Posted on 05/21/2004 10:06:25 PM PDT by Lando Lincoln
Now political correctness has bled over into how we interrogate terrorists. Great.
Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez has issued an edict that prohibits any and all kinds of coercive interrogation practices in Iraq. Obviously this comes in the wake of what the media has termed the ''pictures of abuse'' from the Abu Ghraib prison. But what many people seem to have forgotten is the fact many of these ''detainees'' are the same thugs and butchers that used to perpetrate Saddam Hussein’s real atrocities. It would seem we are dolling out kindness to those who would kill us.
Before I go any further I will address those who are bound to criticize me for my thoughts on this matter. I am referring to those gentle beings whose peace-loving manner is to immediately place the label of Nazi or fascist onto those who deal in the realm of reality rather than ideology. While everything would be wonderful, bright and compassionate in a world that played by the rules, the fact of the matter is we live in a world that has evil as one of its components. This has been proven beyond a shadow of doubt by the intermittent murders of innocents at the hands of those who practice terror. The murders of Richard Pearl, the four Blackwater contractors in Fallujah, and now Nicholas Berg are all examples of the level of barbarism terrorists will use to achieve their goal--which is the domination of the region. The blame for these acts can only rest upon the shoulders of those who actually perform them for after all we do still possess free will as human beings. And when a group of mongrels can use the elimination of human life for shock value, we must all find ourselves in agreement that we are not playing by any set of rules; at least they are not and that is of their own free will.
But for the handful of deviants that played out their pornographic fantasies on film, the United States and coalition forces have conducted interrogations of Iraqi detainees under the guidelines and constraints of the Geneva Conventions. Conversely, the terrorists that routinely kidnap and murder civilians, wage war from the sanctity of holy sites, and otherwise manipulate what could be described as the moral ethic possessed and employed by the United States Armed Forces do not adhere to the guidelines and constraints of any document, let alone a set of moral ethics. The only rule the terrorists--our enemies--abide by is the rule of ''win at all cost.'' When one looks at both sides in comparison, it is easy to see that the battlefield is extremely skewed.
Now comes the decision to skew the field of battle even more.
The questions need to be asked, how are we--the good guys--supposed to extract information that would undoubtedly save lives from those who are willing to die for the ''glory'' of their cause? How are men and women charged with gathering information that would save lives supposed to achieve that task when they are sent in handicapped from the beginning? Tickle torture? Calling their mothers names? Playing ''keep away'' with their prayer beads?
The American public watches without indignation for Detective Sipowicz from ''NYPD Blue'' to use interrogation techniques that would now have a military interrogator court-martialed if applied to the detainees in Iraq. We accept the premise of sometimes having to augment the rules in an effort to get vital information when the circumstances are that of fiction and entertainment. But when it comes to actually saving the lives of our own men and women in uniform, and consequently our own lives, we fall prey to the constraints of the liberal world and its political correctness. While the liberal world is chock full of hypocrisies, this hypocrisy will most certainly cost lives. We can only pray that the price will not be extracted in the urban centers of the United States.
Accepted forms of interrogation for detained combatants, as embraced by the civilized free world, are no longer in the U.S. interrogators arsenal of tactics. They are slowly being replaced by the gentle ''coercion'' found acceptable by the liberal-left, the same groups who enjoy portraying our president as a Nazi. The same groups who rail against the very country that affords them the wherewithal to ''rail'' in the first place. The same groups that stood steward to the dumbing-down of our education system. The same groups that have embraced the idea of government sponsored entitlement over the idea of self-sufficiency.
Perhaps it is the all-access way this military operation is now being viewed but it is clear, the generals are no longer the only ''cooks in the kitchen.'' With the war still being fought the interloping of political correctness has entered into the fray. Politicians in the United States, enabled by the antiwar biased reporting many in the mainstream media have embraced, have made the same mistake they made in the waning days of the Vietnam War. The politicians have somehow found a way into the process. As those of us who were aware at the time of the Vietnam War can testify, no good can come of it. Politicians are now asserting their influence where the generals should reign supreme. There is trouble in ''River City.''
