When the Arizona Republic's Steve Benson gets it right, he gets it right; and when he gets it wrong, he absolutely gets it wrong.
In today's Republic, Benson's cartoon depicted an elephant, falling head first into cement from a springboard. The meaning behind this picture? That the Republican party had egregiously violated the U.S. Constitution by waterboarding certain terrorist during the Bush administration, and now the party is paying for the decision to waterboard.
Except... terrorists are not protected by the U.S. Constitution. Neither is any non-citizen (last time I checked). However, U.S. citizens are protected by the Constitution, and the U.S. government is charged with the security of this country. If torture of terrorists ensures that American citizens are kept from future terrorist attacks, then the government should by all means torture. The government, media, and citizens of this great country should have no qualms about proactive steps taken to reveal imperative details about terrorist operations - they should know that terrorists have no qualms about devising their schemes.
4 comments:
Mr. Stefanski,
You have a very nice blog. Keep at it.
-Boaz (:
You're right that the U.S. Constitution guarantees no protection to non-citizens. What Benson's cartoon should have pointed out is that torture, like it or not, is in fact prohibited by both U.S. and International Law. It's not simply legal concerns that the Republican party is "paying for". Many people feel that torture is morally wrong, legality aside. I think Reagan's signing statement on the U.N. Convention Against Torture speaks for itself:
http://tiny.cc/WDD1s
Sorry for blogging on your blog =)
First, I don't believe that the United States should be beholden to the United Nations for anything. The U.S. has its own sovereignty and should not give it up to a collection of countries who do not share our views and beliefs.
Although those are my sentiments, the U.S. government has chosen to hand over certain aspects of the country's sovereignty, signing U.N. Treaties over the years - including this torture one.
I read Reagan's comments, and I also read part of the treaty. Article 1 was very interesting, yet very ambiguous:
Article 1.1. For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
The worst "harm" the U.S. government inflicted on terrorists was waterboarding. "Severe mental or physical pain?" I think not. Some of our troops are waterboarded as part of their training. The waterboarding was properly sanctioned. It did not cause severe pain to the terrorists. Terrorists should never be given the benefit of the doubt - as my main point stated - they have no qualms about torturing, beheading, and mass-murdering thousands.
First, I don't believe that the United States should be beholden to the United Nations for anything. The U.S. has its own sovereignty and should not give it up to a collection of countries who do not share our views and beliefs.
Although those are my sentiments, the U.S. government has chosen to hand over certain aspects of the country's sovereignty, signing U.N. Treaties over the years - including this torture one.
I read Reagan's comments, and I also read part of the treaty. Article 1 was very interesting, yet very ambiguous:
Article 1.1. For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
The worst "harm" the U.S. government inflicted on terrorists was waterboarding. "Severe mental or physical pain?" I think not. Some of our troops are waterboarded as part of their training. The waterboarding was properly sanctioned. It did not cause severe pain to the terrorists. Terrorists should never be given the benefit of the doubt - as my main point stated - they have no qualms about torturing, beheading, and mass-murdering thousands.
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