This is not a typical essay style post as I usually write on, but this just needs to be said.
I was reading the news this morning when I ran across a "fun" little article by David Bauder, an AP television writer who would be better served sticking to writing about television rather than political rants. But as his article was deemed important enough to show up on Yahoo.com's news headlines, I thought I would take the occasion to respond. Here's an excerpt of this guy's story:
"Demanding information, Jack Bauer faces a terrified man tied to a chair in front of him. Through a window over Bauer's shoulder, the man sees his two children bound and gagged.
Tell me where the bomb is, Bauer orders, or we'll kill your family. Silence. The prisoner watches as a thug kicks down the chair his son is tied to and fires a gun at point-blank range. He screams but still doesn't relent until the gun is pointed at his second son. Having gotten what he needed, Bauer whispers that the execution was staged.
The scene from Fox's "24" is haunting, but hardly unusual. The advocacy group Human Rights First says there's been a startling increase in the number of torture scenes depicted on prime-time television in the post-2001 world.
Even more chilling, there are indications that real-life American interrogators in Iraq are taking cues from what they see on television, said Jill Savitt, the group's director of public programs."
The rest of the article can be found here if you want to waste your time with it. But let's put that episode of "24" into context, because I happened to see this one. The terrorist that Jack Bauer is interrogating has knowledge of a nuclear bomb set to go off in Los Angeles. This is the only person that they have in custody that has knowledge of the weapon and it could explode at any moment. It is an extreme situation to be sure, but even if it were not as extreme as a nuclear bomb, I have a few questions for Mr. Bauder from the AP. Who died here? Jack Bauer killed no one, which was what made it so brilliant! The worst this terrorist received during the scene being described is to be tied to a chair (oh, horror!). Yes, he thought his family had died. Yes, this could be considered psychological torture, but it's hardly permanent once he learns it wasn't true. But this story goes on for about three pages about how it is horrible that this sort of thing could be copied in real life.
If you ask me, this sort of thing should happen more often! We're not hurting anyone by using these techniques; we're doing what needs to be done to extract information that will save innocent lives! Perhaps it would be more humane to let allow the innocent people to die, set the terrorist free and let him kill more people? Thank God we have a president like Bush who takes this enemy seriously. If the national security of the country were left to liberals like David Bauder of the AP, we would have lost our country a long, long time ago. There should be more Jack Bauers in this country; not in that they go off and do their own thing as Jack is so fond of doing, but rather people who have the guts to do the right thing despite what the gutless David Bauders of the world think about it. It's people like David Bauder who believe there is nothing worth fighting for, and if it weren't for the Jack Bauers of our country willing to work in the CIA, or fight in Iraq, or the countless others, he wouldn't be free to be the glittering jewel of colossal ignorance that he is and write about it for all to see.
So I have a question for you David Bauder: the next time we catch a terrorist that has knowledge that could save lives (perhaps even yours), what should we do? Sadly, if it were up to you, you would simply say "please" and offer him a cupcake. Why don't you ask Neville Chamberlain how well those tactics worked with a man named Adolf Hitler?
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