Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Torture Is Bad
Washington Monthly does a special series of brief statements against torture mostly by political figures. I suppose this is a good thing, generally-speaking, because many of the writers are high-profile government figures. But, frankly, the statements are rather hackneyed.
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I wrote my congressman, Lamar Smith, about his idiotic comment that 99% of Americans would support waterboarding. His emailed statement "against" torture is below. I'll take those hackneyed and hopefully genuine statements in WM over his double-speak regurgitation of the president's talking points he uses to justify his absurd 99% remark.
Dear Mr. Derr,
Many thanks for contacting me regarding the treatment of unlawful enemy combatants. I appreciate your sharing your views with me.
We agree that human rights should be protected. The United States has the duty to set an example for the rest of the world on treatment of detainees during interrogations and subsequent judicial processes.
Torture of any individual, including terrorists, is prohibited in the U.S. and its territories. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the use of enhanced interrogation is not illegal in certain circumstances. For instance, it is legal to use enhanced interrogation on a member of al-Qaeda, or another known terrorist, as a last resort to save American lives.
Thank you for expressing your concerns on this matter.
For more information on my work in Congress, please visit the 21st District's website, http://lamarsmith.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Lamar Smith
Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
Thanks, Mike. And I'm terribly sorry to hear that Lamar Smith is your rep.
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