The government let us down in a several areas. I don't agree that waterboardings, beatings etc. of KSM and other high value targets is morally equivalent to Saddam's crimes against humanity, but I agree that things went too far, especially early on.
Does it make a difference that only a few people were subjected to intentional mistreatment by US authorities, and only in defense against another 9/11? (I am separating out Abu Ghraib, as the events there were clearly outside any recognized bounds of civilized behavior). I think it makes a difference, a big difference, because the needs of the many (the defense of the country) outweigh the needs of the few (the rights of individual enemies). Does that make it right? No. Would I trade the suffering of a few enemies for security against another 9/11? Yes. Would any of us choose to torture one person or risk 1,000 deaths? What about 10,000 deaths? What about 1000,000? A million? How would we know the risk is real? How do we know that the torture would prevent anything? It's a hell of a moral dilemma, one that I hope we never again face in my lifetime. On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 8:14 PM, Larry wrote: > And so how does that make it better? Let me put it this way, we use > torture. Does that make us any better than the ba'athist scum of Saddam? > Since when does descending to the level of the moral equivalent of human > slime make us any better than him. Pardon me but as far as I can see if you > wallow in shit you smell and look like shit. > > If you use the same methods as that sort of shit, doesn't that make you the > same, or worse since you should know better. > > According to its ideals, and its propaganda, the US is better than that. > Then why do you want this so called great country to wallow in that same > level of shit? If so then the only conclusion one can reach is that you > think this country is worth shit. > > If so unlike you I think this country is worth a lot more than that. If so > then it should start acting like it. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:286422 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
