Why Pelosi's Hypocrisy Matters

Real Clear politics ^ | May 15, 2009 | Charles Krauthammer

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

WASHINGTON -- Earlier this month, I wrote a column outlining two exceptions to the no-torture rule: the ticking time bomb scenario and its less extreme variant in which a high-value terrorist refuses to divulge crucial information that could save innocent lives. The column elicited protest and opposition that were, shall we say, spirited.

And occasionally stupid. Dan Froomkin, writing for washingtonpost.com and echoing a common meme among my critics, asserted that "the ticking time bomb scenario only exists in two places: On TV and in the dark fantasies of power-crazed and morally deficient authoritarians." (He later helpfully suggested that my moral deficiencies derived from "watching TV and fantasizing about being Jack Bauer.")

On Oct. 9, 1994, Israeli Cpl. Nachshon Waxman was kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists. The Israelis captured the driver of the car. He was interrogated with methods so brutal that they violated Israel's existing 1987 interrogation guidelines, which themselves were revoked in 1999 by the Israeli Supreme Court as unconscionably harsh. The Israeli prime minister who ordered, as we now say, this enhanced interrogation explained without apology: "If we'd been so careful to follow the ('87) Landau Commission (guidelines), we would never have found out where Waxman was being held."

Who was that prime minister? Yitzhak Rabin, Nobel Peace laureate. (The fact that Waxman died in the rescue raid compounds the tragedy but changes nothing of Rabin's moral calculus.)

That moral calculus is important. Even John McCain says that in ticking time bomb scenarios you "do what you have to do." The no-torture principle is not inviolable. One therefore has to think about what kind of transgressive interrogation might be permissible in the less pristine circumstance of the high-value terrorist who knows about less imminent attacks. (By the way, I've never seen five seconds of "24.")

[nmh]

Forget hypocrisy.

She’s a flat out LIAR.

Call her what she IS.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Special ping....

******************************EXCERPT****************************

My column also pointed out the contemptible hypocrisy of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is feigning outrage now about techniques that she knew about and did nothing to stop at the time.

[Rocko]

Excellent post. The best piece on the “torture” debate I’ve yet seen.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Pour it on, Chuck!

[nathanbedford]

I prefer to put a finer point on Charles Krauthammer's otherwise persuasive reasoning.

The polls show that what changed was the Democrat party and not so much the American people as a whole. And that is the reason why Nancy Pelosi's hypocrisy is important. The culture of the Democrat party has virtually compelled her to lie to avoid admitting that she did not intervene to stop interrogations which saved American lives. Nancy Pelosi's hypocrisy does not reflect a fear of the American people, but a fear of her own party. And that fear is a real and the rational fear because the party is not rational.

The culture of the Democrat party which has been perverted and twisted to the left is a culture of hate and that hate does not exclude hatred of America. It reflexively believes that America is wrong and will blame America first. It is viscerally detests George Bush because his patriotism is so transparent. They cannot say openly that they hate America (as Michelle Obama inadvertently came close to doing and Barak Obama has adverted by his gestures), they must displace that hatred onto George Bush.

The hatred is so poisonous that they would cheerfully trade national security for partisan advantage against George Bush and his party.

Nancy Pelosi's hypocrisy betrays a very sick pathology which she does well to fear but, alas for her future, she is too stupid to finesse.

[Captain Kirk]

If Krauthammer writes, we pretty much can discount it. He has been wrong since the beginning of time about aeverything. Yes, Chucky, Pelosi is a liar but torture is still wrong.

[Former MSM Viewer]

Ernest...this is a great comparison of our firebombing Germany and civilians during WWII to our squeamishness today to feed a terrorist food that he may not accept...

We better wake up to the evil we are fighting...we better wake up to the fact that this govt is not serious about protecting America from radicalism.

Let me know what you think of this read

The Torture Debate Shows Our Vulnerability to Radical Evil

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1418 ^ | David P. Goldman

Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 9:26:26 AM by ventanax5

Nearly two hundred thousand Americans, military and civilian personnel, were exposed to Iraqi terrorist organizations that routinely employed suicide bombings in order to kill Americans and their supporters. Some of these organizations were supported by Iran, which employed waves of children as human minesweepers in its war with Iraq. These atrocities were motivated by a religion that permits a peaceful interpretation, but cannot refute the cruelest and most violent interpretation. America simply is in no position to expose large numbers of its military and civilian personnel to this sort of horror. Instead we should attempt to quarantine such cultures and expose our own people to them as little as possible. In other words, we should intervene in the Islamic world where urgent American security interests are at stake, but to the minimum extent possible, and with no commitment to determine the civil outcome. We must leave the Muslim world to its own destiny rather than to attempt to engineer a happy ending. And unless Western leaders, religious as well as civic, help their followers to understand the Islamic manifestation of radical evil, the West will continue to be vulnerable

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I guess sacrificing an American city is OK, then ?

[lilylangtree]

She’s misused her power. Take her down!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Be sure to read the comments section after CK’s article! There’s a post there from someone on the inside, who was at the Kobar bombing. Very informative!

[GreyMountainReagan]

“Yes, Chucky, Pelosi is a liar but torture is still wrong.”

---

Is waterboarding torture?

[dfwgator]

Torture just for the sake of torture is wrong. But torture to get information that can save lives is not wrong.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Thanks for the special Ping.

Today's editorials are probably considered as vile torture to the RATS getting skewered by the fountain pen under the fingernails as performed by Krauthammer, Steyn, et al.

You don't need a psychiatrist to tell you which of these theories is utterly fantastical.

[dfwgator]

Is waterboarding torture?

No.

[RC2]

The important thing is that the American people are finding out what Pelosi is really like and they are not liking what they are seeing. She needs to go and go now.

[RC2]

Take all these people that are against “waterboarding” and put their children in danger and you would see a different answer.

[GreyMountainReagan]

I think it would be interesting if Captain Kirk answered this one.

What do you think Captain?

[GreyMountainReagan]

“Take all these people that are against “waterboarding” and put their children in danger and you would see a different answer.”

---

I think if given the choice between further destruction of America and saving his daughters Zero would think about it.

[oldbrowser]

The hatred is so poisonous that they would cheerfully trade national security for partisan advantage against George Bush and his party.

Bush is history. What we are seeing now that the Liberals control the whitehouse and the legislature is the snakes spewing their poison at each other.

This is a battle royal between evil and evil.