Opinion:

Fundamental beliefs

I originally wrote this as a reply to an email. I will not quote the original email here because the person who wrote it has his own weblog, and therefore his own venue to express himself, and I do not want to misrepresent his views. Instead, I will present only what I wrote, edited a bit for readability.

In my writings on torture, I am not questioning the motivations for why we invaded Iraq, nor am I disputing the need to continue the occupation until we can be reasonably sure that Iraq will not immediately decay into another failed state or turn into an Islamofascist Hell.

When I refer to torture, I am not referring to the panties on the head; I have heard credible stories of acts far beyond that. According to my moral foundation, torture is ALWAYS wrong. It does not matter WHO is being tortured, nor how much that person may DESERVE it.

Simply put, if we behave barbarically, then what separates us from those who do fly airplanes into buildings? If we say "These are our enemies, they are barbarians, therefore we can forget they are human," is that not exactly what they said to themselves before they committed their crimes? The Islamofascists say repeatedly that WE are the barbarians and therefore WE can be treated as non-human with no consideration. This also is the path the Nazis took to justify their behavior. I refuse to take that path, or even the first steps down it.

The most insidious evil is that perpetrated in the name of good, because once it is accepted in extreme circumstances, it becomes acceptable in less and less extreme circumstances until it becomes routine.

Look at how our culture has evolved with acceptance of things that were once completely rejected and you will see clear evidence of this facet of human behavior.

Civilization means restraint from barbaric behavior, and you cannot protect civilization by denying its basic tenets.

It is up to us now to decide what will be in that future mirror.