John over at Powerline posits that Torture vs. not is a 'policy difference'.
I beg to differ. More over the fold.
John's article, entitled "Criminalizing Conservatism" is about as specious a load of bunk as I have ever heard. The meat of his argument is this:
The idea of prosecuting a lawyer because a wrote a legal analysis with which the current Attorney General disagrees is so outrageous that I can't believe it would be seriously considered.
This is completely ridiculous. A policy difference is whether or not there should be an additional tax on cigarettes, whether or not banks should be regulated and to what degree, or whether or not we should engage in dialogue with our enemies. Torture, on the other hand, is illegal. Always has been, and hopefully always will be.
Let's not mince words - torture is a form of rape. And some of these prisoners were raped over and over and over again. Is it any wonder that Jose Padilla's mind was shattered to the point where he wasn't capable of assisting in his own defense?
The last people the United States prosecuted for torture were executed. Not only that, one of the specific charges leveled against them was waterboarding. If the previous administration was so intellectually lazy as to not have researched that, then tough nuggets. Ignorance of the law is not a defense. Are we a nation of laws, or a nation of men?
I challenge anyone who thinks that waterboarding isn't torture to have it done to them. If, after that experience, you can say that it wasn't torture, then I'll respect your opinion.
These are trying times for America. The far right is trying to equate attacks on torturers as attacks on conservatism itself. Let me make this very clear: If you use torture or authorized its use anywhere down your chain of command, YOU ARE A CRIMINAL, regardless of your party affiliation, religion, or military rank. Being told to torture someone is an illegal order, and you are not required to obey it. If you do, you have failed not only in your duty to the United States, but the honor of whatever service to which you belong.
If being a conservative means supporting torture, then it's time for the movement to die, and for something better to take it's place.