Friday, April 24, 2009

John Kerry is Half-Right About Torture


In an interview today with Huffington Post, Senate foreign relations committee chairman John Kerry said that he was concerned the release of photos depicting the abusive treatment of detainees in U.S. custody could become a "propaganda tool" for terrorist organizations.

It is true that photos of barbarian acts of torture could be used by terrorists to promote anti-American sentiments.

But only to the extent that those who ordered torture go unpunished.

If Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and the others who ordered torture are allowed to go free, then that says loud and clear to the world:

"WE PROTECT TORTURERS. WE SAY ONE THING IN PUBLIC, BUT WE PROTECT AND NOD AND WINK AT THE BARBARIANS WHO HAVE DONE THIS TO BROWN-SKINNED PEOPLE."
But if the sickos who ordered torture are brought to justice, then the world will look at these acts as an unfortunate chapter in America's history that has been closed.

We will be looked on as a people who strayed, but have returned to our roots and to stand up for human rights and justice.

Terrorists would not be able to use the torture pictures as a recruiting tool if the U.S. political and justice systems and the American people stand up and shout "THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE!", and if we admitted our errors.

at

1 comment:

  1. UnknownApril 25, 2009 at 9:48 AM

    It makes the add by the terrorists pretty cheap to make. Run the clip of GW Bush with his snarly little lips saying "The US does not torture" then run the pictures of torture with a one word caption "REALLY"

    Case is made the US is led by a liar and our word is no good. Well done Bush and Co.

    ReplyDelete

→ Thank you for contributing to the conversation by commenting. We try to read all of the comments (but don't always have the time).

→ If you write a long comment, please use paragraph breaks. Otherwise, no one will read it. Many people still won't read it, so shorter is usually better (but it's your choice).

→ The following types of comments will be deleted if we happen to see them:

-- Comments that criticize any class of people as a whole, especially when based on an attribute they don't have control over

-- Comments that explicitly call for violence

→ Because we do not read all of the comments, I am not responsible for any unlawful or distasteful comments.