We are in a contest of wills against an enemy whose brutality is boundless, an enemy that will use any possible tactic, however vile, to gain advantage over us. An enemy that is bent on our destruction. The morality of the rendition enterprise is a question of choosing the lesser of two evils. Do we allow a handful of potentially innocent people to be carried off and interrogated (to put it nicely) by foreign governments, or do we allow our enemies to use our morality and our laws against us?
If Al Qaeda , etc. knew that its agents could be captured in the U.S. and have no fear of anything other than jail, they would simply train all of their people to never reveal anything, and we would be left with an incredible disadvantage in the fight against the thugs and terror-mongers of the world. This is not a criminal action. It is a war. These people do not care about the Geneva Convention. They do not respect civilians, journalists, or even doctors. There can be no treaty with them. There can be no armistice with them. They must be destroyed, root and branch. I hate the moral choice, but look at it this way. If I was in a room with an interrogator and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and I knew that, through the select application of electrical current to Mohammed's body, the interrogator would be able to extract information that would save the lives of thousands of innocent people somewhere (anywhere) in the world, would I object? Would you? Of course, such a hypothetical situation is black-and-white, people's lives v. our own moral standards. Reality is never so clear-cut, but I am afraid that before this is all over, we may be forced to make more desperate choices like this one. Rob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dana" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Community" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 4:55 PM Subject: Re: NPR Ombudsman On Media "Bias" > Seriously Sam, can you defend this stuff? > > Dana > > http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/11076647.htm > > Posted on Tue, Mar. 08, 2005 > > Gonzales defends transfers in terror cases > > By Mark Sherman > > Associated Press > > > WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said yesterday that > before the United States hands over terror suspects to foreign > governments, it receives assurances they won't be tortured. He > acknowledged that once a transfer occurs, the United States has little > control. > > The Bush administration's program to send foreigners to other > countries - known as "extraordinary rendition" - has been denounced by > human-rights advocates. They say it amounts to outsourcing torture to > elicit information that could not be obtained legally in America. > > Gonzales defended the program and reiterated that the Bush > administration did not condone torture. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:149806 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
