cross-posted from Progressive Junction
From Media Matters:
Let's forgo some of the most convincing and basic arguments against the use of the form of torture known as water-boarding. Never mind that it has been well documented that it doesn't work, that we are a supposedly civilized society that follows the rule of law, that our enemies will believe themselves justified in torturing our citizens and captured heroes, that the number "3" which is propagandized by the perpetrators is most likely a lie, or that the act is a blatant war crime according to the Geneva Convention. Those arguments have been hashed and rehashed ad infinitum. No, the problem here is with right wing hacks who try to justify this egregious violation of humanity by the rarity of its occurrence. As if only raping three times, or murdering three times, or stealing three times makes those things any less despicable, contemptible, or unlawful.
Either the act is lawful or it is not. Either it is immoral or it is not. There is no caveat or exception to the definition, just as there is no caveat or exception to the definition of rape. In fact, a fitting exercise for these unabashed inhumane apologists would be to replace the word torture with the word rape, because after all isn't one just a form of the other and vice versa?
The United States government has only raped three people.
Every time we hear torture or water-board we should replace them with the word rape. Maybe then these miscreants will understand the intensity and the potency of the violations of human decency and international law that they are supporting. And for those who commit the act or order it, those who are the most responsible for the shame we feel as a civilized society, as a nation of laws-- They deserve nothing less than our most vicious contempt, and our most steadfast justice.