Krauthammer 5/15/09

More on Torture

My take on Charles Krauthammer's latest. His column was published in the Washington Post.

Summary: This responds to the negative reaction to his last column on this subject. The criticism of his last was that the Democrat leaders' approval of torture did not justify it. "Yes it does," he responded.

Quote:

Our jurisprudence has the "reasonable man" standard. A jury is asked to consider what a reasonable person would do under certain urgent circumstances.

My Views: If we wish to believe that the Democrat leaders now leading our country (i.e. the present Speaker of the House and others) are fit to do so, then it follows that we accept them as reasonable people. The CIA folks were certainly entitled to do so. The Democrat's silent approval of the methods at the time served to complete the many other factors present which justified this stuff.

Torture, like war and many other things is evil. If pacifists suddenly take over, should we jail all the sholdiers, or just fire the lot and disband the military?

That's the problem with Pelosi and the Democrats here: they're right on the general issue but by wanting officials prosecuted and jailed, they go too far. Far left extremism is just as bad as the far right kind.

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Charles Krauthammer is a more establishment columnist. He came to punditry by way of psychiatry (at Massachusetts General Hospital) via the New Republic Magazine. He appears on TV where you never see his wheelchair. Here's his Wiki bio.

He wrote a book which is pictured at the right. I am drawn by the substance and the thinking than any particular writing flair.