by Charles Coughlin

Some Republicans have still not figured out that torture is wrong. Why do the movies always show the “bad guys” torturing the movie’s hero? Because bad guys torture. People naturally see torture as wrong and it instantly defines right and wrong.

The same talk show blowhards, who could never admit that the Iraq war was illegal and unjustified, are now trying to defend the disgraceful torture policies put into place by Bush, Cheney and Alberto Gonzales.

We probably increased the number of insurgents by 10 times in Iraq as the Iraqis heard about the atrocities being committed in Abu Ghraib. We have lost over 4,000 soldiers in Iraq and tens of thousands horribly injured. The pro-torture crowd claims that we “saved lives” due to information gained by torture. The torture at Abu Ghraib took place BEFORE the worst losses in the Iraq insurgency war. It seems a better argument can be made that torture made things worse for our troops.

A number of veterans have made the point that we don’t torture so that we don’t justify it for the enemy. If we are torturing their soldiers to get information, then legally they would have the right to torture any of our soldiers that they capture to get information that they need. They would also be motivated to torture our soldiers in retaliation. Characters like Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney have never served the US in a war so little points like this seem to elude them.

The insurgency in Iraq kept going strong until it became obvious that Barack Obama would win the 2008 election. The Iraqis get CNN and they knew that the Democrats were going to win big in 2008. Why fight an insurgency if the enemy occupying force is going to leave as Obama had promised?

Every military organization keeps information on a “need to know” basis. The Iraqi insurgency was run very competently and they no doubt limited information to bottom level insurgents. You can pull out fingernails and waterboard all day long and not get any useful info if the enemy limits info to their grunts.

The state of Israel openly legalized tortured and the neocons have been pushing this policy for the US. They can keep that sort of “morality” in Israel.

What about the larger issue of we shouldn’t even be occupying foreign nations? If you mind your own business, you don’t get attacked by “terrorists.” The Swiss and Swedes were not being attacked by terrorists. The US meddles in the Mid East on behalf of the Jews and we can expect resentment and retaliations.

The bottom line is that torture is wrong and evil. Even if it did “work” (and it never stopped the insurgents in Iraq), it is just NOT morally acceptable for a civilized people. The United States executed Japanese officers, who committed torture, after World War Two. If torture was wrong then, it is still wrong today.