Matthew 25:40: King James Version
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Verily:
The vice president's lawyer advocated what was considered the memo's most radical claim: that the president may authorize any interrogation method, even if it crosses the line of torture. U.S. and treaty laws forbidding any person to "commit torture," that passage stated, "do not apply" to the commander in chief, because Congress "may no more regulate the President's ability to detain and interrogate enemy combatants than it may regulate his ability to direct troop movements on the battlefield."
That same day, Aug. 1, 2002, Yoo signed off on a second secret opinion, the contents of which have never been made public. According to a source with direct knowledge, that opinion approved as lawful a long list of specific interrogation techniques proposed by the CIA -- including waterboarding, a form of near-drowning that the U.S. government classified as a war crime in 1947. The opinion drew the line against one request: threatening to bury a prisoner alive.
Here's a bit of personal background so you know where I'm coming from: I grew up on a small farm, baling hay, picking corn, playing in the woods and the creeks, swimming in the pond. I played football and had a reputation as a hard-hitting defensive back and I played pickup games of basketball with a hoop nailed to the side of the barn. I had a childhood straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. I grew up believing in the United States.
From early on, I knew the country was not perfect. I was a youngster during the Vietnam War. Some of my earliest memories are images of that dreadful conflict.
People who love with a blind eye to flaws do not truly love, but instead fall for illusions. Let me be clear on this point, I had no illusions about the United States. Yet I still grew up loving my country. I watched the fireworks with awe during the Bicentennial in 1976. I wept when the USA Hockey team performed a miracle in 1980. I don't say the Pledge of Allegiance at events because I took that pledge and I've never broken it and I think it is wrong to repeat these words by rote until they become meaningless: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." Those words should mean something instead of just mindless utterances before a public event. "Justice for all" means not only people have a chance at justice when wrong, but all are held accountable to justice and not above the law.
That's why I found officially sanctioned torture by our highest officials so shocking. This was not the activity worthy of a great nation. Torture was conducted by totalitarian regimes that we viewed as pariah nations.
Yet there is no doubting that our nation did torture people. It certainly was not to gather information. The traditional interrogation methods worked. Those conducting the interrogations did not want to use torture. Torture was approved by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for sadistic reasons so could feel they were "tough" leaders to overcompensate for the fact they both evaded the Vietnam War even though they supported it.
There can be no compromise in torture. I do not care if people believe President Obama risks too much politically. What is the value of winning politically if we lose our soul as a people?
This is not a political fight. This is about doing what is right. This is about defending the United States of America.
From the very beginning of our nation's history, our Founding Fathers opposed torture. As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in 2005:
Every schoolchild knows that Gen. George Washington made extraordinary efforts to protect America's civilian population from the ravages of war. Fewer Americans know that Revolutionary War leaders, including Washington and the Continental Congress, considered the decent treatment of enemy combatants to be one of the principal strategic preoccupations of the American Revolution.
"In 1776," wrote historian David Hackett Fischer in "Washington's Crossing," "American leaders believed it was not enough to win the war. They also had to win in a way that was consistent with the values of their society and the principles of their cause. One of their greatest achievements ... was to manage the war in a manner that was true to the expanding humanitarian ideals of the American Revolution."
The fact that the patriots refused to abandon these principles, even in the dark times when the war seemed lost, when the enemy controlled our cities and our ragged army was barefoot and starving, credits the character of Washington and the founding fathers and puts to shame the conduct of America's present leadership.
Fischer writes that leaders in both the Continental Congress and the Continental Army resolved that the War of Independence would be conducted with a respect for human rights. This was all the more extraordinary because these courtesies were not reciprocated by King George's armies. Indeed, the British conducted a deliberate campaign of atrocities against American soldiers and civilians. While Americans extended quarter to combatants as a matter of right and treated their prisoners with humanity, British regulars and German mercenaries were threatened by their own officers with severe punishment if they showed mercy to a surrendering American soldier. Captured Americans were tortured, starved and cruelly maltreated aboard prison ships.
Washington decided to behave differently. After capturing 1,000 Hessians in the Battle of Trenton, he ordered that enemy prisoners be treated with the same rights for which our young nation was fighting. In an order covering prisoners taken in the Battle of Princeton, Washington wrote: "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.... Provide everything necessary for them on the road."
John Adams argued that humane treatment of prisoners and deep concern for civilian populations not only reflected the American Revolution's highest ideals, they were a moral and strategic requirement. His thoughts on the subject, expressed in a 1777 letter to his wife, might make a profitable read for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld as we endeavor to win hearts and minds in Iraq. Adams wrote: "I know of no policy, God is my witness, but this - Piety, Humanity and Honesty are the best Policy. Blasphemy, Cruelty and Villainy have prevailed and may again. But they won't prevail against America, in this Contest, because I find the more of them are employed, the less they succeed."
There are ideals worth fighting for and even dying for. Many of our brethren have died throughout our history from Valley Forge to Pickett's Field to the beaches of Omaha to the sky above Shanksville, Pa., for our nation. A nation that condones torture is not a nation worthy of their sacrifices.
There is no other issue more important than this. We DO NOT TORTURE. Those who claim we risk too much cannot point to a single attack thwarted by torture. We risk much more as a people by performing torture than by not resorting to such barbarity.
We are a nation of laws. This is not about retribution. This is about justice. I see that President Obama, despite earlier statements by his staff this week, is open to that. We need the appointment of a special prosecutor and thorough investigations of the crimes.
No offense to President Obama, this is not his decision to make, but rather that of the chief law enforcement officer of the land. Politicization of the Justice Department was one of the biggest failings of the previous administration and President Obama should not be prejudging the issue.
Though administration officials declared that CIA interrogators who followed Justice's legal guidance on torture would not be prosecuted, that does not mean the inquiries are over. Senior Justice Department lawyers and other advisers, who declined to be identified discussing a sensitive subject, say Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. is seriously considering appointing an outside counsel to investigate whether CIA interrogators exceeded legal boundaries-and whether Bush administration officials broke the law by giving the CIA permission to torture in the first place. Even if Holder takes a pass, Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is still pushing for a "truth commission." In a democracy, the wheels of justice grind on-and the president, for good reason under the rule of law, does not have the power to stop them.
I am not in favor of the Lynndie England's being punished as scapegoats for those who drafted the policies. The people who drafted the policies should be the ones to pay for their deeds.
This isn't a losing proposition despite what some claim:
The assertion that "most Americans" don't want investigations -- whether made by media stars to argue against investigations or Obama supporters to justify the immunity the President wants to extend to everyone involved -- is factually false.
A USA Today poll from February -- headlined: "Poll: Most want inquiry into anti-terror tactics" -- found "two-thirds of those surveyed said there should be investigations into allegations that the Bush team used torture to interrogate terrorism suspects and its program of wiretapping U.S. citizens without getting warrants," and "four in 10 favor criminal investigations." A Gallup poll from mid-February found that between 60 to 70% of Americans favor investigations for torture, warrantless eavesdropping and DOJ politicization, and that majorities of Democrats (and more than 40% of all Americans and independents) favor criminal prosecutions. Only small percentages of independents -- between 25-38% -- oppose investigations for each of the three lawbreaking allegations. A Washington Post/ABC News poll from January similarly found that a majority of Americans (50-47%) -- and an overwhelming majority of Democrats (69%) -- believe that the Obama administration should investigate whether the Bush administration's treatment of detainees was illegal. While polls can vary based on how the questions are asked, every poll shows substantial percentages favoring investigations.
Sign the petition here to ask for the appointment of a special prosecutor.
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More of the many posts in long opposition to torture on this site can be found here. |
