Torture Tactics

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Okay, here we go...a sore subject, I suppose.

Where do we draw the line on torture?

Is it okay to keep someone awake for 180 hours or so as we try and drag sensitive information out of their tired brains?

How about water-boarding to the edge of drowning?

Is that okay?

These are all questions that Americans are being forced to answer because of an old report that has just been released. It dates back to the Bush-Cheney days following 9/11. Obama voted to leave the debate in the past so no one is gonna' get in trouble over it.

So the debate is pretty healthy.

Everyone has an opinion.

Here's mine.

First off, I'm really not shocked by the report, I guess, and that's sad in and of itself.

I'm not shocked that Americans are engaging in torture.

And that's because all of it is sort of stomach-churning.

You know, the war thing. I'm not a fan. It's not a ballgame.

I kinda' think that's important to say because there's a little of that going on.

I remember standing in a bar when the air strikes went out during the first gulf war - George H. Bush at the helm - the planes were shown high above Iraq and we were treated to the shock and awe of the bombs being released.

The people in the bar cheered.

I was the only guy not cheering!

Now mind you, it was a bar. Beverages were being served. Folks had revenge on their minds. The announcer was talking about the awesome display of power and force.

I just kept thinking:

"There are people living down there."

Killing them appears worse to me than torturing them.

So therefore, I'm not shocked by the reports.

Yet all the countries in all the world had talked about torture, hadn't they?

They sort of set up rules of engagement.

I suppose, like the NFL, none of the big shots really know the rules.

(Yeah, another game reference).

I just suppose that the torture of another human being is way too much for my mind to comprehend.

You're safe in your home, aren't you? one letter writer wrote. Let them do whatever they want to get the information we need!

That's the kind of sharp thinking we need, right?

There really is something about being a nation that is above the barbaric ways of some of the lowest of all humans who've ever walked the planet.

All's fair! Another guy wrote. They do it to us! We have to do it to them!!

I didn't recognize the name of the guy who wrote that line...but in my imagination he was one of the people standing beside me in that bar all those years ago...

Cheering the start of the war...

...and reveling in how awesome the show of force looked on television.

He's also a guy who most likely pulled the hair of his son because the son had pulled the hair of the daughter.

You know...'You did it first'!

Do we need to torture other people?

You make up your own mind.

I really don't have much of a stomach for any of the violence.

I'll let the people who love it shout out about it.

But then don't be surprised when it's brought back around.

Don't claim that "they're animals!"

You can't have it both ways.

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