But don't take my word for it. Check out this article from Sunday's Washington Post, written by a former Air Force Counterintelligence officer. This paragraph in particular summed up his opinion, gained from seeing the effects and results of torture firsthand:
Torture and abuse are against my moral fabric. The cliche still bears
repeating: Such outrages are inconsistent with American principles. And then
there's the pragmatic side: Torture and abuse cost American lives.
I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there
to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and
swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide
bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also
involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. It's no
exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that
country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our
program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of
our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that
it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say
that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me -- unless you don't count
American soldiers as Americans.
The people who promoted and sanctioned torture have done more harm to this country than we will ever be able to fathom. What's more despicable, they did it under the flag of patriotism, attacking the courage of those that dare question them. There will be a special place in hell for them, one where "enhanced interrogation techniques" are in use.
No comments:
Post a Comment