John Thomas: Torture bad
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Just in case there was any confusion about torture...
Rev. John H. Thomas, the general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, said torture cannot be justified on a moral grounds. He said no threat is great enough to justify "our most central values of what it means to be a Christian."Now if we could just get him to agree that his tenure as United Church of Christ President has been torture, we might make some real progress. :)
3 Comments:
This isn't actually a condemnation of torture, you know. It's actually a condemnation of water boarding and the Bush administration. That's a position that one can justifiably argue; but Thomas is being his usual dishonest self by covering up his real agenda with one that can't be argued. What he's doing, in essence, is saying, "if you're against torture, that means you have to be against water boarding," but without having to do the hard work of actually making an argument. And of course the political statement is taken for granted.
commented by 
Athanasius, 5:59 PM
Athanasius, 5:59 PM
As it's been condemned by our State Department and many other governments and organizations, it would seem harder work to justify it NOT being torture. Though not universally understood as such, the consensus is--and has been for some time--considered torture. The administration has never to my knowledge directly said that waterboarding is not torture. The pres has said "We do not torture" but has also said that the CIA is exempt from the the Geneva Accords and can conduct enhanced interrogation techniques without being required to say exactly what those are.
The Wash Post reported that we condemned as war criminals Japaneses soldiers who did this in WWII and the U.S. Army prosecuted U.S. soldiers who practiced it at the turn of the 20th cent.
The Wash Post reported that we condemned as war criminals Japaneses soldiers who did this in WWII and the U.S. Army prosecuted U.S. soldiers who practiced it at the turn of the 20th cent.
Consensus?- there has been a consensus for some time that waterboarding is torture?
It just hasn't been universally understood?
Huh?
Actually- though it isn't universally understood- there are lots of studies that have decided that waterboarding is not torture, since it does not meet the definitions-- ie -- no severe or permanent injury.
There does seem to be something like a consensus among those who believe that it is torture,-- that "torture never leads to good intelligence"- which, specifically in regard to waterboarding as used by the US in the WOT, is simply false.
It just hasn't been universally understood?
Huh?
Actually- though it isn't universally understood- there are lots of studies that have decided that waterboarding is not torture, since it does not meet the definitions-- ie -- no severe or permanent injury.
There does seem to be something like a consensus among those who believe that it is torture,-- that "torture never leads to good intelligence"- which, specifically in regard to waterboarding as used by the US in the WOT, is simply false.
