For all of my grievances against the Republican machine in the last several years (a mismanaged war sold on false pretenses, fiscal profligacy, negligent occupations in both Afghanistan and Iraq, blurring the lines between church and state, and forsaking the common good in order to maintain a small but devoted political cadre) nothing causes me more sadness and anger than the party's general equivocation or outright endorsement of torture in the course of our military campaigns. It is nothing short of heinous.
Earlier this week, the GOP candidates for the 2008 presidential election were posed an intriguing question. The following is from The Washington Post:
The scenario posited by questioner Brit Hume supposed that, after suicide attacks in several U.S. cities, a group of attackers believed to know about further strikes was captured off the coast of Florida and taken to Guantanamo. "How aggressively would you interrogate . . . ?"John McCain was the only one of the ten to have explicitly stated that torture is unacceptable. The other candidates dithered, equivocated, or worse acclaimed the value of acts of torture. Rudy Giuliani (who Andrew Sullivan mused could become an American Vladimir Putin if elected) offered that he would tell interrogators to use "every method they could think of."
But to me the most scandalous response came from Mitt Romney. What he said was appalling. Again from the Post:
Mitt Romney, noting that "some people" have said we ought to close Guantanamo, boasted that "we ought to double Guantanamo," presumably doubling the international damage. He added that he liked to have suspects in Guantanamo because "they don't get the access to lawyers they get when they're on our soil."The question of torture is existential. It cuts at the heart of who we are as Americans and what this republic stands for. To be so glib as to suggest that Guantanamo ought to be expanded when even the current administration is trying to find a way to shut it down is shocking. Whatever Mitt Romney is, he is definitely unready for the stark moral choices a President must face. Since the GOP is unwilling to take a firm stand, let me offer one: America is a beacon of democracy and good government.These are the principles upon which this nation was founded, and we must always strive to attain them. Therefore, we do not torture.This is a position I am willing to live by, and die by as need be. As a voter, I will not support a party that is silent on the matter of torture.
2 comments:
This makes me sad. Torture is not an American value and that it is connected and defended by people who are our leaders or/and want to be our leaders, is disturbing.
I seem to remember in the wake of 9/11 a lot said about how we cannot allow the terrorists to change our way of life. I'm glad to see how well we're doing.
9/11 was a terrible, unjustifiable, evil attack. However, it was also an opportunity.
In the aftermath a wave of good will to America spread around the world, even here in Europe. This could have been used to truly change the world for the better. Instead the political right has twisted the attack into a hammer with which to beat the infidel in their jihad (i.e. Muslim unbelievers). Some of the rhetoric from the Christian right bears striking similarities to that of the islamo-fascists.
The true tragedy of 9/11 is that these poor people died for nothing.
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