Soapbox

Morally Bankrupt

I am appalled by comments by Senator Inhofe, Rush Limbaugh and callers to my favorite local talk show who deride those of us concerned about torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. They ask, “Where was the outrage of these whining leftist liberals and do-gooders when Sadaam was torturing people”? They suggest we tolerate this behavior because hey, it?s not as bad as Hussein was.

Have they never heard of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”? I personally hold myself and my country to a higher standard than “better than some other murders”. If that makes me a leftist liberal, OK. (I reject the word “whining” because I am waaay beyond whining by now!)
And I was outraged at Sadaam’s behavior. I was outraged by Pinochet’s murders in Chile, and Mobutu in Zaire, the Shah in Iran and Samosa in Nicaragua, but the conservative war machine was strangely silent then.

There is one kind of outrage I feel as a civilized person whenever a fellow human is wronged, and there’s another kind of outrage I feel when that wrong is being done in my name! Because don’t kid yourself; whether I approve or not, the offical acts of an agent of the U.S. government are done in my name, and in yours!

This is not an issue of Democrat versus Republican, or liberal versus conservative. Torture is not a conservative value and forced sodomy is not on the Republican party platform .
This is an issue of civilized versus barbarian behavior, and if Rush Limbaugh and Senator Inhofe and others want to come down on the side of the barbarians, so be it. I and people of conscience everywhere will continue to stand up say to this and all abuse:

“NOT IN MY NAME!!”