I'm reasonably certain this has been discussed here before but I need to get my two cents in.I am livid, incensed and just plain angry.There was Dick Cheney talking to the serious people in the village we call Washington this weekend on TV.What was he saying?
The gist of it is this:
“These are not torture. These are techniques that we know work. That debate is over. It worked. It got the intelligence. It wasn’t torture. It was legal.
I have had enough.Calling torture enhanced interrogation is an affront to my sensibilities!I am a veteran of the Army, and I have great respect for our history.There's a good reason American policy has always excluded torture.It has to do with George Washington.Some Hessian (German) Mercenaries hired by the British to oppose our revolution were being pretty rough on American prisoners.Washington's response?
It seems that after the battle, the Continentals were preparing to run some of the British Empire's German mercenaries through what they called the "gauntlet." General Washington discovered this and intervened... Washington then issued an order to his troops regarding prisoners of war:
'Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren who have fallen into their hands,' he wrote. In all respects the prisoners were to be treated no worse than American soldiers; and in some respects, better. Through this approach, Washington sought to shame his British adversaries, and to demonstrate the moral superiority of the American cause.
This forward thinking policy by the father of our country paid dividends that maybe even he hadn't anticipated.
In the worst of times - when foreign troops literally occupied American soil, torturing and murdering American patriots - and few believed that the cause of the revolution could ultimately win against the might of the British Empire, the first Commander in Chief of the U.S.A. set the precedent that this society is to lead even our enemies by "benignant sympathy of [our] example." To win the war against the occupying army of Redcoats, the American revolutionaries needed right on their side.
And it worked. Many of the German Hessians in fact joined the revolutionaries in their fight against the English and stayed here in America to be free when the war was won.
The most common quote from Washington regarding America's policy:
"Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner]. . . I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country."
Torture not only dehumanizes the victim but calls into the question the humanity of the torturer as well.Does it work?Common sense says no.A person will say any damn thing to make it stop.Cheney I suspect was not looking for good information, in fact the opposite.Why he continues to go on TV and endorse torture is beyond me.Is he worried about how history will judge him.Hey Dick that ship has sailed.Be glad you not in lock down right now.
One last thought I am sick to death of the euphemism "enhanced interrogation" Calling it that doesn't make it anything but torture.I also would like to know how it is the the serious people in the village can continue to allow anyone to talk about torture like there is any legitimate argument in favor of it.Are we a civilized society or not?
Thanks for listening.