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Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / Richard got some ink in the St. Pete Times
« on: May 19, 2004, 01:15:00 AM »
Back to the topic at hand, torture is torture. When is it justifiable to torture someone? Frankly I'm going to go out on a limb here and say never. Some say it maybe justifiable because they are terrorists, I say never. Some say "but they would slit our throats" I say never. Torture is another form of terrorism is it not? Are we willing to become what we are fighting against? Will that get us any nearer to peace? You can not fight against something that you also condone.
Not to mention that the assumptions being made that all of these people being tortured are terrorists. What if one of them isn't? Is it worth torturing one innocent man if we can get the information we need? What about two innocent men? How about three? A hundred? A thousand? What if the information gathered would save the lives of our troops? Would it be okay then?
No.
And I'll tell you why. Iraq is a sticky situation, we are not fighting the Iraqi military anymore. We are fighting the Iraqis themselves. We've invaded their country. Destroyed their way of life. Killed many of their people. All of this with only the promise that we're giving them a chance for a better future. Few of these people believe us. Hell, I wouldn't if I lived there. As long as can be remembered they've been ruled over with an iron fist by some despotic madman. One after another. That's the way it's always been. So I'm sure they're a little wary of whether or not we're telling the truth. So it's part of our job to show them that their trust in us is not misplaced. We are from completely differing cultures, it's going to be hard enough for us to get them to believe that we mean the best for them. But when you throw up pictures of American soldiers torturing Iraqis it destroys that trust. Suddenly we look not that much different than the psychopath we just dethroned. That not only makes our jobs more difficult, but it makes it more dangerous. How many Iraqis, do you think, were sitting on the fence as to whether America was an invading or a liberating force? I'll bet the terrorist recruitment got a big boost the day that those pictures went public. Because someone decided that torturing Iraqi prisoners was an acceptable thing to do, a lot of Americans are going to get killed. American soldiers and American civilians. Does that justify terrorism?
And far worse things have probably happened to those prisoners that we'll never see.
Was it worse than Straight? No one will ever be able to judge that.
Not to mention that the assumptions being made that all of these people being tortured are terrorists. What if one of them isn't? Is it worth torturing one innocent man if we can get the information we need? What about two innocent men? How about three? A hundred? A thousand? What if the information gathered would save the lives of our troops? Would it be okay then?
No.
And I'll tell you why. Iraq is a sticky situation, we are not fighting the Iraqi military anymore. We are fighting the Iraqis themselves. We've invaded their country. Destroyed their way of life. Killed many of their people. All of this with only the promise that we're giving them a chance for a better future. Few of these people believe us. Hell, I wouldn't if I lived there. As long as can be remembered they've been ruled over with an iron fist by some despotic madman. One after another. That's the way it's always been. So I'm sure they're a little wary of whether or not we're telling the truth. So it's part of our job to show them that their trust in us is not misplaced. We are from completely differing cultures, it's going to be hard enough for us to get them to believe that we mean the best for them. But when you throw up pictures of American soldiers torturing Iraqis it destroys that trust. Suddenly we look not that much different than the psychopath we just dethroned. That not only makes our jobs more difficult, but it makes it more dangerous. How many Iraqis, do you think, were sitting on the fence as to whether America was an invading or a liberating force? I'll bet the terrorist recruitment got a big boost the day that those pictures went public. Because someone decided that torturing Iraqi prisoners was an acceptable thing to do, a lot of Americans are going to get killed. American soldiers and American civilians. Does that justify terrorism?
And far worse things have probably happened to those prisoners that we'll never see.
Was it worse than Straight? No one will ever be able to judge that.