Walking backwards: visible wounds and unseen scars
Christine March 4th, 2007
As you might notice I write very few posts under the category of Politics. That is not exactly my element and I don’t feel comfortable with in your face recipes for anything. In fact, I don’t feel at ease writing now; I am scrutinizing each word. I do not like seeing the words “Quaker” and “Politics” all the time fused together in the same sentence because that is not what my faith is at the center. Ah, but I feel urgently about the visible wounds and unseen scars we are creating from this war. I am torn inside regarding the stain of torture which hangs over our land. We are all connected to each other in some unknown way and the pain of these events is very real to me. I am a Quaker, but I am not a radical. I love this place and agree with what we historically represent as being America. I would submit that most of us against this war love their country, but this war is not in keeping with the Gospel. In contrast to this war perhaps it is the Gospel which is radical. Torture: Who will ever trust us or our leaders again? Do our actions truly reflect good intentions? Where does it say in the Gospel: thou shalt torture? We all know Moses wrote down: Thou shalt not kill but who is still paying attention? You can read the news, however much you can stomach; you can read the writers with whom you agree the most. You all have your favorites bookmarked. Here is something else to read: The New York Times ran an editorial today which you can access the full extent of here. It’s short and concise.
Restore Habeas Corpus
…an “illegal enemy combatant” the ancient right to challenge his imprisonment in court. The arguments for doing this were specious. Habeas corpus is nothing remotely like a get-out-of-jail-free card for terrorists, as supporters would have you believe. It is a way to sort out those justly detained from those unjustly detained. It will not “clog the courts,” as Senator Graham claims. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has a worthy bill that would restore habeas corpus. It is essential to bringing integrity to the detention system and reviving the United States’
Ban Torture, Really
The provisions in the Military Commissions Act that Senator McCain trumpeted as a ban on torture are hardly that. It is still largely up to the president to decide what constitutes torture and abuse for the purpose of prosecuting anyone who breaks the rules. This amounts to rewriting the Geneva Conventions and puts every American soldier at far greater risk if captured. It allows the president to decide in secret what kinds of treatment he will permit at the Central Intelligence Agency’s prisons. The law absolves American intelligence agents and their bosses of any acts of torture and abuse they have already committed.
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