A torturous situation

Sit Ubu sit... good dog! WOOF!

Abu Grabe, Nam, Laos, KGB, CIA, Air America...

What do all these things have in common? They're all "torturous" in nature - and have some connection to torture. (Yes a cheap show to Air America... but I couldn't resist - sue me.) The big debate and polls show that torture is not the American way. In fact, the segment of women polled showed a 74% against torturing insurgents or terrorists, even if it could lead to information about a pending terrorist attack. Obviously these polled people haven't been personnaly affected by terrorism.

Let's get something straight before we start discussing torture. Torture can be described as listening to your boss ramble on about TPS reports or torture can ibe described as electrodes hooked to the testical and tooth fillings while 2,000 volts are issued. While I've never been tortured, I can see where pain could be so great, that the person being tortured would say anything to make it stop (a la McCain's arguement). However, I also believe there's a point where a good torture could reveal important information, and the lies and truth need to be sifted by good questioning and investigation.

What is torture - bamboo up the fingernails, painful foreign objects being applied to the body, starvation maybe to a point... but that's it. Stripping a prisioner naked for embarassment isn't torture, covering them in sheets isn't torture. Making them stand for long periods or kneel for long period to make them uncomfortable isn't torture. Yelling, threats, sounds, sights etc... are not torture. However, listeneing to a million different peoples position on what is and is not torture IS torture. Defining torture is like defining pornography. Other than a general statement - pornography definitation are left up to authorities of each community. Defining torture is probably the same - everyone has their own thoughts and it cannot be completely agreed upon. What can be agreed upon is if it (whatever IT is) should/would be applied under certain circumstances.

It seems like we Americans just haven't yet learned our lesson. Sept. 11th just wasn't enough - we'll need to get hit at least 5 or 10 more times with possibly hundreds of thousands of dead, injured or permenantly wounded for us to really get the message. For some reason we have such high tolerance, slow wit and short memories regarding people who want to kill us. Unless our mother, father, child, or spouse is killed by these terrorists, we really are ready to forgive - even if we have an opportunity to save someone elses mother, father, child, or spouse from getting killed.

Oh well... right? We're so numb that we just shrug it off... say something like... "Oh, wasn't that horrible, I feel sorry for them...... Hey anyone want a beer? Let's shoot some hoops!" and we go on our merry way, barely thinking of the horror, loss and implications these acts really have on us. Maybe Michael Moore is right - we really are the most stupid idiots alive! Cattle more like it. It took a strike in Peal Harbor to rally the U.S. to get involved in the biggest World War known to man and it took the greatest generation of Americans to save the world. Everyone's freedom today from the pigmies in Borneo to the pompous French artist to the fat-mouth Chavez in South America owes the U.S. an unimaginable debt that can never be repayed - their continued freedom. What will it take this generation? Ten Peal Harbors? A hundred? A thousand? How many deaths then... 10K? 50K? Maybe it'll take a million innocent people to be horribly purged from this life prematurely to get our ire up and take control.

Until then, we'll get to armchair debate on every 24 hour news channel, how low or high the presidents approval level is and poll people on issues like - "Would you support torture if the information taken would avoid another terrorist attack?"

What killed me is the women's view... 74% said no torture even if it did lead to averting another attack. Well then, I hope that some of that 74% of women have their family affected by the next one which inevitably will occur. Horrible huh? Insensitive prick! This jerk who blogs hopes that some of this 74% who were polled have their family killed! My GOD how un-Christian! How un-American! FOUL! FOUL!

Hey - sometimes you have to hit people over the head to get it - literally. Once their affected personally they may change their minds. Then again, they may not - which is sad. I'm afraid that before we as a nation finally understand what we're up against, and realized what it will take to control it - it'll be too late. We may be dragged into further wars, further separation before we get it. In the mean time - we'll continue to poll segments of the population. Referee the news magazine programs. Discuss it around the water cooler. Too bad. That's the way I feel about it - and I hope you idiots (yea them's fightin' words) one day get it - but until then here's how I really feel about that 74%.... gimme a beer would you?