Belling On Water Boarding, Morality
Foreign policy guru and morality expert Mark Belling opined Thursday afternoon on his WISN-AM 1130 talk radio show that Congressional opponents of water-boarding suffered from "true moral depravity."
Talk about talk radio at its absolute worst.
He also said that the Bush administration was nearly as bad as the Democrats for "hemming and hawing" on the subject, rather than flat-out supporting water boarding as a legal interrogation tactic that saves lives.
Water boarding, which Vice-President Dick Cheney has endorsed as a post-9/11 "no-brainer" for him, was described this way by ABC News:
"The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt."
Of course, respect for the Geneva Convention banning torture has also been a way for the US to protect its soldiers should they be captured, but it sounded like Belling hadn't had that part of the briefing.
And the more that the US justifies using torture tactics like water boarding, along with warrantless wire-tapping, secret courts and the like, the more that terrorists are having their way with us and our democratic traditions.
Throwing that away is real moral depravity, yet there's little surprise in finding Belling as the spokesman and apologist for Dick Cheney No-Brainers.
1 comment:
I don't know if you've been following the news, but it seems each time one of these terrorist groups captures and American, torture always occurs. They even torture civilians--Daniel Pearle comes to mind. Since these terrorists have not signed the geneva conventions and do not honor them as a sign of their moral character, there can be no reason, aside from our own generosity why we do not torture. If torture might save my child and yours, I'd happily bear the moral burden of whatever sin it was to the final judgement with me.
The part of the Geneva convention you've probably not had was the concept that it was an agreement between states and terrorist groups are not states.
And while you want to pile on a lot of unrelated issues--wiretapping and such--you vastly underestimate the ability and nature of our democratic traditions to adopt to the historical context and then change again with the situation.
I'll tell you this, though, it is a greater evil than those you mention to fail to act when action might prevent the death of some, hundreds, or thousands. I pray that Clinton, if she is elected, has the courage to order the agents of the govenrment to do whatever is necessary to secure our freedom. Let fools and deadmen only wander the ashes, patting themselves on the back that they didn't waterboard or wiretap.
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