StrangerThan
Posts: 1515
Joined: 4/25/2008 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: slvemike4u That just about covers it.....and with that in mind I reiterate what I said earlier...this thread will break down along two basic lines .Those who believe they should be sanctioned are aghast at what went on in Gitmo. Those that do not believe any sanctions should be forthcoming don't give a shit what went on in Gitmo and wouldn't give a shit if it continues....so long as they have the illusion of increased safety. Giving a shit and seizing every opportunity to condemn are different things. And when it comes to giving a shit, I don't give one shit where anyone else lives in regards to this question. If you are an American, that means, US citizen, torture is something you should despise, and rights something you should fight for. It is incredibly un-American to detain without counsel, without charges, without any form of due process, and vastly un-American to torture your enemies. If you have to sit down and play with legal definitions to decide who should be treated humanely and who should not, you've lost a good deal of what it means to be American. On the flip side, from the article: "The report does not indicate whether the medical workers at the C.I.A. sites were physicians, other professionals or both." Add to that the declaration that these practices were legal by the Justice Department - political whores that they are - as a military person serving a country at war, your options are to perform the duty assigned to you or risk imprisonment yourself. Given the paranoid behavior of the last administration, I wouldn't put it past them to consider refusal of such duty to be aiding and abetting the enemy. Sanctioning medics and military medical personnel if done, should be done on a case by case basis, not as a general rule fostered by those who "give a shit" and absolutely should not be done on recommendation of an entity like the Red Cross, nor by the outraged hang-wringers who think of war in clean, sanitary terms defined by the rules of chilvary. Sanctioning medical personnel who hired on for the pay, yes. But then again, they were simply following legal, if unethical guidelines. In doing so it becomes an exercise in punishing those you can because you can't punish the ones who were really responsible. The entire Bush administration should be sanctioned and every blasted one of the policy makers should be put on trial for actions that were clearly and undeniably un-Constitutional. Yes, I give a shit but having been on the ground in places like the Middle East, I can honestly say I did things that I didn't like, things that were probably unethical, things that harmed. I can also say I did those things because those were my orders and because I didn't have the information to know whether or not refusing to do them endangered the lives of people back home, people in the next bunk over, people in the next detachment sent to the area. You don't have to hunt people to vent your outrage and indignation upon. Most of them are walking free and in retirement right now enjoying millions they made off you.
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--'Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform' - Mark Twain
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