Jeff Davis | Vent Section Manager

Answers. This is what our government is looking for while it bombs Afghanistan. There were many lives lost on September 11, and America wants to make sure it gets the right perpetrators. The FBI has detained several men since that day; all accusations based on circumstantial evidence, but evidence nonetheless. But a certain document, the Bill of Rights, can put a damper on the quest for information. To get around these barriers, John Ashcroft, the golden boy for all that's right-wing and medieval, in conjunction with the FBI are considering using torture to get information from suspects.

I want to express my lack of shock, and my total shock. First off, I would not put this past Ashcroft, who from the point of his nomination, has been revealed to be a racist, an ethnocentrist, a classist and a skeptic of feminism, among other things. I hate to be stereotypical, but with this kind of personality, it does not strike me as odd that he would belittle a document sacred to this country's heritage and ideals to assert political and personal power. Only the president has the power to cast aside the Bill of Rights in a matter of national crisis. Yeah, he can do that.

On the other hand, considering Ashcroft's staunch political stance, he can't be in bed with the NRA, thus supporting the Second Amendment, then ignore the Fifth. I suppose this reveals the continuing onslaught of federal hypocrisy.

The tactics themselves are the ones our allies in the Middle East, the Israelis, use to extract information. Those interrogated are psyched into speaking just to end pain caused by sleep deprivation, isolation, psychological torment and direct physical force, including beatings, violent shaking, painful shackling and use of objects designed or used to inflict extreme pain. Interrogations can last months, with intermittent periods of interrogation and force lasting for days without interruption. Experts admit that torture (the common euphemism is "pressure tactics") does not always provide adequate or correct information. It's a wonder why intelligent human beings still employ such barbaric methods they know are ineffective.

I understand the nation's need for some kind of closure, knowing those responsible are paying a price. Often justice comes from someone's suffering. This situation, however, goes counter to everything our nation stands for. Whether you think our governmental system works or not, this nation is built upon the idea of individual freedoms, which apply to all people. You take those freedoms away from people who are "suspected" terrorists, who's to say such freedoms can be barred from people who openly don't support the war? From people who just appear to be of Middle Eastern descent? You let one freedom go, the others could easily follow.

I tell you with this: before you call yourself a patriot, remember there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism. A nationalist buys whatever his government tells him and will never dare speak against his country because he loves it so much. A patriot loves his country just as much, but will speak out when he knows that something is wrong with it. I think most patriots would speak out against this. Maybe they won't.

I still love this country. I just don't care at all for its foreign policies. There are plenty of things I don't approve of here in this country. This is one of them, and I'm speaking out against it. To torture human beings who may very well be innocent puts us right there with Hussein, corrupt dictators in Chile, Lenin and others. If this nation is to be such a great place, what is to be gained from the 21st century equivalent of an iron maiden?