Posted on 09/27/2006 6:52:58 AM PDT by rellimpank
It’s time to discuss torture, and just what exactly isn’t.
When confronted with the assertion that the Soviet Union and the United States were moral equivalents, William F. Buckley responded that if one man pushes an old lady into an oncoming bus and another man pushes an old lady out of the way of a bus, we should not denounce them both as men who push old ladies around.
In other words, context matters
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
Yes, it would effect a large number of innocents...but people here on visas are by definition our guests, and we can un-invite them any time we like.
Yes, it's racial profiling (or, more accurately, religious profiling), and yes, it'll never happen. Sorry about that. Not much I can do about it.
Exactly my point.
Our pilots that were shot down over North Vietnam endured incredible torture. The North Vietnamese could break any of them and did. The code of the pilots was to resist up to the point they thought they would be killed. Some of our brave men resisted past that point and were tortured to death. They were able to break them and get information. They were not able to "turn them" against out great nation.
Torture applied correctly does work.
I agree, taking the moral high ground and remaining the good guys is extremely important.
When you reach an absurd conclusion like the one you've just come to, you know one of two things is true:
1. The topic you're considering really is absurd, or:
2. Your reasoning is flawed.
Be that as it may, be assured that "...these people care more about terrorists then the lives of their fellow human beings" really is an absurd conclusion. Personally, I doubt that those you speak of are really quite that insane.
My mistake. They really ARE absurd!
No doubt, to a certain extent. But, what the CIA and other US intelligence use isn't torture, ala the Vietnamese. It is non damaging coercion, and it works also. It is stupid to remove these techniques from use when the stakes are so high.
these people are falling all over themselves whining about gitmo, fawning over al quida,and saying we should play nice.
Having the moral high ground is not going to bring back 3000,14000,or 25000 dead due to a terrorist attack and neither are McCain,pelosi, and everyone else trying to make the USA fight with both hands tied
But one can't "debate" policy issues any more. Because one side of the argument stands for mere obstruction and is, thus, incapable of arguing for an alternative.
Moreover, the minority "always knows best". Therefore, further argument is unnecessary.
I agree with your assessment with regard to the lefty-libs you mention. They're not interested in moral high ground anyway...all they want to do is snipe at the current administration.
I am in total agreement with you. The use of means that are considered classical torture should not be used with this one caveat, only if all else fails and it is a matter of extreme national security. I would suspect with professional interrogation it would never go to that extreme. However, the individual being interrogated must think that any extreme can be used. This is part of the psychology of the interrogation.
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