Quote:
Originally posted by rrpjr
I realize there are "some" who "find a lot in common" between a jihadist and George Bush (or the "religious zealots in charge of our country.") These are not serious people, and with all hope shall remain among the politically powerless margins of non-seriousness. For it is wickedly flippant to make such a comparison. Either that or profoundly abstracted from the world; even a remote observor of the practiced and remoreseless barbarity of Islamicism would realize there is nothing on earth "in common" with it.
I suppose it is waste of time to point out the extent to which our "religiously zealous" leaders have gone to name and isolate fanatic Islamic extremism as the enemy, as distinct from wider Islam. Or to point out the extravagant liberalness of our nation to all peoples within our borders, and our equal generosities to Muslims around the world (rescuing millions in the Balkans, giving aid and comfort to millions more in Indonesia). Or to point out that torture has been an occasional tool of American warfare since the beginning of our nation, and that its use, under exigent circumstances of war, has not led, and will not lead, to "beheadings." Such claims are either plainly irrational, or the sort of rancid anti-Americanism that wafts out of ideological salons, and would waft out no matter what the facts or truth. They betray not merely a total lack of faith in the American conscience, but a willful attack on that faith.
We face an enemy who violently rejects all basic assumptions of Western ethos. This will test us as never before. And so it is good to have debates and shape policies with regard to torture. I believe there will be many cases of men in the field acting in ways soldiers have never acted before. But given the pressures they are under, living under a literal "sword of Damacles," the reality that capture means a brutal death as opposed to the guarantees of anything like a "Geneva Convention," I think we need some leniency and understanding.
We'll figure it out, muddle through, according to the lights of our good consciences. It is a shame we must fight two wars, though. This is a handicap the enemy does not suffer.
By the way, Bush never questioned the patriotism of those who criticized the war. He asserted that "rewriting history" for political gain during a war was bad faith, and undercut morale. I completely agree. Democratic leaders are behaving right now in the basest manner that leaders can possibly behave in these circumstances -- opportunistically and deceitfully. They are doing so because they can. They know the media will run cover for them.
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You sound like a dangerous and paranoid man. The commonality among zealots, religious, political or otherwise, is intolerance. Intolerance of competing ideas, intolerance of thought or action not in accord with their worldview, intolerance of criticism. You are a prime example. I just hope that those who subscribe to your way of thinking never gain enough power to threaten my liberties. If so, then you will really have a fight on your hands.
If your "good conscience" leads you to promote torture an official policy of the United States, and if your political bias leads you to believe that anyone that criticizes this inept, incompetent and radical administration is doing so for political gain, then I both pity you and fear you, because you are dangerous. I believe that America is better than the narrow-minded, threatening, torturing people you depict in your post. And I believe that Americans not only have a right, but a duty, to speak against their leaders when their leaders fail to represent the will of America.
Finally, please save the “America has never fought an enemy like this before” rationale. Either you know nothing about history or are distorting it to suit your needs. Imperial Japan did not exactly embrace the “basic assumptions of Western ethos,” and Nazi Germany “tested us” pretty well. No matter what the odds, the American people have never embraced torture as accepted combat strategy, even in the face of enemies as or more vicious than the ones we now face.
Through it all, we not only prevailed, we retained our basic decency as a people. We will do the same this time.