Torture

I hear people say things like, "they do it to us, so we should do it to them" whenever the subject of torture comes up. But, if "they" jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, should we do it too? Now, I read in Newsweek that Eric Holder -- the US Attorney General -- wants to begin investigating the Bush Administration and go after those who approved the torture we as a whole committed. Well, even though I'm against torture, I think that ship has sailed and all Eric Holder will find is a heap of trouble for his boss. I'm, also, torn. I do want those people who said it was okay to torture someone punished, but at the same time, I'm reluctant to air America's dirty laundry anymore.

My dad, who went through torture "training" before being shipped to Vietnam, said that water boarding isn't so bad. He survived it and he doesn't understand why everyone is making a fuss over it. Yet, I read an article in Vanity Fair written by Christopher Hutchinson who said it was a terrifying experience. Of course, my father is one tough guy and he makes John Wayne look like a sissy boy, so he's probably tougher than a journalist for Vanity Fair.

I'm not sure how much water boarding really harms anyone and we are in a war with the terrorists, but I wonder, if we torture them because they torture our people, then aren't we just like them? I should think that a great country such as the United States of America would hold ourselves to a higher standard. We are the beacon of hope for the hopeless and the bearer of that great standard - freedom. We should never lower ourselves to the level of terrorists. We should never be the bad guys. Not torturing a terrorist doesn't make us weak, it makes us, well, us. We are THE country on this planet that looks out for the underdog. We are the country that fights for injustice. Come to think of it, we're the Superman of the world. We need to hold ourselves to a much higher standard than the rest of the world, because we are the United States of America -- one nation, indivisible, under God with liberty and justice for all.

God Bless