Damaging Symbols?

From the New York Times: In remarks prepared for delivery at his confirmation hearings to become director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, Dennis C. Blair, a retired admiral with a long background in intelligence, endorsed the new approach and promised to enforce it rigorously. “It is not enough to set a standard and announce it,” he said.

“I believe strongly that torture is not moral, legal or effective,” he told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “Any program of detention and interrogation must comply with the Geneva Conventions, the Conventions on Torture, and the Constitution. There must be clear standards for humane treatment that apply to all agencies of U.S. Government, including the Intelligence Community,” his written statement said.

As for closing Guantanamo, he said that would take time but must be done because it has become “a damaging symbol to the world.”

It may as well be known, when it comes to keeping America (and consequently my family and friends) safe, which the George Bush Administration has done for the past 7-8 years, I personally subscribe to the “Jack Bauer” method of interrogation. As for “damaging symbols,” instead of Guantanamo, I suggest the World Trade Center, the USS Cole, the US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon,  the video of the beheading of a news reporter, the bodies of America finest young men hung from bridges in Iraq, or the flag draped coffins of thousands who have provided the ultimate sacrifice.  Shall I go on? I think not.

I attempt, as best I can to live by Paul’s (and thereby God’s) instruction to “live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18) But if it is destruction of my life, my family, my friends, and my Country that is your goal, you best not visit my home, or my farm. I promise you they can be inhospitable.