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Lowering American standards
On Saturday President Bush stopped Congressional Democrats from banning torture by vetoing a bill that would have limited all interrogation methods used by our intelligence community to those approved by the Army Field Manual, which prohibits using physical force. It baffles me that an American president could stand before the world and approve of torture at the moment when most people in the world believe America acts without consideration for others and without respect for human rights. Way to break that stereotype Mr. President.
Some presidents define their presidency by setting high standards of conduct and character for America and its actions. George Bush on the other hand likes to lower the standards. What’s worse, not only does this veto explicitly endorse waterboarding, a form of torture, but it puts our service members at risk by inviting our enemies to lower the bar themselves and torture our service members because it would meet our newly reduced standards. This isn’t just me speaking—though I am a soldier in the Army so this makes my job harder and more dangerous. General David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, has said that if the United States approved of forms of torture it puts our troops in danger of being subject to the same rules by our enemies.
But hey, Bush has our highest priorities in mind, right? “We have no higher responsibility than stopping terrorist attacks” he said in his weekly radio address while endorsing his veto and approving of torture. Really, does terrorism overrule all our standards of human rights, respect for the laws of war, and our values as Americans? If banning torture is good enough for the Army Field Manual, Gen. David Petraeus, the international community, and the constitution, then it’s good enough for me.
Thank you Democrats in Congress for making me proud to be an American, and standing up for our highest responsibility—our moral standards.
Posted By: Cole Hickman @ Mar 8, 08:53 AM
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