Ron Demarest – 10/11/06

This page was last updated on October 11, 2006.

Torture laws debase America; Ron Demarest; Beaver County Times; October 11, 2006.

This is at least the eighth letter from Mr. Demarest since August 2004 bashing President Bush, Republicans, and/or conservatives. In July 2006, Mr. Demarest wrote two letters in two weeks telling us the U.S. isn’t being fair to terrorists. In September 2006, Mr. Demarest not only told us the terrorist surveillance program for intercepting international communications to/from suspect terrorists is unconstitutional, but he also asserted no laws should be passed to make it legal.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Mr. Bush would have us believe that the world is getting safer and more democratic because of him, yet we’ll all die if we don’t let him torture and wiretap at will.

“Al-Qaida, Iraq and now Iran are tied together and presented as a monster capable of destroying America. But unlike the former Soviet Union, Al Qaeda doesn’t have 10,000 nuclear missiles targeted on America.”

[RWC] Then again, the Soviet Union never attacked us on U.S. soil, blew up U.S. embassies, attacked a U.S. warship, blew up a military barracks, et cetera.

As a reminder, liberals didn’t believe the Soviet Union was a threat either.

“Pakistan already has nuclear missiles and far more anti-American militants and madrassas, which foster terrorists, than does Iran. Because of the Iraq war Iran is far stronger.”

[RWC] How does the Iraq war make “Iran … far stronger?”

“As we now spend $11 million per hour in Iraq, the heart of the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is being lost. Hamas and Hezbollah are elected in Palestine and Lebanon.”

[RWC] If “the heart of the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is being lost,” that would be news to the Taliban.

First, the recent activity has been in areas the government hasn’t expanded into yet. In other words, the Taliban are trying to get a foothold in areas where the government isn’t. Training a country’s military and police forces from scratch takes time. Where there is a credible Afghan military and police presence, the Taliban don’t exist.

Second, the recent Taliban activity has been an unqualified failure. They’re being killed by the hundreds. During a TV interview with one of the local U.S. commanders, he said Afghan, NATO, and U.S. forces have been making themselves visible and daring the Taliban to come out and fight

“Bush, Al-Qaida, the media and ‘centrist’ Democrats have combined to terrorize the American people into thinking they face the greatest personal danger in their history. This level of fear is unworthy of a people who led the world through the greatest threat to human survival in history: the Cold War.

“A just-released (Bush) state department poll finds that 65 percent of Iraqis want all American troops withdrawn immediately.”

[RWC] Hmm. Since I think it’s fair to say Mr. Demarest believes the Bush administration lies about everything, I wonder why he accepts as correct a poll result reported by the Bush administration.

“Never before in our history have we felt the need to codify torture into law. That’s how far Bush has debased us. The option that torture is open to redefinition or compromise is antithetical to a civilized people.”

[RWC] The “torture is open to redefinition” comment is BS. The point of the legislation was to define what had been undefined. There’s more about this in the critiques I reference below.

“John McCain, before ambition overtook him, said ‘torture doesn’t work,’ yet his ‘compromise’ allows undefined torture without judicial oversight even for an innocent victim like Canadian Maher Afar. As Arlen Specter said, Congress can’t suspend the writ of habeas corpus in this manner as it violates the suspension clause.”

[RWC] Mr. Demarest needs to check his facts. John McCain has admitted more than once torture worked on him to a degree while the North Vietnamese held him. According to his 1999 autobiography entitled “Faith of My Fathers,” “Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant.”

Finally, logic should tell us we would not need laws against torture if torture didn’t work. That is, unless you believe those who defend our country are ghouls who get a kick out of torturing people. Mr. Demarest would not be alone among Democrats if he believes this. Remember, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) compared the Club Gitmo guards to “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others – that had no concern for human beings.”

Regarding Maher Afar, I can’t comment because I got no useful hits when I searched using Google and Yahoo. In fact, I got a total of only about six hits.

“The Supreme Court should strike down the Bush McCain compassionate torture act.”

[RWC] Rather than rewrite what I’ve written previously, please read my critiques of Times and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorials on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (or the “Bush McCain compassionate torture act” in Mr. Demarest’s words).