TORTURE VERSES DRONE STRIKES

Drone killing and torture have nothing to do with one another. People seem to mix up the two in the debates over targeted killing by drones. Case in point was Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe (MSNBC) this morning.

One of the requirements for a drone strike outlined in the now famous 16-page memo is that capture is “impossible”. The government authorizes drone strikes only when we cannot be captured the “target”. We need only a moment reflection to realize before a person can be tortured; he or she must be under our control. If we have a terrorist in captivity, we will not “kill” him or her without trial. This is a big difference over looked by Cheney and company.

There can be no question that torture is wrong. Contrary to my personal beliefs, some would say killing is wrong even if done in self-defense, which is what it would be if a judge and jury finds the terrorist guilty and sentences him or her to die. They are protecting Americans from death at the hands of radial people. Similarly, judges and juries dealing with people who torture, if found guilty, would sentence the torturer to prison and not the prisoner for being tortured.  Psychologists have proved beyond doubt that if a prison guards, who are normally “good” people, will tend to mistreat a prisoner if there are no deterrents to that kind of behavior. Scientists have shown this to be the case in classic experiments but for obvious reasons cannot extend the experiments beyond punishment to actual killing a prisoner.

An interesting case involving torture verses killing deals with an ex-congressman, who as a macho army interrogator wanted to kill the subject he was questioning—a clear case of faulty logic; you can not get answers from a dead man. The army discharged him but people in his legislative district elected him to congress—go figure.  Torture, even if the person doing the torturing does it in defense of America, is wrong but it is especially wrong if  he or she is doing it because their alleged crime or worse yet because of ethnicity.  One interrogator said he was doing it but even if he was not guilty, he was Muslim and deserved to have it happen to him. Unfortunately, ethnic hate seemed to contribute to the electorate feeling that put the above-mentioned interrogator in congress.

Our government has to assure the American people that this kind of thinking does not play a part in targeting for drone strikes, which should only be carried out in self-defense of our embassies our property and our citizens but only if we cannot reasonably capture the proposed targets.