Zach has a great article that deals with the moral implications of torturing prisoners of war.
It is unfortunate that our President, who is a Christian, has misunderstood the teachings of Jesus in a way that makes him believe that torturing our enemies in this war on terror is acceptable. In Article 3 of the Geneva convention, it stipulates against “cruel, inhumane and degrading” treatment of prisoners and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.” Bush has called the language used in this article “vague” and not clear enough in order for our intelligence officers to know where the legal limit is in regards to “tough interrogation” techniques. Maybe I’m wrong here, but the only reason the language in Article 3 would be called “vague” is because the President wants to extend beyond where the current standard is currently set. If he were not interested in torturing prisoners, then there would be no reason to characterize the Geneva Convention’s language as “vague” and in need of revision.
Read the whole thingand visit the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
This is a topic I’ve been considering too. However, a big part of my problem with it is that many Christian liberals are investing an authority in the Geneva conventions that they don’t deserve. It’s not the bible, it’s a man-made document. It’s not perfect. The words “cruel, inhumane and degrading” can be applied to many situations that do not include torture. We need to establish what torture is. To me, breaking someone’s fingers and manipulating the bones around is a good example of torture. Other people say underwear on the head is torture, because of cultural differences. There’s an extremely broad range in between. Outrages upon personal dignity? Please… that’s just ridiculous.
Geneva aside – because it shouldn’t even apply to people out of uniform and not representing a signitory country – as a nation we need to establish what we’re willing to accept, or not accept, in line with our ideals and morals. And it needs to be done in a common-sense way, that recognizes that we have an enemy who has beheaded people and whose stated goal is to destroy our society and make us like them.