Op-Ed: No Defense for Torture

Torture, in the name of defense, is an offense against everything for which our soldiers have fought and died for more than two centuries.

America is known as the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is a country based upon principles laid out by our founding fathers in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. One of those principles is that no one, not a King, not a President, not even a Vice President, is above the rule of law. That’s what we all learned in school; it’s why we love our country. White House Torture Memos are Traitorous The recently released memos detailing the permissions given for forceful interrogations of suspected terrorists demonstrate a flagrant betrayal of all these principles. The use of these harsh techniques against suspected terrorists defies several of the basic principles upon which America was founded. We believe as a nation that everyone deserves due process under the law. That means a free and fair trial. We do not believe that the ends justify the means, especially if it means betraying our own morality.

Waterboarding is Torture, Plain and Simple Certainly we want to do our utmost to protect our citizens from attacks like those of 9/11, but there are limits. Torturing is beyond those limits and make no mistake about it, waterboarding and many of the other means of forced interrogation described in the released memos is torture, plain and simple. I am not convinced that the information extracted through torture could not have been extracted in any other fashion. I am not convinced that torture was the only way to prevent further terrorist attacks, but let’s carry the principle to its logical extreme. If it is okay to torture to prevent terrorist attacks pre-emptively, then let’s see what can be done to dramatically reduce the numbers of Americans killed by other means of violence. The Next Step toward Saving American Lives? The FBI reports that 16,929 people in the United States were murdered in 2007. That’s a very big number. So it should call for drastic action, right? According to FBI statistics, fully 64% of those murders were committed by men, 7% by women and the balance by unknown perpetrators. Clearly, if we are to prevent the deaths of innocent Americans at the hands of blood-thirsty murderers, all men need to be rounded up and sequestered in internment camps in Guantanamo Bay. This simple police action would reduce murder by a tremendous amount in this country and would save lives. Sure, we’d be holding some innocent men along with the guilty, but the important thing is saving lives right? We could eliminate insider trading by locking up all stockbrokers, and most theft by locking up the poor and under-educated. The Bedrock of American Society We don’t take actions like these because America is built on the rule of law. We believe it is a bigger crime to strip away the rights of an innocent man than to let a guilty one go free. We believe that every man and woman is endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, and that no government has the right to infringe those rights without just cause and due process under the law. These principles are the bedrock of our society and the foundation of our country. They are the very reason that our country exists. And lest we forget, these principles, represented by our American flag, are the reasons that generations of American soldiers have fought and died for our country and still do today. Morality does not Retreat under Threat By standing up for these principles, we honor the contribution of every American soldier past and present. It is easy to espouse noble principles in times of peace, when we are not under threat, but it is more important to rally around America’s honor and closely follow our collective moral compass when we are afraid of being attacked. If fear can make us abandon our morality, then we have no morality at all. There is a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty in New York City which reads: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” That statement comes from one of our founding fathers directly. Benjamin Franklin wrote that in 1755. It was bravery like that upon which this country was founded. It is bravery like that that our soldiers show every day in defense of our nation. Indeed, I believe it is bravery like that which is found in the heart and soul of every American if you look deep, but that bravery was absent when the Bush administration allowed their legal counsels to draft memos permitting torture. Fighting the Good Fight There is never a moral justification for torture, even if it is the easiest way to make some people talk. The best course of action is seldom the easiest. Any good military man will tell you that it is best to fight from high ground. America does not fear the fight, but as Americans, we must insist that we fight from the moral high ground if we are to be ultimately victorious. Souces: Crime in the United States: fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/offenses/violent_crime/murder_homicide.html FBI Expanded Homicide Data Tables: fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_03.html Bartleby’s Quotations: bartleby.com/73/1056.html