Ray McGovern: "This Is About Our Country Losing It's Soul-Let’s rise to the occasion & stop torture"

[kpete]

Are Americans Really “Better Than That?”
By Ray McGovern on December 13, 2007 at 11:36 AM in Torture, Bush/Cheney, counterterrorism

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C.I.A.’s John Kiriakou says he is now convinced that waterboarding is torture and he is against it.

He adds, “Americans are better than that.”

But Are We Better Than That?

Sadly, that remains to be seen. With virtually all religious institutions, politicians, and educators all squandering what moral authority they have left, the Jack Bauer culture threatens to win out in the end. We cannot let that happen.

The upcoming duel on the missing interrogation tapes will again bring the issue of torture front and center. And, strangely, waterboarding and other Jack Bauer tradecraft tools still enjoy a strong constituency.

Here’s where we come in; for we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. As one of my intelligence alumni colleagues noted recently, this is about our country losing its soul. Let’s rise to the occasion and stop unconscionable policies like torture. True patriotism goes well beyond wearing flag on lapel. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, “Sometimes you have to put your body into it.”

Besides, we need to keep the water hose from pumping up our bellies and those of our loved ones. I only wish that this were as remote a possibility as it was before President Bush and his associates came up with their “alternative set of procedures.”

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. He was an Army officer and then a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, and now serves on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS WHOLE PIECE!!!
more at:
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2007/12/13/are-americans-really-%e2%80%9cbetter-than-that%e2%80%9d/#more-1156

[Postman]

1. You have to have HAD a soul to lose one. n/t