Is this is what we've become?
by
Clyde
8:40 AM
The following are the methods normally to be adopted: kicking, beating and anything connected with physical suffering. This method is to be used only when everything else fails.
Sound familiar? Is this not what the Republicans are trying to shove down our throats? That we only use "enhanced interrogation techniques" when all else fails? Bullshit! It is human nature to use the easiest method to perform any task and the interrogation of suspected terrorists is no exception. Especially when you are more interested in its political value than of its veracity.
You see, this quote is not a quote by some politician trying to protect a nation but rather a regulation put forth in August of 1943 in the Japanese Army manual "Notes for the Interrogation of Prisoners of War." After the war's end, this manual was referred to repeatedly during the prosecution of Japanese soldiers for war crimes. Death and long terms of imprisonment at hard labor were the consequences the accused face and why? Because the Americans were so appalled at the treatment of our soldiers by their Japanese captors. Inhumane treatment was looked down upon and the American people could always be proud of the way we treated our enemies. We were above torture, we were above coercion, we were Americans.
Yet now, a large sector of this country's population has taken the opposite perspective. Why? The circumstances are similar. Our country was attacked, the American people wanted payback and our country went to war. What makes this time different? Could it be that the greatest generation was so good at making the lives of future generations better that they actually weakened us?
The WWII generation knew that how you fought the war was just as important as winning the war. However, now we have a generation that is so into winning at all costs that we have forgotten what it is to be American. Why is that and how did it happen? What made us lose our moral compass? Could it be that we have become exactly what the terrorists claim we are? Lazy, immoral, self-indulgent candy asses that cannot handle not getting our way one hundred percent of the time.
As much as I hate to admit it, I have to think it is, at least in part. We as a people are now more concerned with tummy tucks and how much hair we have on top of our head than we are with the plight of our neighbor. The one thing the WWII generation knew was that only through shared sacrifice could we grow as a nation. The Great Depression, while cruel in many ways, did have a good effect upon the people of this nation. It brought people together working for the common cause.
However, it could be argued that they shared too much sacrifice and in doing so, insulated their children so much from the harsh realities of life that when the big bad boogey man came out of the closet and attacked us on 9/11 that we immediately reverted to being the spoiled children that they had raised. And like spoiled children, we did not care how we got the payback but only that we got it.
And now here we are. Standing at the crossroads trying to figure out which direction do we take the country? Do we continue down the path where we are willing to do such atrocities as water boarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the hopes of garnering the name of some individual who might attack this country with some type of weapon? Or do we regain our morality, our sense of right and wrong, our sense of fair play and rebuke these methods of interrogation? Not only because of their unreliability but because it is the right thing to do. There is danger in both paths but only one gives us the right to feel superior.
Even the authors of the Japanese Army manual knew that these types of techniques rarely worked. The passage at the top was only part of a larger paragraph detailing the use of these techniques and one can see that while their use was condoned it was not the method of choice. And when it was employed it wasn't the torture that worked but the work of another, after the torture was complete, that actually got any results.
From the manual, emphasis mine:
Care must be taken when making use of rebukes, invective or torture as it will result in his telling falsehoods and make a fool of you. The following are the methods normally to be adopted: (1) Torture which includes kicking, beating and anything connected with physical suffering. This method is to be used only when everything else fails as it is the most clumsy one. Change the interrogating officer when using violent torture, and good results can be had if the new officer questions in a sympathetic manner.
Permalink
::
0 comments
::
|
