It is hard to believe. The former vice president of this great nation is admitting that he gave leadership to acts which are immoral under God and unlawful under our criminal code and Constitution, and he proudly declares he would do it again.
In an NBC interview that aired this week during the release of his book, "In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir," former Vice President Richard Cheney asserts that he has "no regrets" about supporting the euphemistically named "enhanced interrogation" techniques, and in retrospect, he would authorize waterboarding again, even though it's widely considered a violation of U.S. law. "I would strongly support using it again if circumstances arose where we had a high-value detainee and that was the only way we could get him to talk," Cheney told NBC's Jamie Gangel.
The former vice president is wrong on several accounts -- morally, legally, and practically wrong. First, he has put our nation at odds with our deepest moral values. The vast majority of America's religions proclaim the inherent worth and dignity of every person and say clearly that torture is immoral. For example, the Catholic Church states in its teachings that "Torture is an intrinsic evil." Yet Cheney states he ordered waterboarding and he would do it again.
Second, his language violates the legal system of the United States. Torture is against the law. Our nation's legal system is established on the principle that no one is above the law and no one, no matter how high his or her position is in the government, has the right to impunity. Yet former Vice President Cheney was a leading force in the decision to carry out torture, violating U.S. law.
Third, Cheney says he would use torture now if that were the "only way" to get a "high-value detainee" to talk. But torture is never the only way to get a person to talk. Expert interrogators tell us repeatedly that torture creates unreliable information and is a powerful recruiting tool for our enemies. Look at the torture-induced statement that formed the primary foundation for then Secretary of State Colin Powell's false claim before the United Nations that Iraq was concealing weapons of mass destruction.
Cheney disgraced this country and continues to disgrace himself. He may have "no regrets," but he is simply wrong in his view of the use of torture. Cheney refuses to learn the lesson learned by civilized countries after World War II -- torture is always immoral and can never be justified under any circumstances.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a national coalition of more than 300 religious organizations, has long called for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S.-sponsored torture and to recommend safeguards to end U.S.-sponsored torture forever. The need for such a commission has never been more apparent than it is today, with a former vice president of the United States proudly proclaiming his support of torture.
We have a moral, legal, and spiritual obligation to establish an impartial, nonpartisan and independent Commission of Inquiry to gather all the facts surrounding our nation's use of torture, to affirm our abhorrence of torture, and to make recommendations to ensure torture will never happen again at the hands of the United States. We call upon the president and Congress to create such a commission immediately.
Perhaps reliving the story of the horrors committed with approval from the vice president in the aftermath of 9/11 will compel serious investigation by the U.S. government. Nothing less is at stake than the soul of our nation.
Rev. Richard Killmer, a Presbyterian minister, is the Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Follow Rev. Richard L. Killmer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nrcattweets
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You folks would still be burning people at the stake if you could get away with it.
WE WERE HOPING THAT DICK CHENEY MIGHT HAVE HAD WORDS OF WISDOM FOR THE WORLD IN HIS NEWLY RELEASED BOOK THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN MORE ENLIGHTENING THEN "WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION."
SINCE NONE OF we little Americans ARE REALLY PRIVY TO REALITY CONCERNING OUR SAFETY HERE AT HOME,WE ARE WITHHOLDING CRITICAL THOUGHTS ABOUT MR CHENEY & HIS CABAL THAT TRUSTED HIS HEART & MIND TO PUT HIM IN THE OVAL OFFICE !
WE WILL CONTINUE ENCOURAGING IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER TO CALL FOR A FUTURE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS PEACE POW WOW IN TEHRAN IRAN IN HOPES OF RESOLVING THESE CONTINUOUS RELIGIOUS WORLD WARS ...
THESE VARIOUS RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES BY THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS NOW NEED TO PUT A MAJOR EFFORT INTO CREATING THE PROPER INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FOR A FUTURE WORLD OF PEACE~
WE PRAY IRAN'S TOP RELIGIOUS LEADER DECIDES TO SHOW THIS VERY NEEDY INTERNATIONAL WORLD HOPE FOR THE PEACEFUL FUTURE OF MANKIND ?
Just FYI: Most people won't even bother to read a post like this.
To call waterboarding "simulated" drowning is almost as silly as saying torture works. It IS drowning when you cannot breathe.
It was part of the big plan that God the Father put into place for God the Son to experience, because they both loved us all so much.
Sounds like Dick Cheney to me.
From whatever is known about Adam, he was not given over to be tortured for the crime he committed against mankind, he lied on for 930 years and returned to the dust. So, why would Jesus be given over to be tortured when he committed no sin and therefore no crime?
The origination of torture lies with man and their disposition to think up evil things to be committed against their fellowman.
It is illogical to think that God the Son died and yet God the Father was alive somewhere to initiate a resurrection if he was also God the Son. So, God the Son was not really dead? Quite irrational thinking I must say.
Why would the fictitious Adam have had to be tortured? Is it because God was foolish enough to let a serpent into Eden or because God failed to guard both the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life? He let Satan enter and also allowed two very child-like people to get tricked by the wily Devil. God seems particularly unable to plan ahead or to read the future. What kind of God operates in such a haphazard manner? Perhaps God was just planning ahead for the time when he let Satan almost destroy Job.
Is your position that torture is acceptable if you believe it also happened under a Democratic president. Isn't that like having a child say "Mom, everyone else is doing it?"
This conversation that Jesus had some scribes illustrates the point:
Mark 12: 29-34
29Jesus answered, "The most important Law says: `People of Israel, you have only one LORD and GOD. 30You must love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.' 31The second most important commandment says: `Love others as much as you love yourself.' No other commandment is more important than these."
32The man replied, "Teacher, you are certainly right to say there is only one GOD. 33It is also true that we must love GOD with all our heart, mind, and strength, and that we must love others as much as we love ourselves. These commandments are more important than all the sacrifices and offerings that we could possibly make."
34When Jesus saw that the man had given a sensible answer, he told him, "You are not far from GOD’s kingdom."
You are forgetting one major point about torture. The New Testament tells us that some will end up in an everlasting lake of fire. It is hard to picture any earthly torture that could compare with the torture planned by God for his favorite creatures, human beings. Jesus will have the task of separating the wheat (good people) from the chaff (bad folks) when the end of life on earth arrives. By the way, Jesus must be awfully busy. About 155,000 people die in the world each day. That is almost two per second for Jesus to route either to Heaven or Hell.
Some would say that this torture is merely God's justice, but that is foolish. The universe will probably still have a slight bit of light for one hundred trillion more years, and it will exist many times that long after all light fades away. Is a seventy-year lifetime of not accepting Christ really deserving of a punishment that extends into the quadrillions of years? A quadrillion is a million billion. That is a long time in which to burned unceasingly because of the decision of a loving God. Some will say that God does not make the choice; we do. The Bible does not, however, make that statement.
And only progressives think Cheney should apologize to the hairsute Sheik who got waterboarded and gave up the information that saved American lives.
You're a fine examplke of progressivism, my friend. I mean it. Seriously. You are.
Now for your straw man. It is likely that few would say that the people who killed the 9-11 victims should apologize to the killers. Who has said that? Cheney does not need to apologize to any sheik; the repulsive VP should simply be tried in a court of law. That "sheik" was water boarded at least 183 times. It must have been very effective.
What in the world are you talking about?