In trouble again

On Monday, I vowed to send a letter to the editor of the Atlanta
newspapers protesting the FBI's announcement that strong-arm pressure
tactics would be considered against some of the people arrested in the
wake of the Sept. 11 tragedies.

I forgot to mention that li'l thing to my wife! She's a school teacher,
and we both worry about the potentially negative implications of my very
strongly expressed opinions, especially any dissent over the drug war.

Never got a call from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but got an
e-mail from Jude just now that her fellow teachers had read the letter
this morning. Uh-oh! Gotta eat crow for failing to keep her informed.

Here's the letter, which potentially millions, or maybe dozens (??) of
Atlantans may have read:

=====================================================================

Dear Editors:

I have just learned from a story in the British newspaper The Times
that the FBI is considering using torture to extract confessions from
people being detained for questioning after the terrorist attacks of
September 11.

(http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001350021-2001364909,00.html)

Two things about this story outrage me. First, why have U.S. newspapers
been silent? Isn't this something the public needs to know?

Second: are we out of our minds? Torturing captured people is a
hallmark of the most brutal dictatorships of the world. Doing so in the
name of "fighting terror" is about the most pathetic irony one could
possibly think of.

I am reminded of the quote from the Vietnam war: "We had to destroy the
village in order to save it." That war is now only a painful memory,
but the future of this nation has yet to be written. If our new slogan
is "We have to act like terrorists in order to fight terror," we have
already lost the war against terrorism, no matter how many bin Ladens
we kill.

Sincerely,

John A. deLaubenfels

=====================================================================

Of course, they may have hacked it up... Dante, this is all your
fault! ;-> (not!)

Anyway, my wife assures me that this sin does not warrant
"excommunication"; that's a relief, anyway!

JdL