Armchair Pundits

Other governments don’t torture people … Do they?

I have been suffering from winter writer’s block. I have been in a post-election, post-holiday slump. The only news of late (and deservedly so) is about the tsunami. I just haven’t felt much like writing. That all changed last night. Being an individual with a really “happening” social life, I was watching a few minutes of the Gonzales nomination hearings on CSPAN. Yes, the fun never stops at my house. In total I only watched about ten minutes, but that was all it took.

As I tuned in, Senator Patrick Leahy was attempting to corner Mr. Gonzales about the use of torture and the infamous memo that he had authored on the subject. He was asking Mr. Gonzales to speculate about a hypothetical situation where the President would order government officials to violate federal statutes by authorizing people to be tortured. Mr. Gonzales, correctly, refused to play the Senator’s game.

In a last ditch attempt, the Senator threw out one last hypothetical that just floored me. He asked Mr. Gonzales if he felt the leaders and presidents of any foreign nations did or would be allowed to violate their own laws and torture American citizens. Needless to say, Mr. Gonzales did a much better job of handling the question than I would have.

“Hello!!! Senator!!! Have you been on a junket to the moon for the past fifteen or forty years? Have you been completely oblivious to the numerous American citizens that have been beaten, tortured, kidnapped and murdered around the world? How many of those do you think occurred with some support, either direct or indirect, from local government authorities? Wake up Senator! Not everyone plays by the same rules we do.”

Comedian and talk-show host Dennis Miller made probably the best observation on this topic that I ever heard. He was giving reasons why Americans should support the war on terror. One of his reasons was that even If you oppose the war, Osama thinks you’re an infidel and wants you dead too. As Senator Leahy shows, the left still does not get it. They think by taking the “moral high ground” they gain an advantage. What they don’t realize is that we are dealing, to some extent, with incompatible world views. They may be playing our game, but they have a completely different set of rules.

In my lifetime, I have only visited Canada. There are a few other countries that I would like to visit someday. There is also a long list of countries that I would never set foot in. Sure, there may be some sights in those countries that I would like to see. What I fear, however, is that while visiting one of those countries I would be pulled over by some American-hating local police official who would mysteriously find bag of blow in my luggage. So, instead of relaxing on the beach, Squirrel Boy ends up chained to the wall of a local jail cell that makes the Black-Hole of Calcutta look like a Hyatt. But while I am in jail, I will be comforted to know that, as Senator Leahy apparently believes, since the country is part of a convention that forbids torture and has statutes against torture, I’ll be fine. I’m also sure that if the leader of that country is questioned about it, he will deny that I am being tortured. Of course, behind the scenes he’ll probably be telling the local officials to hook up a pair of jumper cables to my nether regions so they can glean any possible information from me, because they suspect that I am a CIA operative.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating that we stoop to the level of our enemies. I’m not saying that all the detainees at Gitmo should be beheaded (like they do to westerners). They should be treated with civility, which I think is how they are being treated. They should not be treated, as Senator Leahy and the left believe, like an Art Bigotti commemorative plate.

posted by Squirrel @ 9:39 PM