When I see photos and video of innocent people being beheaded I understand what Evil is, and the Marine in me wants to bring all guns to bear to destroy it with extreme prejudice, using whatever means necessary; going all Jack Bauer if need be in order to protect innocent life. The Christian in me says I must temper my righteous anger so that my actions reflect the Judeo-Christian values I hold and endorse.
"Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord."
So I've been torn on the subject of "torture," particularly when innocent lives are at stake. I remember watching an episode of "24," where Jack Bauer had a man with critical information tied to a chair. This man was a hardened jihadi, time was running out, and Jack set up a video feed that showed the terrorist's family also tied to chairs - with guns to their heads. The man's child was among them.
The man still refused to talk, so Jack ordered his partner to execute the terrorist's wife. A shot rang out and the wife fell back in her chair, out of frame. Jack made it plain that the boy was next to die if the terrorist didn't talk.
He talked and millions of people were saved.
After he spilled the beans though, it was revealed that the wife had not been hurt at all, that her "execution" was a bluff, thereby preserving Jack's status with the audience as a Patriotic hero rather than as an amoral merc.
Was that "torture?" A similar scenario in the recently released report on Enhanced Interrogations says that it is, and that the technique was actually used on a detainee. I don't think that it was torture, nor do I think that the force-feeding of a hunger-striking Kahlid Sheik Mohammed via peanut butter enema was torture.
Some of the EI techniques however, like waterboarding,
are torture, having been recognized and implemented as such since the Inquisition.
Having given it some thought and prayer, I have come to the decision that we as a People are better than that, that Christ wouldn't be very happy with us were we to use some of the techniques used by the CIA; techniques that broke down not just the victim, but even those who were implementing them.
We must also consider two other aspects:
1. If any of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines are captured by the enemy, we won't be able to justifiably complain about their treatment if the US condones true torture. As we found out after WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, our enemies don't always play by the rules. Stories about the torture of American prisoners by State actors, despite the fact that they were signatories to the Geneva Convention, are commonplace and well documented, so we can't guarantee how our prisoners are treated in the future either.
Non-state actors like ISIS and al-Qaeda will never conform to international law as it relates to the treatment of prisoners. Nevertheless, we must maintain the moral high ground or we forfeit our right to complain at all when our sons, and possibly daughters, are being held by a hostile force.
Army veteran Cpt. Terry Michael Hestilow talks about the horrific possibility of one of our pilots, possibly a female in today's Air Force, being taken captive by ISIS in this episode of The Truth Is Viral.
2. As Christians, and simply for being Christians, we are considered possible "domestic terrorists" ourselves. Those Christians who "bitterly cling to their guns and Bibles" are of particular interest to the Dept. of Homeland Security, having been classified a greater threat than Islamic extremists. Do we want to have these techniques applied to us
as they might be under Executive Order 13603?
That absolutely frightening scenario is laid out in the following episode of The Truth Is Viral by TTiV Publisher Bobby Powell and Pete Santilli, Publisher of the Guerrilla Media Network and brother Marine.
Further, the Obama administration has claimed the "legal" authority to kill any American citizen they choose, without any type of Congressional oversight or judicial review - without so much as a charge of wrongdoing in a court of law - far away from any battlefield.
Even the ACLU has called Obama "Judge, jury, and executioner." Attorney General Eric Holder even claims that Obama has the authority to kill American citizens inside the United States, as documented in this episode of The Truth Is Viral:
Back to the subject of torture, I'd like to share an article I read this morning titled,
"7 Things Christians Should Know About Torture," from "Cannon and Culture." I know nothing about this website, but this particular article is a good read and should help you understand more about the subject of torture as it relates to our behavior as Children of the Most High God.
Whether you, dear reader, are faithful to a Judeo-Christian belief or not, I think that nearly all Americans share an innate sense of fair play. Despite what ultra-liberal politicians would have us believe as they push the demonstrably false "Hands up, don't shoot" narrative in Ferguson Mo. and across the country, the end does not justify the means.
How we fight the battle - whatever that particular battle may be - will be taken into account on Judgment Day. I, for one, want to be able to tell my Judge that I protected the innocent, defended the weak, and fought with Honor.
God bless and Semper Fi,
Bob Powell
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
