Hello All, For those of you who feel that Ron Paul wasn't unequivocal enough in his denouncement of torture in the recent debate, below is
a piece written in his own words (well before the debate was held) as to his opinion of whether our Government should be given the truly barbaric power of indiscriminately torturing people. I thought his opinion stated was crystal clear to me (in spite of my friend's rewinding of his TIVO at least 4 times in an attempt to convince me otherwise). It doesn't surprise me in the least that he would be against such brutality as I have read most of his writings and he steadfastly without exception supports limited Government and principles that enhance liberty, not undermine it. "Legal issues aside, the American people and government should never abide the use of torture by our military or intelligence agencies. A decent society never accepts or justifies torture. It dehumanizes both torturer and victim, yet seldom produces reliable intelligence. Torture by rogue American troops or agents puts all Americans at risk, especially our rank-and-file soldiers stationed in dozens of dangerous places around the globe. God forbid terrorists take American soldiers or travelers hostage and torture them as some kind of sick retaliation for Abu Gharib. The greater issue presented by the Defense department memo, however, is the threat posed by unchecked executive power. Defense department lawyers essentially argue that a president's powers as Commander-In-Chief override federal laws prohibiting torture, and the Justice department appears to agree. But the argument for extraordinary wartime executive powers has been made time and time again, always with bad results and the loss of our liberties. War has been used by presidents to excuse the imprisonment of American citizens of Japanese descent, to silence speech, to suspend habeas corpus, and even to control entire private industries. It is precisely during times of relative crisis that we should adhere most closely to the Constitution, not abandon it. War does not justify the suspension of torture laws any more than it justifies the suspension of murder laws, the suspension of due process, or the suspension of the Second amendment." http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul185.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
