Torture -- This is Obama's "Old as the Scriptures" moment
"This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone. It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right.
We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.
The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?
It wasn't perfect, and Kennedy was not as aggressive as he could have been in pushing Civil Rights legislation in the coming months. But he left the country with a clearer view of the overall moral dimensions of the issue, and in historical retrospect he did the right thing despite the opposition from those favoring segregation,
Obama faces the same kind of dilemma today with the torture issue and must resolve it with the same kind of forceful approach. Torture is a criminal enterprise, and whether the Nazis, Japanese did it in WWII or the US did it in the aftermath of 9/11 it is wrong. It has to be labeled as such and an explanation given to the American people about why it morally indefensible as well as impracticable.
Nice framing of the issue. It really presents an opportunity to expand the conversation beyond torture into other human rights issues unfulfilled in this country.
We may have addressed many inequities in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act being signed into law, but 45 years later the same communities suffer the same indignities only now imposed by economics rather than prejudice and expanded to include those of every hue. I think it is 230 years past the time we started living up to our charter.
That was the conversation I looked forward to having as the underlying context to everything we have to do as a nation.
April 24, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I almost didn't read this post because I am unable to process any more about torture at this moment, but I'm glad I did.
I agree that the President needs to come right out and hit this head on. We are either a moral nation or we are not. Doing what we are doing makes us either immoral, or hypocrites. We can no longer claim to be moral, yet sweep the torture issue under the rug.
I understand the concept of walking a tightrope...I see no way to do that here and preserve ANY claim to being a moral nation.
Christian America...wake up. It's time to walk the talk.
April 24, 2009 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think enough has been mentioned about this troubling dimension:
Once a nation decides to apply different rules to 'enemies' how long will it be before the different rules apply to "the enemy within."?
Once the CIA started offing or disappearing leaders of other states (or with Castro, attempting to), it wasn't long before a 'former' CIA operative assasinated JFK.
Think about that.
April 24, 2009 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is no tightrope here. As much as he may want to deal with other things and needs to, this issue cannot be put aside. He must make another speach, like his race speach, pointing out the evil of torture and the damage it has done to the country in the international arena and to the moral fibre of our government. This is not an unregulated area in which they can make up rules as they go and can use morale suasion. We have laws and they were admittedly broken. This is not something one can use prosecutorial discretion on. The world is watching and we must be on our best behavior.
April 25, 2009 2:53 AM | Reply | Permalink