In 1947, a Japanese Officer was convicted by a War Crimes tribunal of
using water-boarding-- torture-- against a U.S. soldier.
>
Amazingly, when threatened with physical torture, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
confessed to numerous crimes. Wow. That's efficient and
effective. Let's use it all the time. We'll get more truth that
way.
Vice President Dick Cheney says that using water-boarding is a
"no-brainer". In his case, that's exactly right.
Up is down and right is
left and water-boarding is not torture.
And we have this from the
White House:
Dana M. Perino, the White House press
secretary, said Democrats were “playing politics” with the waterboarding
issue, noting that Mr. Mukasey had not been briefed on classified
interrogation methods. “I can’t imagine the Democrats would want to hold
back his nomination just because he is a thoughtful, careful thinker who
looks at all the facts before he makes a judgment,” Ms. Perino said.
- New York Times, October 31, 2007.
Ah! If only Mr.
Mukasey were briefed on the facts, he would be able to render an intelligent
opinion on the subject of torture. But until he gets that briefing,
he's not too sure. Did any Democrat think to ask him how he felt about
truncheons or cattle prods? Would he have said, "well, I personally
would find it unpleasant to zap a prisoner in the genitals with a cattle
prod, but I can't say whether it would actually be illegal or not until I
have all the facts." So once Mr. Cheney assures him that this bad guy
has important information that can save American lives-- by golly, give me
that cattle prod, I'll do the deed myself.
I refuse to waste even a
single punctuation mark on the question of whether or not torture of any
kind is morally wrong. I refuse to accept that we have entered an
era-- only 60 years after the defeat of the Nazis-- in which such questions
are seriously debated.
On the other hand, the depressing fact is that many
Democrats-- not most, and not all, but many-- have voted in favor of
legislative fig leaves to cover the potential liability of high ranking
government officials should a future administration actually come to the
shocking, devastating, astounding conclusion that torture should be illegal.
On the other hand, be it noted that the Department of
Defense has issued an official directive (in the Army Field Manual) that
instructs soldiers not to use water-boarding, and the CIA has apparently
asked Bush for permission to not have to use it. Why? Did
these officials suddenly acquire a smidgeon of decency and humanity?
Or did they suddenly realize that a new administration may some day start
investigating crimes committed by officials of a previous administration?
