Lou Ann Merkle: Torture is not an American Value

Torture is not an American value. Here's a test to determine whether Waterboarding & every other form of torture is right or wrong:

1. Could our Congress and President proudly host a program showing the Waterboarding of a man or woman with an American flag on the same stage and broadcast this to the world?

2. Could our Congressmen and Congresswomen, Senators and President expose themselves to Waterboarding as the courageous Presidential Advisor Levin did and still have doubts about it being torture?

3. Would our Congressmen and Congresswomen, Senators and President allow this to be done to their own children and/or our own American service people and consider it a tolerable means of gaining information?

I can't imagine anyone answering yes to any of these questions.

Torture is done behind closed doors away from the public eye for a reason. The torturers lose their humanity as they inflict pain without mercy and fail to hear the pleadings for mercy from their suffering victims. Torture is done to "others" who are dehumanized beyond the reach of international human rights protections.

An America that not only accepts torure, but has a school that trains American & international soldiers in its techniques fuels a climate of fear and sows the seeds of our own destruction.We lead by example.

We reap what we sow. Torture is wrong and this Administration has betrayed our most fundamental values by legalizing state-sponsored brutality.

Lou Ann Merkle

Executi Director

Darfur Alert Coalition

http://www.darfuralert.org/