Viewing abortion, torture together

Re “Torture as litmus test,” Opinion, Nov. 8

Rosa Brooks writes, “For the GOP, torture is the new abortion.” Has it even dawned on Brooks that for the unborn, abortion itself just might be torture? I find it odd that Brooks considers waterboarding to be torture (and lethal injection to be cruel and unusual), but dismembering an unborn human is merely a choice.

Mark A. Tarnowski

Minneapolis

--

Kudos to Brooks for pointing out that the GOP’s new litmus test is the willingness of whoever becomes their candidate for president to use torture, including waterboarding, on suspected terrorists. Rudy Giuliani says he would allow any method his people could think of in the interrogation of a suspected terrorist. What he and the other GOP candidates are really saying is that they will continue to instill fear in the American people as they follow the Bush administration’s war on our Constitution. However, unlike President Bush in his stealth campaign in 2000, when he untruthfully called himself a “compassionate conservative,” the Republicans have written their “Mein Kampf” for all to see. Americans who don’t want this land to fall under a Republican dictatorship had better take this seriously.

Leon M. Salter

Los Angeles

--

Brooks is right. Advocating such things as waterboarding provides for a less conflicted view than having to deal with the many imponderables of abortion. Unfortunately for these tough guys, as innumerable experts have pointed out, torture is useless as a method to obtain actionable military intelligence.

Abortion opponents at least had strong convictions and some sort of morality in their passion. Torture proponents, including the Republican field of presidential candidates, can be reasonably viewed as stupid and cruel.

Michael V. Roddy

Yucca Valley

--

Although I abhor torture because it goes against everything America stands for, as a person who recently changed her position from pro-choice to pro-life, I ask: Where are these same humanitarians when it comes to abortion? Although waterboarding is horrific, my sympathies go with those babies who will never get to live life. The same people who scream out against waterboarding are often the ones who scream out against the ban on partial-birth abortion. You tell me which is more abhorrent. A society that can condone the abortion of babies and waterboarding will go the way of the mighty Roman Empire. We have simply lost our moral compass.

Mary MacElveen

Sound Beach, N.Y.

MacElveen blogs for Radio Left.