Does Torture Make America Safer?

United States: Americans Safer If Torture is Used or Not? What do you do if your cousin, who is the former Vice-President, insists on trying to make the case that America has been made safer, because the Bush/Cheney administration propagated torture as a means to an end?

Torture is illegal, as the United States is a signer of the Geneva Convention Treaty, which defines torture as a war crime, also the International Court of Law, relating to the rules of engagement when a war has been declared. Little ambiguity in my mind, as Congress never declared war in Iraq. The White House took us to war under the premise of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, which did not exist, or were not discovered before the United States military invaded Iraq, and dethroned Saddam Hussein.

You do what President Obama did today, you try to make the case that your distant cousin is wrong, along with others who think like him. President Obama spoke today on the national security of the United States, saying that those who advocated torture as a means to keep America safe were on the wrong side of the debate, and the wrong side of history. He further stated that our value system requires us to be a better people in essence, to follow the tradition and laws that do not allow us to torture people, as we try to make the case that this will keep us safe. The truth is, he continued, that torturing people did not make us safer, it actually lessened our safety. It also endangered our military personnel in the theatre of war. He said that he had confidence in the American people, that they would reject fear mongering and know that his administration will do everything that is necessary to keep the country safe. President Obama, as one commentator said, is surrounded by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.

The one issue that everyone should consider, is that if America approves of torture, then when our sons, daughters, fathers, brothers and other loved ones, are at war on foreign soil, are we comfortable with them being tortured as well? It’s a tough call. Former Vice-President Cheney spoke after the President, his speech reportedly was sixteen pages long, while yet complaining about the time the President took to speak. Who is the President, Mr. Cheney, stop creating your own insane reality. He went on to lay out his version of why the Bush administration kept the country safe, without too much acknowledgement of the fact that, they were warned prior to September eleventh, and did absolutely nothing to stop the attack that killed over three-thousand Americans. Or that there were several anthrax attacks in the United States. He did say that there was not much attention paid to terrorism prior to September eleventh,

an inadvertent reminder that their administration was virtually asleep at the switch, but subtlety not accepting any blame for the destruction. and death on September eleventh. Mr. Cheney continued with his case, that the torture tactics they used, were legal, defensible and necessary to keep the country safe. Mr. Cheney has criticized the Obama administration for releasing classified memos detailing what methods were used in the torture sessions, yet he wants more memos declassified and released, to prove that torture worked to save American lives. The CIA refused to release the memos he requested, he has asked a second time. Mr. Cheney’s claim that they obtained specific information through torture, has been rebuffed by spook after spook, who are former CIA agents, who say that torture does not work. That they were able to get more sound and truthful information, from terrorists with things such as Oreo’s and McDonald’s French fries, than with torture tactics. Indeed, it was reported that the reason the military was able to capture one of the main terrorists, was because another terrorist gave them the information prior to being tortured.

Yet Mr. Cheney continues his rants about the success of their torture tactics, which are illegal according to law. One commentator said that he thinks Mr. Cheney is scared, and that is why he is resorting to this “Church of Darkness” technique, there is a very good lawyer in Spain, he said, who is putting together a very feasible case of a charge of war crimes against Mr. Cheney and other Bush administration former officials. Mr. Cheney is on a mission, to what end no one knows but, he is betting we are sure, that there will be an attack on the country, which really borders on treason, by his actions, and he thinks he will be able to say “I told you so”. But in hindsight, it really was the Bush/Cheney administration, which made the country more vulnerable, by invading Iraq on false pretenses and lies, and creating a recruiting ground for the leaders of terrorists. At this point in time it would be very honorable, if Mr. Cheney would leave the stage, and let history be the judge of what he and Mr. Bush did, and stop trying to rewrite the pages, where his words really do not make logical sense. Yes, he has a right to speak his mind, but they had their chance, and the remnants of those eight years will be felt for a long time, you would think that he would not want to remind people of who put us in this state and nearly bankrupted the country with a war that never should have taken place. If the inspectors have been left to complete their jobs, they would have discovered that there were no weapons to be found. Let the pages of history be written without more untruths and false accusations from a pitiful man who won’t let go of the imaginary reins of power.