President Obama is looking to establish political stability in our country so that he can push through policies that repair our healthcare system and economy. The release of the photos and the prosecution of those who participated and authorized torture will lead to much strife in our nation and may even lead to the failure of some of the issues that Americans are most passionate about. In the interest of peace, Obama is attempting to avoid the issue of torture in by our government. Releasing the pictures and prosecuting those who tortured prisoners would be bad for the country, but ignoring the wrongdoing would be worse.
Obama has shown a tendency to pattern himself after Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a great president, but he made mistakes that echo into the present. When the Civil War began, Lincoln failed to aggressively free the slaves of the Confederacy. In some cases runaway slaves were returned to the rebels as Lincoln attempted to reestablish the Union. This attempt failed. When injustice simmers beneath the surface, peace cannot be maintained. Obama is attempting to form the same negative peace that Lincoln tried, it will fail. Appeasement is a failing strategy; those who have abased the constitution must be punished, not for our own satisfaction, but for the protection of our democracy. While Obama would like to create peace between the far right and left in our nation, that peace must be built on justice, not the compromise of our morality.
There is an argument that torture was justified, I would disagree with that. Grant Morrison wrote a series called “Preacher” in which the main character traveled the country and interacted with people of multiple walks of life. One of the people he met was a former Nazi who was looking for redemption for his sins during the holocaust. In seeking understanding, he asked Jesse, the main character, what one does when the only choices are committing atrocities or death. Jesse replied “You die”. Fear and safety are no excuse for torture. Expediency is no excuse for ignoring torture. We must prosecute all of those who had allowed us to become a nation of war criminals.
1 comments:
I have researched Lincoln and I believe you might be in error as to the slaves being returned to appease the rebels. In 1864, for instance, there were a lot of the confederacy and union intermingled. The draft was in place and some former slaves were tricked and resold to pay the fine to avoid the draft. But that wasn't the only reason and that's just one example.
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