles upon which it was founded."

"And there is nothing that reveals the utter moral bankruptcy, the complete dehumanizing vacuousness of the right more than when it steps forward to defend torture and those who petulantly assert their right to engage in it as somehow "patriotic," and call for the elimination of all those who oppose it...."

(Please click HERE for the rest of this article....it's a damned good read)

Is this what Joe Lieberman had in mind with his unrelenting support of Bush's policies in Iraq? At the very least, he helped enable this to happen.

My mind reels at how far this nation has fallen since 9/11. George W. Bush had an opportunity to unite the entire world against terrorism, but wasted all the goodwill we'd been given by invading a soverign nation under false pretenses. I honestly can't say if we'll ever regain the moral high ground we've enjoyed for generations. How ashamed would George Washington or Thomas Jefferson feel if they could see what has happened to their "noble experiment"?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would you rather sit back and watch your brothers and sisters humiliated, tortured, and murdered in orange jump suits? I would much rather have no torture, no murder, no genocide, or anything else evil to write about. But the truth hurts. It happens. Therefore I would rather see evil people tortured to get information if it leads to saving the lives of our brothers and sisters. And by brothers and sisters, I am not merely referring to Americans. I am referring to all the people of the world who relish innocence and harmony. How do you think we find their slimy little friends who continue to plan ways of infecting our societies with death and gruesome acts? Do you think we can simply handcuff them and ask them nicely? You are a fool if you think such is possible. If Bin Laden would have been captured, tortured, interrogated, and it would have stopped the attacks in the U.S., Britain, and Spain, Bali, Iraq, Afghanistan, would you have complained then? Only God knows how many people have been saved thanks to torture. I suggest you take a long hard look at your views if you take offense at being called a fool, and make some changes.

And I also suggest that if you're going to report on it, you should act like a patriot, throw on a pair of fatigues and experience this all firsthand instead of kicking back on your couch and watching it. Wake up! I am over here to protect you, your children, your family, your friends, and all of our futures! Don't be so quick to judge our means if it means saving lives.

CT Bob said...

You're an asshole.