terrorism

Hi Allen... I have a total understanding of your point, but I think you need to extend it farther... If you equate our struggle in IRAQ as one of good versus evil, then you realize that we are to take the high road and show those who would be plotting our destruction that there is another road. If we lower ourselves and take torture to those that we assume are guilty of a crime then we offer nothing more than what they had under Saddam or the Taliban. After World War I with the German economy in total collapse there were many in Germany that were suffering starvation with no employment and a general collapse in the governments ability to respond. So when Adolf offered them a way out, they jumped at it. Imagine if we took all the Germans after the World War II and stuck them in the ovens... guilty or not guilty. This is an extreme example, of course, but the point is where do we stop. The reason that George Bush was able to do what he has done is the elimination through the Patriot Act of Habias Corpus. If you research the back ground of the law, it comes from a time long before the existence of our country back to the 16th century when the King took innocent people and banished them to be tortured in the dungeons. Many were innocent and sent there to satisfy the kings lust for the extreme. Sometimes taking the high road is not easy. I'm 61 and served during the Vietnam era. When I was a kid, America was the guy in the white hat... anymore though the world sees us as wearing a grey one and many time slipping on a black one. Perhaps the website below will help you in your quest for justifying doing the right thing. There is a lot of deep thought in most of the compiled information on the subject and shares a wide variety of opinions on the subject. http://ethics.sandiego.edu/Applied/Military/torture.asp One thing to think about is that we can start taking people out behind the barn and hanging them or even lopping off their heads but in the long term what does it resolve... Do we just keep doing that for all eternity or do we keep attempting to change the direction of humanity. The American story is all about justice, no matter how angry we are at the individual. I for one want to maintain that mantra. Good luck in your quest. If you want to talk from time to time... bbscio@yahoo.com