Letter: There’s simply no justification for torture

Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005 | 8:48 a.m.

The German people and the people living near these camps were asked: How could you let this happen? The most common answer was: We had no idea that it was happening or that such places existed. That answer was met with much disbelief and the German populace was regarded as having given, at the very least, tacit approval for the horrors that the Nazi SS perpetrated.

We all remember that when this War on Terror began Alberto Gonzalez, then President Bush's legal counsel, rendered an opinion that terrorists real and suspected did not come under the umbrella of protections mandated by the Geneva Conventions. Rather, they could be incarcerated, denied legal counsel and, for all intents and purposes, treated in any fashion that the Department of Defense deemed necessary.

The Congress currently has before it a Defense appropriation bill. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has added an amendment to that bill mandating that among other things, torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners will not be tolerated.

This appropriation bill was originally passed 90 to 9 with one abstention. President Bush has unequivocally said that if the "McCain rider" is not removed, he will veto the bill. Vice President Dick Cheney is currently lobbying Congress, asking that the CIA, which is operating "detention centers" in Eastern European and Middle East countries where torture and inhumane treatment is practiced, be exempted from this bill.

If this abomination is allowed, unlike the post-World War II German populace, we will have to admit that we knew all about it and allowed it to happen. Torture is not justice, it's evil.

Joseph J. Carbone

Las Vegas