some kind of expert.
Remember the War of 1812? Do you remember that the British invaded the capitol, Washington, D.C. and burned the buildings?
In 1814 the United States faced complete defeat, because the British, having defeated Napoleon, began to transfer large numbers of ships and experienced troops to America. The British planned to attack the United States in three main areas: in New York along Lake Champlain and the Hudson River in order to sever New England from the union; at New Orleans to block the Mississippi; and in Chesapeake Bay as a diversionary maneuver. The British then hoped to obtain major territorial concessions in a peace treaty. The situation was particularly serious for the United States because the country was insolvent by the fall of 1814, and in New England opponents of the war were discussing separation from the Union. The Hartford Convention that met in Connecticut in December 1814 and January 1815 stopped short of such an extreme step but suggested a number of constitutional amendments to restrict federal power.
The British appeared near success in the late summer of 1814. American resistance to the diversionary attack in Chesapeake Bay was so weak that the British, after winning the Battle of Bladensburg (August 24), marched into Washington, D.C., and burned most of the public buildings. President Madison had to flee into the countryside (see Paul Jennings). The British then turned to attack Baltimore but met stiffer resistance and were forced to retire after the American defense of Fort McHenry, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words of the "Star-Spangled Banner."
http://www.jmu.edu/madison/center/main_pages/madison_archives/life/war1812/overview.htmThis history is (or used to be before Reagan) taught in elementary school -- as part of the lesson on the Star-Spangled Banner. Shame on you Mr. Gergen.
Other than that, Mr. Gergen, ever the Republican in independent clothing, is simply wrong about whether we need prosecutions.
We need prosecutions more than ever. It is imperative that we show the world that we do not condone and cannot justify torture. To allow those who resorted to these techniques -- ON PEOPLE WHO HAD NOT BEEN TRIED -- AND WHO IN SOME CASES WERE INNOCENT, is a stain on the soul of our nation.
Enter LADY MACBETH, with a taper
Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise;
and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close.
Doctor
How came she by that light?
Gentlewoman
Why, it stood by her: she has light by her
continually; 'tis her command.
Doctor
You see, her eyes are open.
Gentlewoman
Ay, but their sense is shut.
Doctor
What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands.
Gentlewoman
It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus
washing her hands: I have known her continue in
this a quarter of an hour.
LADY MACBETH
Yet here's a spot.
Doctor
Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes from
her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.
LADY MACBETH
Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,
then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account?--Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him.
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/macbeth/22/According to Jane Mayer, one suspect (and those tortured were merely suspects at the time) may have died. Please read her book, The Dark Side.
America will be haunted by the spot of our torture until we prosecute those who authorized it.
As for the fact that we require some of our military personnel to undergo these techniques, it is one thing to have someone you trust "torture" you and quite another to be tortured by someone you do not know and who is holding you hostage.
Some of those tortured cannot be convicted of any crime because they are innocent. A mere investigation is not enough. What if the tortured person were your son or daughter or brother or sister? And each of those tortured was someone's son.
In our law, we punish people who fight each other in bars -- but we are not going to punish people who commit these horrible acts to people shackled and in their custody? People who cannot even run away? The pirates are despicable, but how are we different from them?
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