http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/08/MN061AVC89.DTL
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Dr. J's HUM 201
This is the class blog for Dr. J's Fall 2009 section of HUM 201: The Search for Values (Philosophy Track) at Rhodes College. This course will cover the historical period stretching from the Renaissance to the present, with a special emphasis on philosophical thinkers and texts.
I found this article very interesting but also very dismaying. If its true that Yoo wrote the memos allowing torture during the Bush administration, it is ridiculous for Yoo's new attorney, to say "the case interfered with presidential war-making authority and threatened to "open the floodgates to politically motivated lawsuits" against government officials." In my opinion, a lawsuit against torture should have to effect on the president's ability to wage war because no war we are fighting should have anything to do with torture. The US really seems to want to stand for freedom, but as long as we are conducting ourselves like this, we are advocating for freedom while simultaneously taking away others' in an unacceptable way. Its extremely hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Katherine is saying. I don't think the president is the only person that the blame should fall on though. After the 9/11 attacks and during the prime of the War on Terror high-security prisons such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba housed a lot of our terror suspects. America statistically favored how the U.S. was handling the War on Terror. I think during a time where we doubted our own security and human rights we turned a blind eye to what means we were willing to take to keep ourselves safe, not paying much attention to these prisoners rights. The U.S. has taken great measures to insure that we won't be surprised by more terrorist attacks, but I also feel that we don't think we have often thought of the people we keep detained. I feel that many of these prisoners were guilty, but torturing someone especially to the extent of that of the article is wrong. It's just like what we discussed in class, after so much pain endured a person will say anything for it to stop.
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