Letter Claims ‘Not Torturing Is Immoral’
This letter appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune, May 30, 2009. Several writers responded and those selected letters are published below.
If the safety of President Barack Obama’s wife and children depended on the extraction of information from terrorists, and he did not use enhanced interrogation techniques if needed to get that information, then he is neither a man nor a true father, nor should he be president of the United States.
We are all endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the government of the United States was instituted to secure these rights. And it is immoral not to use enhanced interrogation techniques in order to protect us and to secure those rights.
Gary Russon
Salt Lake City
Torture’s Costs
Gary Russon believes that it is immoral not to use “enhanced interrogation” to protect our unalienable rights (“Rights by interrogation,” Forum, May 30). I suggest he read David R. Irvine’s studied article, wherein he states that a group of retired Army generals met with a task force evaluating interrogation practices, and “the generals’ message was simple. Brutal interrogation methods endanger and diminish national security, cost lives and are the least-effective means of obtaining useful intelligence” (“Why place the nation at risk with torture?” Opinion, May 30).
I submit that these generals know much more about this subject than Russon does.
Camille R. Cutler
Bountiful
Evil Rapscallion
I am not married and do not have a family of my own, but right now let’s pretend that I do.
According to Gary Russon’s letter (“Rights by interrogation,” Forum, May 30), if I did not track down the person stalking my daughter, tie him up in a chair in my basement and use enhanced torture methods until he confessed to harassing my child, then I am an immoral person who does not deserve to be a father.
After all, I would be letting this evil rapscallion traumatize my daughter. What dad wouldn’t cut off the fingers of a fellow American to protect his family’s rights?
Hmm… Suddenly I sound like I don’t have the right to live with people.
Corky Richard
Salt Lake City