We'll Never Put This Sadistic Genie Back in the Bottle
Now that we've become the United States of Torture, it's sad to think that we ever went down this road to even debate the subject, let alone allow the criminals legalize it.
Opposing torture is the same as opposing capital punishment. Forget all the moral issues, morality can be debated endlessly. Then there were always the people who opposed the death penalty because of financial reasons - they maintained that the drawn out court proceedings and appeal processes made it more cost effective to just lock 'em up for life. That's not the point either. Some pointed out the inconsistencies of the revenge factor - killing someone for killing someone, but that isn't the main reason for opposing the death penalty.
A society should never give it's government the power to torture and put people to death because that is precisely what it will do to them in ever increasing amounts. The list of crimes that carry the death penalty only gets longer until the executions can be carried out on a whim for the most petty grievences. Torture will soon be as commonplace here in what used to be the USA as it is in Iraq. It's a slippery slope and once you get the ball rolling it won't stop until it's forced to stop. This legal sanction of torture will trickle down through our new authoritarian processes until it's infected our entire social structure.
"A playground for sadists."
Digby has some cogent thoughts on the subject, and quotes some insightful sources who have first hand knowledge of how this happens:
"This is a new debate for Americans, but there is no need for you to reinvent the wheel. Most nations can provide you with volumes on the subject. Indeed, with the exception of the Black Death, torture is the oldest scourge on our planet (hence there are so many conventions against it). Every Russian czar after Peter the Great solemnly abolished torture upon being enthroned, and every time his successor had to abolish it all over again. These czars were hardly bleeding-heart liberals, but long experience in the use of these "interrogation" practices in Russia had taught them that once condoned, torture will destroy their security apparatus. They understood that torture is the professional disease of any investigative machinery."
A lawful and freedom loving administration wouldn't want to torture fellow human beings let alone hesitate to use it because it simply doesn't work. Our fascists desperately wanted free rein to torture. This criminal cabal has shown itself to be as conniving and murderous and sadistic as need be to bring Abu Ghraib to a town near you and me.
Take your torture and go, George
"George Bush 43, Commander-in-Chief, Decider, Your Royal Highness, however you'd like to be addressed....For God's sake, take your torture program and go. Take your secret prisons, your attack dogs, your electrodes, your water boards, your feeding tubes, your ceiling restraints, your whipping wires, your excruciating music, your sleep deprivation, your hobbles and cuffs.
Take all such instruments and go."
Opposing torture is the same as opposing capital punishment. Forget all the moral issues, morality can be debated endlessly. Then there were always the people who opposed the death penalty because of financial reasons - they maintained that the drawn out court proceedings and appeal processes made it more cost effective to just lock 'em up for life. That's not the point either. Some pointed out the inconsistencies of the revenge factor - killing someone for killing someone, but that isn't the main reason for opposing the death penalty.
A society should never give it's government the power to torture and put people to death because that is precisely what it will do to them in ever increasing amounts. The list of crimes that carry the death penalty only gets longer until the executions can be carried out on a whim for the most petty grievences. Torture will soon be as commonplace here in what used to be the USA as it is in Iraq. It's a slippery slope and once you get the ball rolling it won't stop until it's forced to stop. This legal sanction of torture will trickle down through our new authoritarian processes until it's infected our entire social structure.
"A playground for sadists."
Digby has some cogent thoughts on the subject, and quotes some insightful sources who have first hand knowledge of how this happens:
"This is a new debate for Americans, but there is no need for you to reinvent the wheel. Most nations can provide you with volumes on the subject. Indeed, with the exception of the Black Death, torture is the oldest scourge on our planet (hence there are so many conventions against it). Every Russian czar after Peter the Great solemnly abolished torture upon being enthroned, and every time his successor had to abolish it all over again. These czars were hardly bleeding-heart liberals, but long experience in the use of these "interrogation" practices in Russia had taught them that once condoned, torture will destroy their security apparatus. They understood that torture is the professional disease of any investigative machinery."
A lawful and freedom loving administration wouldn't want to torture fellow human beings let alone hesitate to use it because it simply doesn't work. Our fascists desperately wanted free rein to torture. This criminal cabal has shown itself to be as conniving and murderous and sadistic as need be to bring Abu Ghraib to a town near you and me.
Take your torture and go, George
"George Bush 43, Commander-in-Chief, Decider, Your Royal Highness, however you'd like to be addressed....For God's sake, take your torture program and go. Take your secret prisons, your attack dogs, your electrodes, your water boards, your feeding tubes, your ceiling restraints, your whipping wires, your excruciating music, your sleep deprivation, your hobbles and cuffs.
Take all such instruments and go."
posted by nolocontendere at 12:27 AM
1 Comments:
AND GOOD RIDDANCE.
Post a Comment
<< Home