Monday, September 25, 2006

A "Deal" Regarding Torture?

I haven't had an opportunity to truly digest the 'deal' that appears to be brewing between the Bush Administration and members of Congress, but I am concerned about reports of a 'deal.'

I thought that when it came to the issue of torture- a basic moral issue- that there was right, and then there was wrong. Torture is wrong. Where is the room to make a deal?

If practices such as waterboarding, hypotermia treatment, beatings, and prolonged stress positions are not wrong, then nothing is wrong (to borrow from Abraham Lincoln's comment on slavery).

If we claim the right to define for ourselves what constitutes humane treatment under Geneva, then how can we object if other nations do the same? And how can we look our soldiers in the eyes if they end up tortured?

GP

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