Ironically, the same people who insisted on the mistakes of the Vietnam Era--Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and John F. Kerry--are the same ones leading the ''mistake parade'' today; the same ones who no doubt perpetrated the idea of political correctness upon the citizens of the United States in the first place. It can be argued that we should not be foolish enough to allow the same mistakes to happen again. We can actually do so by rebuking these liberal bastions of hypocrisy in the upcoming election. We can do so by voting against political correctness in November.
Frank Salvato is the managing editor for TheRant.us. He receives e-mail at oped@therant.us.
Oh this is good!
Returning soldiers by the dozens are saying they are afraid to engage those who are shooting at them because the media is on every corner watching every move they make. This is sooo out of hand, and we have to find a way to get control of this situation before it is too late for all of us!
Our country appears to have gone bonkers Lando! It is pretty frightening when we are considered to be more upset by panties on the head of a terrorist then a head being chopped off by a terrorist!
BTW....your letter to Dubya must have inspired him. He's "speechifying" on Monday! All the best,
Lando
Maybe we should extract information from prisoners by performing sex acts on them, but backing off at "just the right moment" until they give up and spill the beans.
Would that be acceptable to all our critics? I honestly can't think of any other alternatives.
Hey, you didn't ping me!
I have less time, so I don't post as much as I used to, but I do notice the great articles you post and sometimes ping me to. Please continue. Thanks. :)
Note some related articles:
Punishment and Amusement (Iraqi prisoners were being punished)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1140213/posts
"The documents show that MPs staged the photographs to discipline the prisoners for acts ranging from rioting to an alleged rape of a teenage boy in the prison."
And
AMERICA'S ELITE HURTING NATION'S RESOLVE IN IRAQ (MUST READ)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1140080/posts
The media would be singing a mighty different tune if one of their own occupied the WH. And if Kerry happens to pull off the improbable, expect a big shift in their attitude -- they're only anti-war when it serves their (partisan) agenda. Remember when they were cheering Clinton's bombing of thousands of innocent Christians in the Balkans? This is all about Presidential politics, nothing more.
Thank you congresspeople and the media for hamstringing intelligence gathering. How are coalition forces to obtain information in the capture OBL or his many lieutenants? Or other islamic terrorists? Knock on doors and politely request directions? (SARC)
we still haven't been told if the tactics worked!! I guess they must have because we got Sodam Insane!!
Thanks for the links. I do hope you understand my post was laced with severe sarcasm.
My patience with the elitists is growing thin.
This "liberation" fighting seems too complex if not strategically impossible. Especially with an enemy that wears no uniform and uses ambulances, hospitals, schools, mosques, women, children, wedding parties as off-limit zones of safety. Add to that, the Quran says it's OK to lie to infidels...There's not even common ground with respect to truth telling. Thanks to the toxic groundwork laid by our suicidal media, every future terrorist held prisoner has the option to lie and will cry about abuse or torture. I was ill when I heard, during the Abu Ghraib hearings that the prisoners would possibly be eligible for "compensation". What next, class action suits? I truly don't know how soldiers can be expected to win future wars under these insane, contradictory ground rules. I really worry about an unnecessary number of future military casualties. It's very depressing...
To hell with intelligence...take no prisoners.
"What next, class action suits?"
Handing them Democrat absentee voter registration cards.
You are correct..It is Presidential politics but it is different this time. Dirty politics against our nation is destroying it and the future for our children. This hour in our nation's history is unique and crucial. We cannot behave as we have in the past. We must present a united front, self-confidence and loyalty. All this self-criticism plays well in the halls of academic psychological departments but it will not work when one is in battle with uncivilized barbarians. We must leave the decisions about how to fight this and win to the military leaders who are the experts. They are not perfect but they are experienced and trained and on the front line. The last thing we need to do is to allow "arm-chair" experts with a short-sighted political agenda to assess every military event. If one had a disease which might lead to death, one would not destroy the ability of the medical community holding the only answer and treatment for the cure. Granted the treatment might have uncomfortable side effects but those would be tolerable when the alternative is to die from the disease. This is exactly how I see our involvement in Iraq. If we do not use the only treatment effective against the disease of terrorism, though that treatment certainly will bring uncomfortable side effects, we will be doomed to succumb to the ravages of the disease.
Lando
Lando
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