Torture
By Irwin N. Graulich (11/27/05)
You know what real torture is...listening to the phony rhetoric and outright lies of Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Barbara Boxer, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid, among others.
For any self-righteous politician to bring up torture charges against the American military, means they are totally ignorant of the true dignity, honesty and integrity held by the overwhelming majority of our fighting forces. One might as well say we should investigate all elected officials for pedophilia because ex-Mayor Phil Giordano of Connecticut is currently serving a 37 year prison term for sexually abusing two girls under the age of 16.
In general, Americans are much too nice. The same goes for the American military, which is probably more decent, moral and honest than any other single group in the world, including clergy and certainly politicians. So what makes it necessary for a "respected" senator like John McCain, to write an article for Newsweek magazine entitled, "Torture's Terrible Toll."
Senator McCain, a dangerous, power hungry man, can almost smell, no taste, the presidency. God forbid, God forbid. He has risen so far above his abilities that it is truly pathetic. Had he not served in Viet Nam, he would presently be working for a bank giving out car loans. John McCain is the Republican version of Jimmy Carter.
Unfortunately, serving in the military, especially Viet Nam, gives an individual a new category of victim status, whereby they can utter no wrong in analyzing the military publicly. Of course we should be grateful and appreciative to those who served this great country in war.
However, former soldiers are not necessarily experts at planning military operations. Similarly, an individual who has undergone surgery cannot explain the complexities of operating on a brain tumor, nor where the incisions should be made.
John McCain, John Murtha, Jim McDermott, Colin Powell, et al have been infected with the Viet Nam Syndrome, a war that America unfortunately fought with both hands tied behind its back. These men have become supersensitive and supercritical of anything and everything in the military.
In fact, because McCain was himself tortured by the North Vietnamese, he should be out of the running for commenting seriously about this subject. His article is so filled with flaws and untruths, that he himself could be indicted for fraud. His holier than thou accusations of the current administration's policies vis a vis interrogation methods are themselves torturous to the American people.
Naturally, McCain's article purposely showed Americans how heroic he had been by giving the enemy the Green Bay Packers offensive line in response to his torturers request to identify fellow servicemen.
Thus, according to McCain, this single action proved "conclusively" that torture never works and "produces bad intelligence." Tell that to the Israelis who have used various torture tactics to find out where hundreds of terrorists were hiding and what they were planning, resulting in saving many thousands of innocent lives.
For McCain to say that, "Mistreatment of enemy prisoners endangers our own troops, who might someday be held captive," is the ultimate in hypocrisy. This enemy has cut off the head of a Wall Street Journal reporter, an American contractor, a South Korean translator, an innocent American Jew and McCain thinks that they will treat our military with kindness when captured. Hey Johnny boy--I have a bridge to sell you!
Senator McCain's article simply proves conclusively an important concept from The Talmud, the biblical commentary on The Old Testament. "Those who are compassionate when they should be cruel, will be cruel when they should be compassionate."
Arizona should be embarrassed that they gave a man the sympathy vote because of his ability to withstand torture while fighting for his country. Perhaps withstanding torture is a necessary qualification for being in the US Senate, but all McCain actually deserved was a medal.
The most important concept in the torture debate is to define the term. In Webster's, the word "torture" is explained as, "causing anguish of body or mind." Hey, that was third period physics in high school! And now we see how the word torture can be abused. Personally, I would define torture as being in a 10 x 10 room with bars for an extended period of time and eating prison food. Therefore, prison itself can be torture and so can virtually anything else, including some marriages!
What we have today are politicians reinventing definitions for their own selfish political gains. In summer camp, 13 year olds understand the truly cruel nature of torture, which has always been a lively subject among boys on many a rainy night. Torture was putting a live snake inside a person's body; torture was pulling out someone's fingernails with pliers; torture was putting a screwdriver into someone's eyeball and removing it.
Torture is NOT putting Victoria Secret underwear on the head of a prisoner. Torture is NOT stripping a prisoner to embarrass him. Only scandalous politicians and UN officials could believe such nonsense, even though they themselves probably paid high priced hookers in Manhattan and Washington DC to do the same to them. If Abu Ghraib was torture, my grandmother was a trolley car.
It is the essence of hypocrisy for McCain and his over-sympathetic, fellow apologists to say that, "...when prisoner abuses become public, they threaten our moral standing." Everyone knows that pretty much whatever America does is hated and criticized morally throughout the immoral Arab and Muslim world, whether it is women's/gay rights, MTV, Hollywood or bikinis.
Viet Nam Status has provided an additional danger to help Al Qaeda. Everyone from the President on down is afraid to criticize people who served our country like John Murtha, whose Iraqi statements were so childish as to truly embarrass Americans worldwide. Had America listened to Murtha's exact same foolish logic applied to fighting Nazis in WWII, we would all be speaking German in Washington DC today and I would be soot in a chimney. Without a doubt, history will view this congressman as a modern day Chamberlain.
To imply that "Bush and Cheney did not fight in combat and therefore do not know how to deal with Iraq," simply shows that Agent Orange probably infected Murtha's brain. How come Representative Murtha can have positions on abortion, capital punishment, the environment, social security, etc., when he himself has not worked professionally in or personally experienced any of these things? It seems that all of Congress wants to be Commander-in-Chief and everyone considers themselves to be a General Patton.
The average, hard working American, from doctor to factory worker to storekeeper, understands that under present circumstances, America has men and women to whom we entrust our security.
If these professionals make a well thought out determination based on evidence, where a captured individual may have information that can save American lives, it is a duty to apply reasonable physical/mental pressure on this person to reveal what they may know (source: Maimonides "Laws of Murder" 2:4-5; based on Talmud Sanhedrin 46A).
Who the hell are McCain, Murtha, Schumer, Ted Kennedy and Stansfield Turner to argue with the wisdom of Maimonides and The Talmud?
Real torture is watching the American Auto industry die before our eyes, because Congress and unions have placed such hardships on automobile manufacturers that they can no longer compete with foreign companies. Serious torture is watching Congress support the unbelievable growth of gambling throughout America with casinos sprouting up in most states and government sponsored lotteries/lottos mushrooming like drug dealers on inner city street corners.
All of this abuse being sprung on hard working Americans by those holy rollers in Congress, in order to pay for their addiction to money and power. It is the American public who is being tortured!
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