Chuck SchumerMy senator, Chuck Schumer, has often spoken out against torture committed by the Bush administration. But recently he clarified this view with the “what if the guy knows where the atomic bomb is” logic. It is this logic that the Bush administration used to justify torture in the first place. It may not have been an atomic bomb, but the claim that the torture victim knew something that could save many American lives was all the justification that the Bush administration needed. This logic sickens me. We executed Japanese officers for water boarding American soldiers. I am sure the logic of those officers was that the torture would save many Japanese lives.

Today in the paper it was revealed that the FBI arrested four men who planned to blow up two synagogues and shoot down a plane with a stinger missile. Their plot was foiled by good old fashioned police work. No torture was required.

This is the letter I wrote to Senator Schumer:

Dear Senator,

I recently saw your comments on torture and I am very disappointed. Although there is this idea (gained from the TV show 24, no doubt) that torture can gain confessions, we can see from the fact that we had to torture one person more than 180 times in a month that torture simply doesn’t work. How do we know that we are torturing the right person? How do we know that the information we receive is correct? I, for one, would tell you any lie you want to hear with the mere threat of torture. And if torture is such a good idea, why don’t the police use it against those they arrest to find where the kidnapped child is, for example? Perhaps because torture is immoral? Perhaps because torture is criminal?

I am sorry but the idea that torture is ever moral, is ever something we should do, is beyond the scope of what this country represents. I sincerely hope you will rethink your position.

All the best