Why be tortured about torture?

There is no need to be tortured about torture?

Is water boarding torture? Some say yes and others say no.

Does it work?  Does it save lives?

Some, like a former adviser to a president, insist that it did work and that it did save lives.  Others, like the man who actually conducted the interrogations of water boarded suspects, said on television, that water boarding is torture and it had nothing to do with the results of their interrogation.

There are some simple ways to resolve this argument.

1.) We can water board the former assistant to the president and the man who led the interrogations and see if either one will recant and change their mind.

2.) We can round up all accredited journalists of major news agencies, water board them, and then let them tell us first hand.

3.) We can water board the Supreme Court and then let them vote on the subject.

In the meantime, let us prove to the world that we are better than the Nazi’s who also justified torturing suspects to save lives.  Our torturers should not wear scary black uniforms.  There should not be scary Wagnerian music in the background during torturing sessions as depicted in documentaries and movies of Nazis.   We are better than that.

Above all, we must remember the “slippery slope.”  We should not let our newly discovered recognition of the positive, humanitarian value of torture lead to the killing of our own citizens by the state without a trial and due process.

American Supreme Court Justice, Robert Jackson, who was our prosecutor at the Nuremburg Trials, spent a whole day on that subject.  Jackson pointed out that Hitler’s execution of Ernst Rohm in 1934, without a trial, simply because he declared him a terrorist who threatened revolution, violated the German constitution and was the beginning of a lawlessness that led to war and  ultimately the Holocaust.

There are common sense exceptions, of course, such as when our own American president personally approves the killing of an American citizen who is deemed to be a terrorist.  After all, the president is “our leader,” not a German, and not a Nazi.  He wears a suit, not a uniform.  And he never, never wears an arm band of any kind.

Besides, we are a Republic, not only with a constitution but also a Bill of Rights.  Finally, the president is a known liberal, not a conservative.  Surely, a liberal would not torture unless it was duly called for.  And finally, in our case, “our leader” has a private panel secretly studying the subjects in question and offering independent  recommendations as to whom should be killed or not killed and why.  This is not like Goering and Himmler just making lists of enemies.

I hope this clears up this discussion once and for all.  There is no need to be tortured over torture when there are simple solutions to the questions involved.  The innocent need not be afraid.  We should each mind our own business and look to our own needs and not succumb to the propaganda of our enemies.  By the way, if you have traveled recently by air you know that those enemies are everywhere, by the thousands, and they especially seem to congregate at airports.

BTW, a quick solution to the congestion at airport security clearance would be to randomly water board passengers.  If, as experts insist, it is not really torture and it is very effective, we could break some of the old ladies and children being used by the terrorists to sneak things aboard.