Posted on 05/16/2009 8:18:39 AM PDT by 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.")
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
excellent !
nb - always spot on and timely with extended viewpoint.
Was it ever public knowledge that Iran personnel together with help from al-Qaeda organized the bombing of the Khobar Towers...
“The hatred is so poisonous that they would cheerfully trade national security for partisan advantage against George Bush and his party.”
Pelosi’s truth commission was a payback to the left. There really was not a lot of political advantage to it. Revenge was the motive and it’s blowing up in her face.
She is a dumb twit.
but it currently is close to the top.
A lot of my friends keep saying something to the effect of, “I’d gladly sacrifice my life if it meant keeping the moral high ground and avoiding torture.”
My dear friends, you keep forgetting this isn’t all about you.
Excellent comments.
My relatives openly say they hate America. Friends (former) make huge scrapbooks of “Bush Hate” as art projects and contemplate whole “walls of shame” in their homes for him. Other relatives make a finger gun and a shooting noise, pointing it at the tv when Bush comes on tv, or they have to run over and turn the sound down. Another family member went almost livid when I mentioned plumbing in a non-political context, started loudly saying how they HATE Joe the plumber. Another said to me, “Don’t try to poison my mind against Obama” (referring to a factual article about Emanuel’s background). I have lost these friendships and family ties over this, merely because I refused to agree. These people are all ages, all walks of life...not just college students or tatooed young and naive people.
Capain, I’ll give you two scenarios. You can tell me which one is torture.
1. lay someone on the ground, cover his face with a washcloth, pour water on his face, man walks back to cell unaided. Do this to save lives.
2. Stand someone up, cover his face with a bag, take a knife and SAW his completely head off, head is placed on body in two separate pieces. Do this to terrorize innocents.
Door #1 or Door #2.
the CIA is smart enough to know that Americans love Jack Bouer.....he saves the day, in the end we want to be safe.
Nice closing line. Krauthammer is a psychiatrist.
...How about pull their socks off, and tickle them to almost death???
Only moments ago I published this paragraph on another thread:
If I were a Democrat Congressman, I would be looking over my shoulder as if I were living in the age of Stalin's purges only now ostensibly conducted by MoveOn.org on behalf of George Soros. It is hard to fathom the depth of the paranoia which might be flowing under the surface of the Democrat party under these circumstances.
>> He has been wrong since the beginning of time about aeverything.
>> Yes, Chucky, Pelosi is a liar but torture is still wrong.
So which sentence is the correct sentence?
People like that probably use politics to cover psychological wounds. When you pour your entire sense of self-worth onto your political views, you’re going to take it very hard when someone disagrees with you.
-—crickets-—, -—crickets-—, -—crickets-—.
You are posting on other threads this morning but won’t support your statements on this thread.
Why is that?
In November 2006, the stock market was approaching a record high, the economy was looking very strong, unemployment was at 4.5 percent, gasoline averaged $2.19 per gallon and public approval of Congress was higher than that of the president.
In January 2007, the democRats took control of both houses of Congress. Since then, both the economy and stock markets have crashed, unemployment has doubled, gasoline went up above $4.00 per gallon, and only came down when the rest of the economy tanked. Public approval of Congress is not only below the lowest public approval rating that president Bush ever received, but has sunk to an all-time low and has stayed there for almost two years.
Take a lesson from the democRats. Demonize Pelosi and run against her in every Congressional district in the country. Continually remind voters that the economy started to go to hell immediately AFTER Pelosi and the democRats seized control of Congress.
Put Polosi's picture in every campaign ad.
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