“Tens of thousands of American Air Force and naval airmen were waterboarded as part of their survival training,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, according to the LA Times. Lo and behold, the U.S. military “has subjected its own personnel to the method to prepare them for the possibility of being captured.” Putting the lie to the left’s unending bleating about torture, the intelligent official continued, “We don’t maim as part of our training. We don’t mutilate. We don’t sodomize…there has got to be a difference between [waterboarding] and the other [forms of torture]; otherwise we wouldn’t have done it in training.” Considering the quality of the debate surrounding our treatment of captured terrorists, average Americans shouldn’t expect such logic to carry the day.
In case you’ve missed the salient points about the use of waterboarding by the Bush administration, let’s review some factoids. First, the technique was used on a grand total of three – uno, dos, tres –terrorist prisoners. Second, the practice was discontinued almost six years ago. Third, the subjects were non-uniformed enemy combatants, without national affiliation, and therefore not protected by the Geneva Conventions, agreements dealing only with the treatment of captured nation-state military personnel in uniform. In the good old days, enemy fighters captured out of uniform were summarily shot. For those of you in West Palm Beach, “summarily” means “right away, without trial, no questions asked or answered.”
It’s safe to say that never in history has so much been written and said about so little activity that nevertheless yielded so much life-saving information. During 2002 and 2003, when waterboarding was employed, everyone — that includes both Clintons, Obama, Kerry, Gore, Edwards, etc. — believed another attack similar to 9/11 was imminent. In the event, one of the waterboarded terrorists, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the successful 2001 plot Khaid Sheikh Mohammed, provided valuable information used to thwart a scheme to fly hijacked airplanes into the tallest building in Los Angeles. Under such circumstances, considering our enemy’s sworn intent and proven ability to kill civilians, not using a benign interrogative technique like waterboarding would have been the crime. Nevertheless, a defamatory crusade has been unleashed against President Bush and those in his administration who have successfully protected Americans from 9/12 onward.
The LA Times, NY Times, and other media outlets have recently ramped up their anti-waterboarding efforts. Almost daily articles repeat the same worn-out fabrications about the practice. Senator McCain said waterboarding “is in violation of the Geneva Convention” (LA Times, “Waterboarding is still an option,” Feb 7, 2008, pages A-1 & A-13). In the same article, Senator Diane Feinstein asserts our use of waterboarding “says to others that we are prepared to use the same kinds of tactics used by the most repressive regimes.” The Senator is either uninformed or lying. Our restraint during interrogations, overall treatment of prisoners, and cautious battlefield application of force stand in stark contrast to the wanton dismemberment of men, women, and children by the monsters she dares compare us to. Tim Rutten, typically unfair and unbalanced, claims the Bush administration handed a victory to the terrorists “when it replaced law with vengeance.” (LA Times, “Mukasey’s confession,” Feb 2, 2008, page A-21). Dripping water in the face of a man who killed 3,000 Americans is not a way to get even, but does stop further atrocities, a not-so-fine distinction no doubt wasted on the likes of Mr. Rutten.
Accomplishing conformity Lenin would be proud of, every LA Times’ reader agrees with the publication’s assessment of waterboarding, the inescapable conclusion of anyone perusing the letters to the editor. Without exception, readers responding to the Times all condemn waterboarding. Elizabeth Broyles wonders how “current occupants of the White House” can condone torture and “even remotely claim to be Christian.” Eager to play the religion card, the dear lady would do well to read Romans 13: 4, “it [the ruler] does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.” Mr. Mohammed is lucky he didn’t live in the 1st century. Letter writer James Caufield worries “This particular form of torture sometimes results in death.” So does eating cornflakes, Mr. Caufield, and about as often. I check the Times’ letter section daily, waiting for that lone voice in favor of waterboarding. Alas, the editors still haven’t selected my letter. Unlike those undergoing waterboarding, I won’t be holding my breath.
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Media, War on Terror