What make makes the enemy the enemy is he is the aggressor who attacked us. WE did not start this war. What tactics he uses are irrelevant to what MAKES him the Enemy. What matters is that we DEFEAT him with as few American lives lost as possible.
Anything the Government can do can be abused. This "logic" is merely the rationalizations of people who think if they JUST ignore this problem it will magically go away.
Based on THIS "logic" we should dismantle the FBI because the Government has abused those powers before. Same with the Border Patrol since someone MAY abuse their powers some day.
To play this "What if" game means you advocate the Government NEVER do ANYTHING because it might someday be abused! It nonsense's pseudo intellectual rationalization and nothing more.
Nothing in life is ever perfect. Demanding Perfection NOW is merely the intellectual cop out of people who want to DO nothing and are vainly thrashing around looking for an excuse to DO nothing.
It is nice feel good sloganeering and phsycobabble to demand we somehow have to live up to higher standards. Too bad the real world does not work like a conflict avoidance seminar. We need to worry about winning. The Blame American First crowd here is merely flail aground desperately for some way to avoid actually having to SUPPORT our efforts to win the war. If they had REAL concerns they could of brought them up to the White House behind the sences. This is cheap Political PR grandstanding and nothing more. This isn't at all about Principals. It about Senate Media whores seeking Junk Media face time.
Just another example of the usual Senate RINO excusing making and rationalization to find a way to avoid having to come out and ACTUALLY SUPPORT the President ONE time.
Unfortunately, your side NEVER bothers to define torture. SO any little third world thug can CLAIM he was tortured because some guard made hims stay up all night. Our enemies know this weakness. They train how to use it. We captured training manuals in Afghanistan telling how to use our own press against us.
Define Torture and we maybe have something to talk about. However the Surrender Now Democrat Lite Republicans NEVER do that. Instead it all happy talk and pseudo intellectual Blame America First sloganeering. Until the Surrender Now Clowns McCain/Warner/Gahrams accurately DEFINES their terms all this sloganeering from them is just is so much absurd noise.
I know we probably wouldn't agree on a definition, but I agree that, as Rice said in her letter to Warner, a definition is necessary if there is to be any progress on this issue.
Of course, another thing that I'd like to know, as a scientist, is whether these defined methods are actually effective. That seems to be a sticking point that even military spokesmen are unsure about. It's one thing sacrificing one's values for the Greater Good, but it helps to know if it's actually worth it.
You're writing style is so hyper it makes me feel short of breath to read it. Decaf might help.
As far as the definition of torture, that's really the trick to the whole issue. Torture is a subjective concept; it isn't a clear crime like murder or arson. The perpetrator, victim, and methods are all variables that aren't absolute. The until you start getting downright medieval, it's hard to know where the line is.
That makes it a very easy word to turn into a weapon. From an English language standpoint, there's no difference between thumbscrews, a mock execution, and harsh language. Some people might consider one, two or all three of these torture. From a linguistic standpoint, they're not necessarily wrong.
There really isn't a good way to solve that issue, other than to treat prisoners in a way that the vast majority of people would see as fair and humane.
And to take far fewer prisoners. That, and executing the al-Qa'ida prisoners we do have, would solve the question of torture. There's no reason to treat prisoners inhumanely; neither is there a reason to avoid a tribunal and justice.