On another issue that I cannot let pass today I must once again comment on Vice President Dick Cheney's role in this administration with regards to torture and the Iraq war. According to a recent CNN report, Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff Colonel Larry Wilkerson has indicated in an interview that it was Mr. Cheney who provided the "philosophical guidance and the flexibility" which helped lead to the use of torture by American forces. I'm shocked! ......................... NOT! I apologize for that outburst but I must occasionally insert some humor into my musings. Let me be a little blunter. As a soldier, citizen and human being Mr. Cheney turns my stomach. I am forever astounded that a man and I use the term very loosely; who asked for and received five draft deferments can have such audacity. I believe, and I think that a majority of the American people believe, that torture is a reprehensible and unproductive act, period. I believe and I think that a majority of the American people believe that anyone or any nation that uses or condones the use of torture is reprehensible. I believe that I can say that based simply on our nations history. I don't know how else to say it. Look at Senator John McCain and what he has gone through for this nation and look at what he and Senators Warner and Graham have done to introduce and support a bill that would insure that this nation does not participate in such acts. These are conservative lawmakers who understand how counterproductive torture is and what its use can do to a nations standing in the world and who more importantly understand the moral repercussions of such acts. Obviously Mr. Cheney does not understand this, or really doesn't care, in which case I think it is even worse and scarier because of the position he holds. I think it is important for the public to know that the Vice President called these three men into his office to attempt to pressure them to withdraw this legislation. Now I want you to imagine this. Picture it in your mind that here is the Vice President of the United States of America calling three Senators into his office to pressure them to withdraw legislation that is intended to prevents "TORTURE". Now some warped minds might even say that that is okay. We are only talking about torturing people who want to hurt our country and who killed hundreds of our citizens. Well to those who would say that I would ask you then what is the difference between torturing those people and torturing a man who bombed and killed hundreds of people in Oklahoma City some years back. Would it have been okay had we tortured Timothy McVey to get him to tell us who helped him? Would it be okay to torture any American citizen in order to get information to convict them of any murder? Would it be okay to torture the British Nanny who killed her American charges to find out why she did it and did someone else help her? When is it justified and where does torture stop. I say the answer is it is never justified. I say it is never justified for multiple reasons. First, it is in my mind immoral. Secondly we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it doesn't work. It doesn't work for the simple reason that a person who is being tortured will tell you anything you want to hear whether it is the truth or not. I know this because I was taught this back when it was taught in the military that it was immoral to do it and against the Geneva Accords. Now back to Mr. Cheney. I must concur with Senator John Kerry when in referring to Mr. Cheney he said that "it's hard to name a government official with less credibility". In this instance Senator Kerry was referring to Iraq but I would say that it applies across the board in Mr. Cheney's case. How can a person in such a position, "who has access to the same information" that I do and much more, condone something that has been consistently proven to not work? I'll tell you how. Because it's the same person who told us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Because it is the same person who in 1991 listed all of the reasons the United States should not invade Iraq and then "flip flopped" to convince the American people we should invade Iraq 12 years later after the "sanctions had done there job in disarming Iraq". It is my belief that Mr. Cheney lacks the moral stature to lead anyone, much less the American people.
Those are The Sergeant Majors thoughts on that.
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