Standing up is hard. No reason not to do it.

It seems the President backs away a bit from his latest idea about torture.  I'm not impressed.  I'm still horrified he seriously considered it in the first place, and I'm appalled by the apparent unconcern for fellow human beings that he displays.  His anger and his scorn in various interviews, the stabbing finger, the repeated "my job is to protect your family", this all makes me wonder about his state of mind.  Has he lost any touch with the real world?  Is he so caught up in his war on terror that he doesn't see where he is leading the US?

Mr. Bush said after conferring with Republican House members that he had “reminded them that the most important job of government is to protect the homeland.” [Emphasis mine.] As part of his plan, the president wants Congress to enact legislation that would authorize tougher interrogations of suspected terrorists.  (NY Times)

I'm an AI member.  I have been writing many letters about the torture issue, have tried to spread the love.  You may have noticed that I have banners and links to AI on my side bar.  I feel very deeply about matters of torture, inhuman treatment of prisoners, the death penalty.  Doug and I are considering to settle down in Vermont one day, not only, but also, because that's one of the few states that doesn't have the death penalty any more.  It would not instantly drive me crazy to live there. (I know, they have a ban on abortion.  That I can work on, though.)

I can tell you the precise instant I became wary of my fellow humans' capacity to act humanely under stressful circumstances.  I think I was twelve or so, when a teacher in an ethics class told us about this famous experiment.  It gave me nightmares.  It still makes me extemely uneasy today.  Remember, I'm German.  Obedience to authority would explain why so many Germans went along with what was a horrible, cruel, inhumane treatment of fellow human beings.  Not that it made things any better -- if "nice" people can be coerced to act in this manner, how safe is anyone of us?  Not at all, would be the answer that recent German history has taught us (and I mean all of us, German or not.)

So here I am, years later.  I became a member of AI in my early twenties, I think.  I also am verging towards UU as my religion of choice.  Here, I think, we have a moral frame that can serve as an easy orientation for what is good and what is not.  UU's believe in:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Torture, as you may notice, is incompatible with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. 

You know how I felt about Bush's re-election.  I wrote about my frustration, about my disbelief, about my shock on HDTD. More than anything else, I was disgusted about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and how decent people could possibly tolerate, even excuse what was going on there.  I warned about the slippery slope - if you allow a little bit of torture, you are tempted to use just a little more, because, after all, you're acting for a good cause...

And now, here we are, a mere two years later, and things are looking bleaker than ever.  I'm glad that some are standing up:

And that is what Congress must not do, said Colin Powell, the former secretary of state. “The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism,” Mr. Powell said in a letter to Senator John McCain of Arizona, one of the Republicans who differ with Mr. Bush’s policies.  (NY Times)

It's about time, Mr. Powell!

I know, standing up is hard.  I had to think twice whether I wanted to risk my real name and address on letters, and whether this might come back to haunt me if I one day wanted to apply for US citizenship.  I had to tell myself that I probably would not want to live in a country where fears like this could make me change my behavior.  Doug, bless his heart, didn't hesitate for a moment when he was asked to sign a petition of Illinois lawyers against the proposed change of the law.

Standing up is necessary.  Now more than ever.  There wasn't enough of an outcry over the torture in Guantanamo, and there isn't enough of an outcry over Bush's proposed bill.  We need to yell louder.  Much louder.

Comments

[Lorraine]

"I can tell you the precise instant I became wary of my fellow humans' capacity to act humanely under stressful circumstances. I think I was twelve or so, when a teacher in an ethics class told us about this famous experiment."

I was just a bit older. Watching it, I knew that it could happen anywhere. It may have been a terrible experiment (ethically speaking), but I still think the results demonstrate a terribly important message: watch yourself, think critically, harm no one.

Revising the Geneva Convention? Defining which kinds of torture are permissible because we need to do it? I didn't vote for him. I am all kinds of horrified over this, and delighted that John McCain and Colin Powell are standing strong against the President's vision.

As a safety measure? We *know* that torture does not provide "better" intelligence. It provides anything the torturer wants to hear that will MAKE IT STOP. And, politically? If we want to continue to believe that what we stand for is better than what our *enemies* stand for, it seems only logical that we should not be doing the same or worse... Ethically? Torture is repugnant, despicable, and morally wrong. And state-sanctioned torture seems worse.

Thanks for your good work.

P.S. I apologize if this shows up twice. I posted it to the friends page link, but realized that it hadn't shown up here.

[Luke]

Strong agreement from me.

I'm Amnesty International's Student Area Co-Ordinator and I spent the last year toing-and-froing across the state to churn out petitions and raise awareness. It got a little hard in Greenwich and Darien.

I remember the moment I realized the limits to good behavior. When my grandparents talked to me about what they did during WWII, when I was about twelve.

I was thrilled to vote in 2004. I was very dissapointed at the outcome. I think it's maddenning that any country can even talk about legalizing *torture*

I'm debating chaining myself to some White House installation, in some sort of Amnesty International T-Shirt. Because this is all kinds of bad.

Hopefully, the midterms will give the Democrats either the house or the senate, to stop this mendacious insanity in its tracks. Of course, I shudder to think what it'll reveal once it orders investigations.