COLUMN: Torture isn't American

Jodi McFarland | By Jodi McFarland | The Saginaw News
on April 22, 2008 at 9:06 AM, updated April 22, 2008 at 9:08 AM

Back in the day while working at the campus newspaper, a student editor published an article on the top 10 torture methods used in different parts of the world.

The story was frighteningly graphic and understandably sickening. The paper should not have run it without some heavy editing. I still wonder who would run it, other than on a college campus.

Incident aside, I remember that the details confirmed my thoughts about those who would practice such torture methods to either punish prisoners or to extract information.

In my mind, this type of stuff was relegated to barbarians, psychopaths or religious zealots. It's not difficult to talk about how "they" tortured while we, as in the United States, acted in a much more civilized and appropriate manner.

I was comfortable with those designations: We and They.

We operated under a rule of law, including Geneva Conventions. "We" would never do such terrible things, but "They" would.

"We" live by a moral code that lifts our society over the one "They" live in.

"We" are right, despite the fact that sometimes we are tempted by the "eye for an eye" strategy. Meanwhile, "They" are wrong.

I took this to an even more personal level. What kind of person could inflict pain on another in such a way for political, religious or partisan reasons? It would have to be They. We don't have people who would do such things without at least fear of going to jail, or worse from their Creator.

If this "We and They" attitude made me an arrogant American, then I was willing to live with that distinction.

Therefore, you can perhaps understand my outrage over the idea that the United States not only ignored laws, swept past the Geneva Conventions and assassinated what I thought was a legitimate "moral authority" when the Bush administration instituted a program of torture, and also my disgust that it was justified in memos from administration lawyers.

In one fell swoop, my designations are gone. No longer do we have "We" and "They" when it comes to torture. I felt strongly that anyone who would use torture is a barbarian and, well, I still do. The fact that the barbarian wears a suit and works along the corridors of power in our country doesn't change my mind.

This is one area that I felt separated the United States from many other countries in the world. No longer.

On top of that, how about the injustice of placing soldiers in prison for their acts at Abu Ghraib prison? No one higher up on the chain of command is jailed, only a couple of loose cannons.


This can't happen in the United States that I know and love, can it?

There is little doubt in my mind that torture is for "They," not "Us."