Legalize Torture

Again, Andrew Sullivan gets it exactly right.

"The constant assertion of the government's right to torture anyone it deems aware of "active threats" to the US with no acknowledgment that this means the rule of law is over ... carries consequences far greater than legalization and formal withdrawal from Geneva. It gives the government no limits on what it can do; it leaves the decisions about whom to torture to men not laws, it discredits the rule of law culturally, and requires massive hypocrisy, euphemism and outright lies as a critical part of our public discourse.

I find this more dangerous than outright legalization. If we truly believe we have to become barbarians to defeat barbarians - and that is the Cheney view - then we should have the courage of our fascist convictions."

Sullivan's point above is not about torture - it is about the corresive effect of lying to ourselves about who we are and what we stand for. If we believe torture is necessary and acceptable, and it appears that many of us do, let's admit that and change our laws accordingly. At least we'd be acting with integrity.

Joe H.