Torture is never moral or justifiable

To the editor:

Regarding Charles Krauthammer's Dec. 14 column 'Desperate times called for desperate measures”:

This is situational ethics at its worst. While he may be correct that the majority of the American people supported the activities of Congress and the administration then, I can proudly say that many of my co-workers, colleagues, friends, and family members recognized the overreach of the Patriot Act and (in particular) the use of torture on anyone we deemed an enemy to be wrong and unjustifiable.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, stirred up intense feelings of fear, uncertainty, patriotism, and a need for revenge among Americans and people around the world. However, those feelings were not justification for what our Congress and the administration did as a result. It is not appropriate to take away basic rights of the American people and to declare that torture is OK in a particular situation.

Panels of experts, officials, and those in leadership can sit around a table and debate for hours why torture might be an appropriate response, the value of the information recovered under these circumstances, and whether or not there are other effective methods available. But it is never the moral or justifiable thing to do to declare something as heinous as torture to be the right or necessary thing to do. Period.

Gary Warner

Cedar Rapids