The Conservative Son

I still vividly remember when Michael Dukakis, in 1988, was asked in a presidential debate, if his wife was raped and murdered would he then be for the death penalty for the perpetrator. He answered with a curt "no" and then broke into a long diatribe remonstrating the morality and dubious effectiveness of the death penalty.

In a recent Republican debate, a "24" scenario was offered to the candidates in which, I forget all the details, but a number of nuclear bombs had been set off by terrorists and we knew another was about to be exploded. Further, the government, in this hypothetical, had a terrorist in custody whom we were sure had information about the location of the nuclear device. The clock was ticking and we had no solid leads on the bomb's whereabouts. The question was, should we torture him for intelligence or not?

Well, the point, in both cases, was missed. The greater point was ignored.

When John McCain was put to the question, he rambled on about how that if America tortures prisoners, our enemies would think it alright to torture our troops. Now that sounds like a very high idea and nobody was willing to challenge a former P.O.W. who knows from first-hand experience about the awfulness of torture. Still, someone should really have asked him, "What prisoners did we torture that caused the North Vietnamese Communists to think it proper to torture him?" The answer? None!

The communists were infamous for torturing for propaganda purposes. John McCain was not tortured in the Hanoi Hilton for years for information, but for propaganda. His perspective is skewed by his experience. God bless him for his immeasurable courage, sacrifice and love of country, but all that doesn't make him right. The cowardice and confoundedness of his fellow presidential candidates only shows their misunderstanding and lack of resolve concerning this very question.

Alan Colmes also showed his ignorance and insincerity, by flippantly dismissing, without even a moment's hesitation, the thought of torturing a terrorist. I suppose if it was his family in clear, present and immediate danger, he would still take the "high road" and say it's not worth it? Would he still argue that it would diminish American prestige in the eyes of the world? Would he care if it was his family?

This scenario is no longer just an abstract discussion for college class thesis papers. We are now faced with the very real possibility of very real people dying in their thousands at the hands of a small group of lunatics who may or may not be attached to Al Quida or other similar organizations of hate mongers.

The point is that no country, Geneva Convention signer or not, has ever hesitated to abuse and torture American soldiers, sailors and Marines. They have tortured for information, propaganda and for no reason at all. No matter how good we were to Japanese, German, Korean or North Vietnamese soldiers. et al., our servicemen have always been abused in loathsome, unimaginable ways .

Is it our fault? Were our troops mistreated because we somehow mistreated theirs? Was Pearl Harbor bombed because we first attacked Japan? Was the World Trade Center attacked because we attacked the Muslim radicals first? Of course not! (Although, one fool on that stage seemed to think so.)

The next point missed, and one very important, is that you do not torture for confessions. Any moron knows that you can inflict enough pain to get a man to confess to anything you want. (What did you expect, the Spanish Inquisition?) Only an idiot or a monster would torture a P.O.W. for political and/or propaganda purposes or for coerced confessions. Yet, torture for information can be very effective simply because the information is verifiable. The one being tortured can be made to know this and also that the pain will continue if the information is misleading.

Now, I'm not advocating that we mistreat P.O.W.'s just for the sake of it. Most detainees are foot soldiers who know little or nothing about the plans of their leaders. They merely do as ordered. Still, it's a new world and a new enemy where one terrorist can kill tens or even hundreds of thousands with the right virus or dirty bomb.

Torture should never be the first choice, but neither should it's use, under the most extreme circumstances, be flatly forbidden. To some unreasonable individuals in Congress and the media, not providing all the comforts and freedoms of home to mass murderers qualifies as torture. The swine locked up in Club Gitmo, for example, often receive better food and treatment than our own troops and our people would certainly get no such consideration from them.

Taking the "high road" whenever possible is the road that America has always taken and should continue to do so. Any deviation, as is war itself, should be taken with deliberation, contemplation and much prayer. Remember, though, it's entirely possible to hold your head so high that it winds up in the sand...or somewhere even worse!

So, what would Jack Bauer do? Jack, although a fictional character, is, in many ways, a metaphor of America. We don't go looking for trouble, still, not everyone likes us, but neither do we mind. We do the hard work and we get the job done. We understand that, sometimes, getting the job done is all that matters.

Labels: 24, campaign, politics, torture, war

Hallelujah! We shall rise!

Fred is in the race! Officially! I didn't realize that he was going to actually make his announcement when I stayed up late last night to what The Tonight Show. I jumped out of my seat!

I haven't been this excited about a candidate since Reagan. (Although, Alan Keyes comes close.) It's about time a real conservative, one with a great chance of winning, got into the race.

Everyone knows who the 5oo pound gorilla is now. Even the candidates knew Fred is the man during the debate last night.

Fred is trying to do things differently; he's trying to do things the right way. He, apparently, is less concerned about being president than being right. One of the many things I respect about the man.

Labels: campaign, conservative, politics, Republican