You know, some of my conservative friends have asked me why I am against torture, when "we need to do this to protect our country". The answer I have for those people is the same answer I have for why I am against the death penalty in most cases as well; because if only one innocent person was subjected to torture or put to death, than that practice is unacceptable.

Thrown to the Wolves

Please read this entire story. It is from the New York Times, and if you can't read the story because it asks for a password, than read the excerpt here.

"In the fall of 2002 Mr. Arar, a Canadian citizen, suddenly found himself caught up in the cruel mockery of justice that the Bush administration has substituted for the rule of law in the post-Sept. 11 world. While attempting to change planes at Kennedy Airport on his way home to Canada from a family vacation in Tunisia, he was seized by American authorities, interrogated and thrown into jail. He was not charged with anything, and he never would be charged with anything, but his life would be ruined.

Mr. Arar was surreptitiously flown out of the United States to Jordan and then driven to Syria, where he was kept like a nocturnal animal in an unlit, underground, rat-infested cell that was the size of a grave. From time to time he was tortured.

He wept. He begged not to be beaten anymore. He signed whatever confessions he was told to sign. He prayed.

Among the worst moments, he said, were the times he could hear babies crying in a nearby cell where women were imprisoned. He recalled hearing one woman pleading with a guard for several days for milk for her child."

This is not the model society that we should be portraying to the world, this is wanton cruelty and will surely lead to retribution on our own troops that would be horrible. This is NOT us! I know we were hurt and we NEVER want something like September 11th to EVER happen again, but this is NOT the way to protect ourselves! This is WRONG!!!!!!!!

"Official documents in Canada suggest that Mr. Arar was never the target of a terror investigation there. One former Canadian official, commenting on the Arar case, was quoted in a local newspaper as saying 'accidents will happen' in the war on terror."

See now this infuriates me, "accidents will happen". Oh well, darn! Too bad this man was tortured mercilessly, and will never be the same. Eh. NO this is not right.

"A lawsuit on Mr. Arar's behalf has been filed against the United States by the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. Barbara Olshansky, a lawyer with the center, noted yesterday that the government is arguing that none of Mr. Arar's claims can even be adjudicated because they 'would involve the revelation of state secrets.'

This is a government that feels it is answerable to no one."

EXACTLY, and this is why this is ALL wrong! Does no one else see the way this administration is consolidating its power? It really believes that is has to answer to no one. Its a scary proposition, it is not a democracy to be sure. It is not America!

WAKE UP!!