Torture – Why Are We Legalizing It?

If I were an American soldier captured by terrorists, how do you think I would feel when my captors quoted the Golden Rule and told me that my own Commander-in-Chief had justified what they were about to do to me?   The terrorist tells me, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.   Since President Bush has authorized our mistreatment by his CIA, he has also authorized us to treat you inhumanly.”

Why is the President trying to lower this nation to the level of the terrorists?   The only difference between what the President is proposing and what the terrorists have done is that they broadcast it to the world, while he hides it from the world.

In case you haven’t heard or seen the news concerning a meeting on Oct 20, 2005, where The New York Times reported, “C.I.A. Director, Porter J. Goss, urged Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who wrote the amendment [against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment], to support an exemption for the agency, arguing that the president needed maximum flexibility in dealing with the global war on terrorism, said two government officials who were briefed on the meeting. ”

For more on authorizing the recent attempt at expanding our nation’s authority to abuse human rights:

Bush seeks to exempt CIA from bill barring abuse of detainees

W. House Looks To Weaken Abuse Ban | October 25, 2005 19:30:05

U.S.: License to Abuse Would Put CIA Above the Law ”

Again I ask, why is this happening? It’s because torture is the easy way out.   Maybe if we had a leader capable of considering the more difficult and more complex options, or someone willing to accept the idea that there are options, we could actually make some serious progress.   But the harder solutions take time and some of us don’t have the patience.

Even the war on Iraq was an easy way out after the President became impatient with the difficulties of finding OBL in Afghanistan.