James Nagy – 9/29/06

This page was last updated on September 30, 2006.

No need to change torture law; James Nagy; Beaver County Times; September 29, 2006.

You probably recall most of Mr. Nagy’s letters are simply vehicles to bash Republicans in general and President Bush in particular. This letter continues the trend.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“When we first learned about torture problems at U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, we were told that the orders did not come from above, that a few bad apples had supposedly acted independently and that torture was not a part of military policy in the treatment of prisoners.

“One danger in using torture would be that the villainy ascribed to Saddam Hussein would no longer be an absolute. We would lose our claim to moral authority if our treatment could be compared to Hussein’s.”

[RWC] Where has Mr. Nagy been? In the eyes of his party, rogue guards putting women’s underwear on a prisoner’s head is torture.

“Another danger in prisoner abuse is the accumulation of aggression toward prisoners. Certainly, the murder of a prisoner is indefensible. The use of a ‘little abuse’ can accelerate to death if training to avoid escalation is not carefully taught.

“These problems, plus the lack of reliability of information gained through torture, has lead [sic] in the past to a total ban on it by the U.S. military.

“Despite the objections of many retired military commanders to any alteration of this successful approach, a bill on prisoner abuse is presently being rushed through Congress.”

[RWC] Wow, a fact-challenged letter from Mr. Nagy! Who would have guessed?

The bill to which Mr. Nagy referred was primarily a bill to establish military tribunals for illegal combatants. It had nothing to do with “prisoner abuse.” Congress passed the bill (S. 3930 & H.R. 6166) on 9/28/06 and President Bush will sign it.

For more on this topic, please read my critique of the editorial entitled “The road to perdition.”

“We don’t need a new law. Here is a moral absolute we may all agree on. Please inform your representative and senators that President Bush needs to obey and enforce the laws we have.”

[RWC] To date, no one has provided credible evidence to suggest the U.S. doesn’t “obey and enforce the laws we have.”

When Sen. McCain (R-AZ) and his pals wanted to write new anti-torture laws last year, I didn’t see a letter from Mr. Nagy saying “We don’t need a new law … [we need] to obey and enforce the laws we have.” I wonder why.