JK has an essay on torture in this month's Washington Monthly

[ginnyinWI]

This issue has a star-studded collection of political personalities writing on the subject. You have to scroll down on the left to find JK's link. I'd cut and paste but I think everyone here would want to read the whole thing anyway. :)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.torture.html

[wisteria]

1. Thank you- it is a good read.

The senator ends his piece on a very strong statement,

"It is time for the United States to again make clear what presidents from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan knew for certain but this administration has preferred to muddy: on the issue of torture, there is no compromise. America must not weaken the values that make us strong."

[Inuca]

2. I read a few others as well

Good to see so many "big names" take such a clear stand on this.

[YvonneCa]

3. I agree. This is what we need...

...our leaders to do to turn things around. It WILL take time to change how we are perceived by the world at large...but it begins with leaders finding common ground on big, important issues and then speaking jointly and loudly to the public about our best values.

This is great to see.

[MBS]

4. the whole issue is excellent--thanks!

Note that you can download the WHOLE ISSUE as a pdf for free.
Well worth reading all of them.
One of my very favorites was Chris Dodd's. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.dodd.html Actually, IMHO, it's even better than JK's. :blush: Here are some especially strong bits from Dodd's article:

. . . This is the country that refused for centuries to suspend its Constitution for vengeance. It is the country of which George Marshall said, "Respect for the reign of law ... is expected to follow the flag wherever it goes." In recent years, we have diverted wildly from this course. The burden is on us now to prove that we can once again be that country.

I believe the next administration could restore the rule of law—without loopholes—on its first day in office. I believe we could do it tomorrow, if we chose to. I believe that it is possible to keep our country safe and our Constitution whole at the same time.

There are many Americans who believe that this can't be done: that the terrorist threat we're facing is so vast and unprecedented that parts of our Constitution have become luxuries, and that the Geneva Conventions have been rendered, in the words of Alberto Gonzales, "quaint." They could not be more wrong.

The question is not, "Does torture work?" Of course it works. If your goal is to get a confession out of someone, then torture is an excellent tool. . . .
But how many of those confessions are true, and how many are lies to make the pain stop? How do we tell the difference? . . .

But if torture fails to produce credible information, it does do two things exceptionally well.

First, it puts our troops in danger. The White House has now declared that waterboarding is not torture. What is to stop other regimes from "not torturing" our soldiers in the same way? Second, torture excels at making terrorists. It can help spawn warped men who will seek revenge for the rest of their lives. Justice Robert Jackson recognized the dangers of mistreating our enemies when he explained the necessity of fair trials for Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg: "To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice," he said, "is to put it to our own lips as well."

. . . .

Someday, when they're (Dodd's daughters) old enough, they'll read in their textbooks the history of a great nation that lost its way—and how, I hope, it found its way back. The most pressing question they'll have won't be about George Marshall or Robert Jackson. It will be, "What did you do?" That question is coming, soon, for every single one of us.

Very, very strong.