Torture: Moving Forward and not backwards

Pandora’s Box has been opened and now the political fallout is to begin. The box in question is torture. Opponents and proponents alike have their definition of torture and how best to be applied. The CIA memo’s released by the Obama Administration set the stage for conversation on torture. Liberals on the far left are screaming for heads while stark conservatives are looking for full disclosure on the success of torture methods used.

Never before in our American history has the current administration gone after the previous administration. FDR put Japanese Americans in internment camps and Abraham Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus but neither administration following went back to persecute anyone. Why now? President Obama needs to put the topic back on point and follow Gerald Ford’s handling of President Nixon.

The topic of conversation is torture. There is no use arguing the facts as in some cases water boarding worked and other cases it did not. The question is when that fine line of harsh interrogation becomes torture. As the topic drags on, it will continue to weaken the United States and strengthen the resolve of those that wish us harm.

The CIA and other intelligence agencies is now gun shy when it comes to harsh tactics of getting the critical data needed to keep Americans safe. In his book, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, James Rachels ponders the question of Moral Theory. Although the conversation in James Rachels book does not touch on torture, much of what is discussed can be applied.

It is through justice and fairness that our society must step forward on the issue of torture. To accomplish a compromise on torture pro and con debate must take place without emotional ties and with rational thought. Using the post 9-11 rhetoric and policies as an example, emotional reaction to torture needs to be divorced from the conversation. I understand that it can be difficult to do but it needs to be done.

America cannot remain safe if a coherent and acceptable level of torture, in war and peace time, is not established. Now, I do not want to see the President or the Director of the CIA standing in front of the podium and lay out the torture levels. Americans need to have faith that methods going forward are “humane”.

Transparency: Really?

As the CIA memo debate continues on and Attorney General Eric Holder is comtemplating legal action against those involved, the Obama administration has promised transparency. Really? If what former Vice President Cheney is saying is true, why is it taking so long for the Obama administration to declassify CIA memo’s that showed technique’s used saved Los Angeles from an airline attack. Throughout the run for office and since, President Obama repeated the claim that his administration would be the most transparent in history.

I ask again; really? Why hasn’t the President Obama produced a birth certificate? President Obama has done everything possible to block the true nature of his birth certificate. Many will say that Hawaii has it on record. A certificate of live birth, which Hawaii has on record, is not the same as a birth certificate. The certificate of live birth is something that you or I can get in any state since it simply acknowledges a live birth took place regardless of location.

So why doesn’t President Obama produce his original birth certificate? President Obama speaks of transparency but fails to be transparent on a vital piece of information. American’s, in hindsight, are seeing how President Obama has no plans of honoring the U.S. Constitution. Other evidence is the nationalization of banks, firing a CEO, and now forcing an automaker into Chapter 11.

Everyone on the left feels that former Vice President Cheney is out of line when speaking out against the CIA memos. Never in our history have we looked at the previous regime to punish. FDR administration didn’t get looked into for the Japanese internment camps, Wilson’s Sedition Act, or Clinton’s administration in their three missed opportunity to capture Osama Bin Laden. The continue attack on the CIA, Bush Administration, and the U.S. Constitution by the Obama Administration only weakens the United States.