Torturers: Ours or Theirs?

[The Blue Flower]

My letter to the Seattle Times:

"More Tortured Bodies Found in Iraq." Now that the President and Congress made torture just one more lawful method of gathering information, how are we to take such headlines? Is this freedom on the march? Is it a sign of American-style democracy taking hold? Should we be outraged or proud? Does it matter if the torturers ours or theirs?

[Avalux]

1. I posted about this earlier.

Our government has managed to get people to qualify torture - bad guys vs. good guys. That's why it's been swallowed as acceptable. As long the US is torturing bad guys who want to kill us, it's OK. If good guys are captured and tortured though, it's wrong. Yes, I believe in the minds of Americans, it does matter who the torturers are, and when it's our government, it's justified and even necessary.