The Torture Memos

[lonely_squirrel]

One of the things people are saying now about American torture is that we the people don't really want to know about it. Americans don't want to think about it. I believe that a large percentage of them just want to be safe, and they don't want to know. They think these things are done and need to be done, that there's a purpose to them

Comments

[mdrnprometheus]

Well. We rounded up a bunch of Japanese people like cattle in WW2. We took away their homes and their lives and treated them barely like citizens. We destroyed lives during the Red Scare. Are we certain that torture didn't happen back then also? Especially overseas, when CNN and the Internet didn't exist?

Despite that, nobody today believes that the US fundamentally hates Japanese people. So yes, I cautiously hope we can get past this.

But you're right that our soldiers and agents overseas, as well as ordinary Americans, are going to suffer for at least a decade because we failed to remember where the lines are drawn and why we can claim to hold moral high ground.

[lonely_squirrel]

I also cautiously hope that we can get past this, and I agree that the US has crossed the line before when it comes to dealing with enemies of the state

[arkanaut]

Back in my sophomore year (2002) I participated in a parliamentary debate tournament, and one of the topics we argued was the enemy combatant status. I argued for keeping it, and one of my arguments was that America was a country that respected rule of law, and that we have not and will not torture prisoners. (Prior to 2001 I think that statement might still have been essentially accurate.) My team managed to convince our judge, a Muslim student by the way, that we have a right to exert our will, and that we would use our powers responsibly. Boy do I feel stupid now.

[metallian]

Ever read the comments posted on CNN articles or whatever? It can be...disheartening. Well, about half of them, anyway