Well, I just LOVED this one here. It makes so much sense what he is saying.
Call him a terrorist or a suicide bomber or anything else you want, but understand that he is willing -- no, anxious -- to give his life for his cause. Call him also a captive, and know that he works with others as part of a team, like the Sept. 11 hijackers, all of whom died, willingly. Ishmael is someone I invented, but he is not a far-fetched creation. You and I know he exists, has existed and will exist again. He is the enemy.
Now he is in American custody. What will happen? How do we get him to reveal his group's plans and the names of his colleagues? It will be hard. It will, in fact, be harder than it used to be. He can no longer be waterboarded. He knows this. He cannot be deprived of more than a set amount of sleep. He cannot be beaten or thrown up against even a soft wall. He cannot be threatened with shooting or even frightened by the prospect of an electric drill. Nothing really can be threatened against his relatives -- that they will be killed or sexually abused.
How can anyone not see the perfect sense in this?
I'm willing to go out on a limb here and say that, really, this would apply perfectly well here at home. So I'd like to help Dick Cohen promoting his next article. I'm not a professional writer by any means, but when you have such good material, it practically writes itself. Let's see how this might apply to a criminal, maybe a drug dealer or a bank robber here in the United States:
Now he is in police custody. What will happen? How do we get him to reveal his gang's plans and the names of his colleagues? It will be hard. It will, in fact, be harder than it used to be. He can no longer be waterboarded. He knows this. He cannot be deprived of more than a set amount of sleep. He cannot be beaten or thrown up against even a soft wall. He cannot be threatened with shooting or even frightened by the prospect of an electric drill. Nothing really can be threatened against his relatives -- that they will be killed or sexually abused.
What has this country come to when the police can no longer behave like a rival gang member? And it's not like the criminal justice system ever makes a mistake. As we all very well know, only the guilty are ever subject to punishment. And even if we do occasionally make a very rare mistake, we have to have a lawful society. Besides, we have a Supreme Court that will correct all the mistakes.
But there are so many other applications beyond simply criminal activity. Maybe we need a few more articles after this next one.
For example, what if you think your 16 year old son snuck out past curfew to go to a party.
Now he is grounded for 2 weeks. What will happen? How do we get him to reveal his buddy's plans and the names of his colleagues? It will be hard. It will, in fact, be harder than it used to be. He can no longer be waterboarded. He knows this. He cannot be deprived of more than a set amount of sleep. He cannot be beaten or thrown up against even a soft wall. He cannot be threatened with shooting or even frightened by the prospect of an electric drill. Nothing really can be threatened against his relatives -- that they will be killed or sexually abused.
And what if your wife doesn't have dinner waiting for you when you get home?
You can of course see where all of this is going.
So back to reality.
Torture is always, always wrong. It should end there. I shouldn't have to explain any further than that. But apparently I do.
Among so many other reasons it is wrong is that if it solves one problem thousands of miles away, why it should work perfectly well here at home. And when our interrogators come home we will have well trained experts who will know how to do the job. And at first, maybe it will only be used on drug dealers and bank robbers to give up the names of their colleagues. But how long until we start using it against shoplifters and Nigerian scammers? And from there to a wayward son? Or to an insufficiently dutiful wife of a controlling husband?
So Dick, and I mean that with every bit of sarcasm I can muster, you may like the nice torture chambers overseas, thinking that they work, and that you will never have to experience the worst of them here, but take a good long look around you, at all the crazy in the base of the GOP and tell me they wouldn't do the same here.
Feel free to use my ideas for your next column, but to be honest, I really don't want a byline.