Thursday, January 19, 2012

American Torture

81 year old Giles Corey was caught in a land dispute with a Puritanical magistrate. When he refused to enter a plea to the court, he was punished by crushing by stones. His famous last words: "more weight" is a perfect symbol reminding us that torture does not work.

By torturing our enemies, we have become equal to them in character. In so doing we have destroyed the very ideals we are at war fighting to protect. If America is to be an honorable leader in the world, righteous lawyers are needed to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. As as an attorney, I want to end America’s practice of enforced disappearance, abusive interrogations and indefinite detention without trial.

The Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Convention on Torture explicitly prohibit inhumane and degrading treatment for prisoners of war. The law is clear but somehow American lawyers were able to conspire a legal way to employ torture and provide cover for those who allowed it. I have no direct connection to torture other than being a human being who respects the life and dignity of others. I deeply believe in my heart and mind that torture serves no useful purpose. It has only emboldened the enemy and inflamed the U.S. war in the Middle East.

Terrorizing the terrorist does not destroy his cause, it creates a cycle.

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