I should air another dissent, because there have been so many:
Today has been a very tough day. I feared the worst when I found out about the US soldiers taken by terrorists. I’ve been sick all day thinking about what they must have gone through.
I’m sorry, but reading your description of what the US did to Abu Zubayda did not make me sick. I could only hope that our soldiers were treated so humanely. Of course, I know they were treated much worse, and were eventually killed.
I think that reasonable people see the difference between us and the terrorists. Those who don’t would never give us any slack anyways.
Your attempt to use this very sad day to prove some esoteric moral perspective makes me even sicker than I already was.
I feel sick too. All I can say is I just do not believe opposing the torture of prisoners is an "esoteric" moral position. I think it’s the most basic moral position there is. And it requires reiterating precisely when all our emotions are programmed to violate it. As another reader writes:
I don’t think it’s quite right to say that we musn’t lose our moral compass to save civilization. Our moral compass is the linchpin of our civilization.
Another comments:
See, Andrew, you’ve hit upon what, for conservatives, is the unreconcilable paradox of this war: Is whatever America might do in this war permissible and ultimately moral simply because this is America? It is – if your moral legitimacy cannot be questioned, because it is not derived from your actions but from who you are, what you have historically been.
It reminds me of the fundamentalist mindset: because we are on the side of good, and our enemy is evil, we can do no wrong. The ends always justify the means. And for this president, the ends are everything.
The Dish 