What in heaven's name is wrong with Mitt Romney? The Salt Lake Tribune this morning points me to a story on the AP by Amy Lorentzen which quotes Romney as saying that he is in favor of "tough interrogation techniques, enhanced interrogation techniques" of captured terrorist suspects, especially where there is a "ticking time bomb, a ticking bomb."
"I support tough interrogation techniques, enhanced interrogation techniques, in circumstances where there is a ticking time bomb, a ticking bomb," Romney said. "I do not support torture, but I do support enhanced interrogation techniques to learn from terrorists what we need to learn to keep the bombs from going off."
Mitt, of course, says he is not in favor of "torture," whatever that means for him. The notorious lawyer John Yoo and former law professor Jay Bybee from BYU wrote a memo for Bush in 2002 which they laid out all techniques are "lawful" short of causing organ failure or death. Thus, sleep deprivation, dousing with ice water, waterboarding and similar techniques of simulating drowning, use of attack dogs in menacing ways, all these would come under the Yoo/Bybee "analysis" as perfectly acceptable.
Romney thus allies himself with George Bush in defending such harsh treatment. It looks like Mitt has no qualms in removing the protections of the Bill of Rights for someone he suspects is a terrorist or or who he suspects is about to set off a bomb. But this brings the U.S. back to a time 500 years ago when the Catholic Church suspected lots of people of being heretics. The custom then during the Inquisition was to use "enhanced" and "harsh" techniques to find out if the suspect was really a devotee of Satan. Methods included the rack, being pinned between two boards with increasing pressure applied, subjecting the suspect to forced ingestion of water, and more gruesome and cruel methods subject only to the limitation of the imagination.
So Mitt would have us rescind our human and legal rights for a system universally condemned and rejected in the civilized world. Instead of the rule of law, Mitt tells us he approves of the Bush reign of cruelty.
For a person who makes a lot about his religious beliefs and his family values, Mitt Romney shockingly exposes himself as mean and morally limited.
"I support tough interrogation techniques, enhanced interrogation techniques, in circumstances where there is a ticking time bomb, a ticking bomb," Romney said. "I do not support torture, but I do support enhanced interrogation techniques to learn from terrorists what we need to learn to keep the bombs from going off."
Mitt, of course, says he is not in favor of "torture," whatever that means for him. The notorious lawyer John Yoo and former law professor Jay Bybee from BYU wrote a memo for Bush in 2002 which they laid out all techniques are "lawful" short of causing organ failure or death. Thus, sleep deprivation, dousing with ice water, waterboarding and similar techniques of simulating drowning, use of attack dogs in menacing ways, all these would come under the Yoo/Bybee "analysis" as perfectly acceptable.
Romney thus allies himself with George Bush in defending such harsh treatment. It looks like Mitt has no qualms in removing the protections of the Bill of Rights for someone he suspects is a terrorist or or who he suspects is about to set off a bomb. But this brings the U.S. back to a time 500 years ago when the Catholic Church suspected lots of people of being heretics. The custom then during the Inquisition was to use "enhanced" and "harsh" techniques to find out if the suspect was really a devotee of Satan. Methods included the rack, being pinned between two boards with increasing pressure applied, subjecting the suspect to forced ingestion of water, and more gruesome and cruel methods subject only to the limitation of the imagination.
So Mitt would have us rescind our human and legal rights for a system universally condemned and rejected in the civilized world. Instead of the rule of law, Mitt tells us he approves of the Bush reign of cruelty.
For a person who makes a lot about his religious beliefs and his family values, Mitt Romney shockingly exposes himself as mean and morally limited.
I have a suggestion. Mitt, commit yourself to undergoing these "enhanced" and "harsh" interrogation techniques so that you yourself can judge whether they are "torture." Or even better, Mitt . . . Suspect your wife or one of your sons of being a terrorist about to set off a time bomb. Then see how soon you can make them confess.
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