I want to take a few minutes from studying for my history final to address the issue of water-boarding—the simulation of drowning. These days there has been much talk on the question of whether or not water-boarding qualifies as torture. The CIA calls it an “enhanced interrogation technique,” but many others call it a “terrible agony”—giving the feeling of complete disorientation, pain, and imminent death. My question: Is the United States government morally justified to use this method as a means to squeeze information out of suspected “terrorists”?
Before I continue, I would like my readers to watch this clip of a water-boarding demonstration. Keep in mind, this is not a real interrogation.
Recently, the CIA destroyed hundreds of hours of interrogation tapes, which depicted instances of water-boarding. We may never know the truth behind this cover-up, but I will say that I am very suspicious. Why wouldn’t the CIA simply classify the tapes like they do with everything else they want to be kept secret? Perhaps the suspects within the tapes were found to have no information after their “enhanced” questioning. It is more than likely that innocent individuals have been water-boarded by the CIA, which leads me to wonder if the ends justify the means? As my source below explains, the practice has supposedly worked in at least two high profile instances—but does this justify the mistakes? Does this justify the practice at all?
There is no doubt that water-boarding is indeed a form of torture. Just ask the man in the video. But there are many others who believe the same. Former U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage (who was water-boarded during his military training) says, “Of course water-boarding is torture. I can’t believe we’re even debating it. We shouldn’t be doing that kind of stuff.” It is a dated practice that has been used as a means of inflicting pain for hundreds of years; it was torture during the Spanish Inquisition, and it’s torture today.
To me, this is truly an atrocity. This is the kind of tyranny that the government claims we are fighting against. Our leaders say that the United States does not torture, but it is clear to me that they are nothing more than liars—as long as they can make up the definitions, they can do whatever they want. When will we wake up and realize that people hate this country for a reason? They hate us because of things we do to them—because of our lies and disingenuous policies. We overthrow governments, rip off third world countries, invade countries, falsely capture and imprison, suspend habeas corpus, and torture living, breathing human beings. I thought we were better than that—I thought America was the nation of justice— I thought this country had standards.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7139708.stm
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
SHOWDOWN: Iran
Well, it’s been about 2 months since my last post, and I must say that I have no good excuse for the extended hiatus. I suppose there was a lot of energy and motivation when I decided to found the blog—I had a lot of ideas in my head that I wanted to express. Over time that initial sense of purpose sort of wore off. I took a week off, then a month, and now my break has gotten out of hand. But now I’m back—hopefully this time for good. Today’s topic: SHOWDOWN IRAN.
Today, an official U.S. intelligence report came out that declares Iran’s nuclear weapons program an indefinitely halted operation. In fact, it states that the program was halted way back in 2003. Iran is continuing its
process of uranium enrichment, but as of now there is no evident intent to develop a bomb (confirmation of what the mullahs have been saying all along). So when President Bush stated in October that we could be facing the third World War, was he wrong? Apparently not—according to the White House.
National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley states that this report is in fact a confirmation of everything the Administration has been saying. “It confirms that we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons…” So they were right all along, but Hadley doesn't want the American public to jump off the fear-bandwagon quite yet: “the intelligence also tells us that the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains a very serious problem.”
What I don’t understand is how this administration claims that it has been right all along. In October of this year, Condoleezza Rice accused Iran of “lying” about its nuclear program; the Vice President has voiced direct and pointed attacks and threats on the government; the President has assured everyone that the nuclear program is, without a doubt, active. Clearly these threats and accusations were either knowingly over-hyped or completely baseless—perhaps a reminder of many of the threats and accusations against Iraq, which were later found to be total fabrications. Perhaps Iran is actually developing nuclear power for the sake of developing the nation. Could it be that the mullahs aren’t lying? Maybe they aren’t the hostile terrorists that we make them out to be.
My fear is another war. The neo-conservative movement has already succeeded in
waging one unjust war, and I have no doubt in my mind that they are fully capable to do it again. Our leaders do not seem to understand that the game they are playing involves millions of people. The current war has devastated Iraq—a terrible civil war has broken out, millions are now refugees, and God knows how many Iraqi civilians have been killed (some counts are up to a million). This is worse than reckless foreign policy—this is criminal. This cannot be accepted.
Sources: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/03/america/cia.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21516968/
Today, an official U.S. intelligence report came out that declares Iran’s nuclear weapons program an indefinitely halted operation. In fact, it states that the program was halted way back in 2003. Iran is continuing its
process of uranium enrichment, but as of now there is no evident intent to develop a bomb (confirmation of what the mullahs have been saying all along). So when President Bush stated in October that we could be facing the third World War, was he wrong? Apparently not—according to the White House.National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley states that this report is in fact a confirmation of everything the Administration has been saying. “It confirms that we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop nuclear weapons…” So they were right all along, but Hadley doesn't want the American public to jump off the fear-bandwagon quite yet: “the intelligence also tells us that the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains a very serious problem.”
What I don’t understand is how this administration claims that it has been right all along. In October of this year, Condoleezza Rice accused Iran of “lying” about its nuclear program; the Vice President has voiced direct and pointed attacks and threats on the government; the President has assured everyone that the nuclear program is, without a doubt, active. Clearly these threats and accusations were either knowingly over-hyped or completely baseless—perhaps a reminder of many of the threats and accusations against Iraq, which were later found to be total fabrications. Perhaps Iran is actually developing nuclear power for the sake of developing the nation. Could it be that the mullahs aren’t lying? Maybe they aren’t the hostile terrorists that we make them out to be.
My fear is another war. The neo-conservative movement has already succeeded in
waging one unjust war, and I have no doubt in my mind that they are fully capable to do it again. Our leaders do not seem to understand that the game they are playing involves millions of people. The current war has devastated Iraq—a terrible civil war has broken out, millions are now refugees, and God knows how many Iraqi civilians have been killed (some counts are up to a million). This is worse than reckless foreign policy—this is criminal. This cannot be accepted.Sources: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/03/america/cia.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21516968/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
