Do you remember the TV drama 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland as counter-espionage agent Jack Bauer? It was well acted and the real-time premise created lots of riveting moments. It was critically acclaimed but I gave up on it rather quickly. To me it seemed to justify the use of excessive violence in a supposedly greater cause. The show was running as we became aware of the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian who was given up to the Americans and eventually shipped to Syria where he was brutally tortured. In the end it was established that Arar had done nothing wrong, was repatriated and exonerated. It was a shameful moment for this country.
Yesterday a grim report was released about the ongoing role of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States in the torture of political prisoners. This brutality was in violation of international law, was kept from the White House, and ultimately provided little information to ensure the safety of Americans. One would assume that in a nation which prides itself on the rule of law and providing a strong moral compass for the world this clandestine activity is a blot on its fundamental values.
It is truly scary that so much that is dark and immoral is perpetrated in the name of patriotism and religion. The bizarre contradiction is that in protecting what are supposed to be high values and principles such as democracy and religious expression human beings will crawl into the gutter.
There is an article in the New York Times entitled I Can't be Forgiven for Abu Ghraib by Eric Fair in which he admits once again to his unjustifiable role as a "contract interrogator" in Iraq. This appears to be a euphemism for paid torturer on behalf of the United States military. There are some who are saying that the rise of ISIS can be attributed, at least in part, to the use of torture in the prisons of Iraq and elsewhere. Fair has documented his personal failure as a torturer and spoken to groups such as Amnesty International but he is haunted by what he did.
As Christians we need to realize that while there is evil in the world which sometimes requires force to address, we are held to higher values as followers of the Prince of Peace. When we speak up on these issues we are often characterized as naïve and there are some Christians who readily support any means for national security. Perhaps this is an aspect of the lonely road of discipleship.
Any thoughts on this?
I watched part of this report - interesting that it was women shown exposing the evil... no men to be seen in the segment I saw ... I am sure some women have been involved in the decision to torture, in the past, if not part of the actual torture process, but I think it is mostly men who have been at the forefront of the "action"-we humans seem to have a fatal capacity for cruelty and evil...and, yes, Christians ought to be speaking out against it (but we don't always know what is happening , especially in military fields and militarily run detainment areas)Canada is probably no better.
ReplyDelete