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Letters
May 12, 2009
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Dear Editor:
Tom Hobson makes an excellent point
on torture as concerns "popular" opinion. That is
why this nation is a democratic republic and not a pure democracy,
much like the Presbyterian Church. We should be a nation of
laws and, I think, the Presbyterian Church should be grounded
in the Christ as God-incarnate and unchanging, the Bible, our
doctrines and the Book of Order.
As for "torture." That too is subjective. Let me state
up front that I support doing whatever is necessary under certain
circumstances to obtain information vital to the safety of our
nation and our people; and under certain circumstances that
would include "water boarding," perhaps other more
extreme measures. Many will say, "That makes you no better
than them." Yes, we are all living in a sinful, flawed
world and we do the best we can.
Torture, however, often doesn't work. At some point everyone
will tell the interrogator whatever they think is needed to
get it to stop; unless they die first. The art of interrogation
is to manipulate the subject into revealing the truth. Sometimes
that takes a while. It is a mental game (like war itself) and
making the subject feel uncertain as to his or her fate plays
a key role in interrogation.
Above all, torture is subjective. Frankly, I having sat on two
sessions I think I have a pretty good idea of what constitutes
"torture." Listening to someone spout on about the
necessity of removing a few front pews to accommodate the drums
for the praise singers at the early service can drive one to
say anything to get it to stop. I suspect the shift in voting
on the latest iteration of amending the Book of Order to allow
for gay ordination reflects some of the same phenomena. Stay
at it long enough and the other side will break. Real torture,
however, maims or causes irreparable mental agony. It happens,
but not in Department of Defense prisons.
What is at stake has to be considered. In the wake of 9/11 most
of us would have signed on to doing whatever is necessary to
prevent another massacre of innocents. The controversy now being
raised by many in Congress and by liberal groups like No2Torture
is almost entirely politically-based; an opportunity to bash
the Bush administration which is as unwise as it is craven.
Don't open that door! It will lead to anarchy.
Finally, read the Al Qaeda Training Manual. It's available on
line. It clearly instructs every terrorist to claim that he
or she has been tortured. The terrorists know they have a ready
and willing audience of supportive "useful idiots"
eager to bash the United States.
Torture, not unlike abortion or capital punishment, is something
that should be rare but, under specific and exceptional circumstances,
available. And God help us if in our rampant pursuit of secularism
in the public square we abandon looking to our Judeo-Christian
foundations as the ultimate bedrock for the rules governing
that square.
Earl Tilford
First Presbyterian Church
Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
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