Nay to Gonzalez
It's a vote on the legitimacy of torture. It's a vote on the opinion that Presidents define their own law by deciding where laws apply and where they don't.
I'm not saying Gonzalez used the word "torture", but all states that employ systematic abuse, otherwise known as "cruel and unusual" punishment, play word games to narrow the definition of torture and expand the legitimacy of abuse interrogation, so the crimes of Abu Ghraib and the practices at Gitmo are directly traced to Mr. Gonzalez' legal reasoning. I have no doubt that lacking Mr. Gonzalez the administration would have found someone else to furnish the legal approach... but the reality is that Gonzalez has shown his willingness and did provide such. Furthermore, Gonzalez has shown a tendency to be willing to justify any action desired by the POTUS, and would not specify what torture was or was not, what practices are or are not justified, what actions the CIA is authorized to do during interrogation, nor any other commitments to a position on the subject. One assumes it's so these statements cannot be used later should current practices come to light.
I find it unacceptable that such a man should be the chief law enforcement officer... I'm left only to -hope-, weakly, that he does not think such latitude also extends to treatments of US citizens.
Here is a list of blogs asking for a nay vote on Gonzalez. At this time 376 blogs are asking for this... including those of conservative ideologies. Abhorence of "cruel and unusual" techniques is an American ideal. It is an ideal compatible with war, compatible with an American fight for freedom, and in fact, a part of the goals of why we fight, what we hope to accomplish. We did not have to torture the British soldier to win our revolution, and we did not have to torture Nazis, who were torturing their own people at the time. We abhor Nazis for such actions, and we beat them with good American spirit, without giving up our moral characters.
The student protesters for democracy in China builts a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen Square in 1989... that is the America of the World, that sort of fealty to America is the fealty that America means democracy. That is an America the world trusts, and that trust is power. If Iraq can trust us, that will lead to more information gathering than if it has to be stressed out of people. A brother may turn in a brother, if he thinks his brother is doing something wrong and turning him in will save his brother's life and those of others. But if that person thinks turning their brother in will means he will be responsible for his brother being tortured --- he will eschew involvement, and leave it as a matter of a fight between evils. That is the importance of trust, integrity, and moral fidelity.
For America to win the battle against terrorism, American Ideals must survive... if they perish, though a nation called America still stands, then the real America has lost.
PS: Note, this blog has a silent partner. Mother. I don't speak for her, this is pyrrho's position, as always, our posts reflect only our own position.
posted by Pyrrho | 1:23 PM
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Some 3.29 billion liters of industrial pollution and domestic sewage flow from greater New Delhi into the Yamuna River each day, forming a lovely toxic meringue on the surface.
