I was watching a special about American POWs in Vietnam. Absolutely horrid. They interviewed the survivors and showed artist's renderings of what sorts of torures were visited upon them. One man featured was James Stockdale. I knew little of the man so I looked him up:
James Stockdale: "He was held as a prisoner of war in the Hoa Lo prison for the next seven years. Locked in leg irons in a bath stall, he was routinely tortured and beaten. When told by his captors that he was to be paraded in public, Stockdale slit his scalp with a razor to purposely disfigure himself so that his captors could not use him as propaganda. When they covered his head with a hat, Stockdale beat himself with a stool until his face was swollen beyond recognition. He told them in no uncertain terms that they would never use him. When Stockdale heard that other prisoners were dying under the torture, he slit his wrists and told them that he preferred death to submission."
That's a hard man. How many men could do that? Would you? I doubt that I could. How he endured is beyond my reckoning.
The program should be given wide availabilty and coverage. It reaffirms our need to keep our hands clean in this war. I don't want my nation to have the stain of torture. There is much arguement about what is happening at Guantanamo Bay and whether or not we're in the torture business. The problem is one of definitions. Liberals define it so widely as to defy any limits and Right wingers over correct.
I object to torture not out of love or even concern for terrorists and their ilk but rather because I don't believe it's reliable or moral. That said, coercion and forceful interrogation is not torture. New restrictions make it impermissable to keep subjects awake and talking for any length of time. Previously, as long as the interrogator was awake, he was allowed to keep the detainees awake for the same amount of time. Seems fair to me. Likewise, preferential treatment is no longer an option. Inmates were granted cells with views of the ocean as a reward for cooperation. Now that is considered "unfair" to the rest of them. Heaven forfend!
There has to be a middle ground. We cannot have an Executive that can suspend any legislation it doesn't like and we can't have the courts and congress hamstring our efforts at interrogation.
James Stockdale: "He was held as a prisoner of war in the Hoa Lo prison for the next seven years. Locked in leg irons in a bath stall, he was routinely tortured and beaten. When told by his captors that he was to be paraded in public, Stockdale slit his scalp with a razor to purposely disfigure himself so that his captors could not use him as propaganda. When they covered his head with a hat, Stockdale beat himself with a stool until his face was swollen beyond recognition. He told them in no uncertain terms that they would never use him. When Stockdale heard that other prisoners were dying under the torture, he slit his wrists and told them that he preferred death to submission."
That's a hard man. How many men could do that? Would you? I doubt that I could. How he endured is beyond my reckoning.
The program should be given wide availabilty and coverage. It reaffirms our need to keep our hands clean in this war. I don't want my nation to have the stain of torture. There is much arguement about what is happening at Guantanamo Bay and whether or not we're in the torture business. The problem is one of definitions. Liberals define it so widely as to defy any limits and Right wingers over correct.
I object to torture not out of love or even concern for terrorists and their ilk but rather because I don't believe it's reliable or moral. That said, coercion and forceful interrogation is not torture. New restrictions make it impermissable to keep subjects awake and talking for any length of time. Previously, as long as the interrogator was awake, he was allowed to keep the detainees awake for the same amount of time. Seems fair to me. Likewise, preferential treatment is no longer an option. Inmates were granted cells with views of the ocean as a reward for cooperation. Now that is considered "unfair" to the rest of them. Heaven forfend!
There has to be a middle ground. We cannot have an Executive that can suspend any legislation it doesn't like and we can't have the courts and congress hamstring our efforts at interrogation.
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