Why The Catholic Church Condemns Torture

By now we have all heard of the Middle Eastern religious and political “dissident” taken captive by a Western government, interrogated, ridiculed, made to endure denigrating postures, beaten and eventually killed.

His name? Jesus of Nazareth.

Two thousand years later, Christ remains with us, and so does torture. Meditating on the sufferings of Christ ought to help bring Christians to call for an end to torture, particularly in America. The painful scourging, the mocking crowning with thorns, the carrying of the cross, and the crucifixion were carried out with state sanction.

This relates directly to the controversy of interrogation (torture) at Guantanamo Bay. It is shameful to see many Catholic politicians, including pro-life Senator Sam Brownback, in favor of this horrendous endeavor and the continual existence of Guantanamo.

The safety of the American people is fundamental. Nevertheless, every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and their dignity—and the rights that flow from it—is inviolable. Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved—policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.

Catholics, especially politicians, should stand with the Church and not with the arbitrary, and at times unjust will of the State.

The War In Iraq Over By Mid-2009?

The war in Iraq has been advertised by the media as a central issue in the November elections. I certainly don’t disagree. This war is a critical issue that brings to mind a host of issues—human rights, the morality of preemptive war, the American interventionist mentality, and our moral obligations to the Iraqi people now as we try to leave more justly than we entered.

Sen. Barack Obama has criticized the war from the beginning. Despite his most recent "refinements" of that issue, he boasts that his plans to exit Iraq have not changed and he will began to withdraw troops immediately once he takes office. This is certainly sweet talk for voters who are anti-war that disapprove of the Bush Administration’s philosophy on foreign policy and their method of combating the war on terror.

A recent development on the ground in Iraq may cancel out or at least downplay the significance of the Iraq issue in the November elections. Essentially, regardless of who wins the presidential office, it looks like that the war will end either way “by mid-2009.”

From Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. ground troops in Iraq will be mostly finished with security operations by the middle of 2009, the senior U.S. Army officer in charge of training Iraqi forces said on Wednesday.

"The ground forces will mostly be done by the middle of next year," Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik told the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

That could be between April and August, Dubik said.

Dubik declined to say when all U.S. forces, including naval and air forces, would be finished with Iraqi combat operations. He said that would depend on when the Iraqi government completes certain tasks, such as purchasing its own aircraft.

Dubik said in January that Iraqi forces could take over security in all of the country's 18 provinces by the end of 2008.

Dubik's comments come as officials in Iraq raise the prospect of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces as part of negotiations over a new security deal with Washington. U.S. officials have said they oppose setting dates for withdrawal.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Kristin Roberts)

Waterboarding Is Torture

Here is an interesting article presenting the "interrogation" technique as nothing more than unspeakable torture. The article raises profound questions: what constitutes as torture? And if waterboarding isn't sufficient, what are we willing to do afterward? How far are we willing to go?

Unfortunately there are many on the "religious right" that find no quarrels with this sort of method of "interrogation", even Catholics. But isn't torture just as non-negotiable as, say, abortion and genocide? I believe, in accord with my Catholic faith, that it is a profound disrespect and violation of human dignity. If we are going to call ourselves "pro-life," we can't do so credibly while not speaking out against torture. We must affirm the inviolable continuum of human dignity from concepton to natural death.

Read the article Believe Me, It's Torture
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808