Perplexity

Is that a word?

Anyway, I have to confess that I am, once again, perplexed. Let me explain.

In a speech in Panama City on Nov. 7th, President Bush said that his administration would continue to agressively battle terrorism in sometimes unconventional but always legal ways. He said we are at war with an enemy "that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again. And so, you bet, we'll aggresively puruse them, but we'll do so under the law." He also asserted, "We do not torture!"

Now, this speech comes after efforts by Vice President Cheney to lobby law makers to exempt the CIA from an amendment that would ban torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners. And, just weeks ago, Bush, himself, threatened to veto the Department of Defense spending bill if it contained an amendment proposed by Senastor John McCain to outlaw torture.

So, if we do not torture, as Bush claims, then why this unwarranted concern about laws prohibiting the practice? The only reasonable conclusion is that Bush has once again lied about the facts and that we do, in fact, torture people to obtain information.

And what is truly sad about that, beyond the loss of the moral high ground that America has always enjoyed, is that things learned under torture are, at best, unreliable. I spent part of my tour in Vietnam as an Intelligence Officer. It is well documented that people under torture will tell you anything you want to hear just to make it stop.

During World War II, the most effective man the German's had interrogating our POWs was successful because he treated them like human beings. He saw to it their wounds were dressed and offered them hot food and coffee. After the war, some of those questioned by him sponsored him to become an American citizen.

The U.S. military knows what works and what doesn't. They aren't the ones opposing the amendment to ban torture. It is folks like Dick Cheney and George Bush who, as usual, want to ignore the experts, just as they did going into Iraq.

It is time for every moderate in this country to jam the White House phone lines and demand that the administration stop its opposition to the McCain ammendment.