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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRidiculous arguments about torture after 911
So, I heard several commentators including senator Manchin excusing Haspel and the use of torture after 911 by arguing that we were all traumatized after the event and were trying to prevent it from happening again, it was exceptional circumstances, etc.. It won't happen again because we learned the lesson.
I find this argument shocking. First off, we did not learn anything. During ww2 we locked up american Japanese, during Vietnam we massacred and napalmed civilians. After 9/11 We tortured people.
The whole point of having a strong moral compass (which Haspel claims she does) is that you stick to it in trying times when it's tested. It's easy to claim high moral standards, what matters is whether your behavior is consistent with it even when hell break loose.
Why should we believe Haspel that she won't fold like a cheap suit and revert to it at the next crisis ? Heck, she is not even confirmed, Cheney is already calling to resume the torture program.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,096 posts)The democrat who KNOWS what he has to do to win, and if he doesnt and we dont take the Senate
I am gonna be REAL fucking PISSED
drray23
(7,587 posts)I do hope Manchin wins. It does not mean I agree with that statement.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Millions of Americans were marching in the streets against launching invasions willy-nilly and against torture. It's as if these blood-gargling psychopaths have all decided to just forget about any of that. Yes, the September 11 attacks were shocking, scary, and unsettling. But millions of Americans were able to keep their wits about them, and could still tell right from wrong.
Torture? Wrong. And we told them so. In real time, and ever since.
I hope the next Democratic administration devotes a little time to looking backwards to the past. There is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity, and the United States can retrieve a little of its lost credibility by investigating, trying, convicting, and sentencing the perpetrators for their crimes.