It's not 'torture' â€“ it's 'mercy'

I get tired of hearing it.

The media has a one-track story about "torture." Here it is. Republicans are mean old "torturers" and they "tortured." Obama is an exalted liberal who "vows" to "return us" to "our values" by "not torturing anymore."

The storyline is evil, stupid and wrong.

Here's the real story.

Genocidal maniacs committed themselves to murdering as many American civilians as possible and were caught in the act of carrying out these plans. Under any normal, historical standard for war crimes, the captured terrorist who is guilty of the attempt to commit genocide against civilians is worthy of capital punishment.

Brigitte Gabriel combats politically correct notions about the "religion of peace" in "They Must be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How we Can Do It"

Instead, in order to save lives, the United States has applied, or should apply, corporal punishment (beatings, paddlings, throwing the miscreant against the wall 40 times, giving him a swirly). The terrorist, worthy of death but given the plea-bargain of corporal punishment in exchange for life-saving information, should be awfully glad just to get beaten silly for plotting genocide, instead of being killed outright in the same way he was going to murder civilians. Justice would be to crash a jetliner, fully loaded with fuel, into a camp filled with the convicts of military tribunals. Mercy is treating them like a side of beef under the knuckles of Rocky Balboa.

Corporal punishment for capital crimes is only immoral if no valuable, life-saving information is ever gleaned. If the United States were handing out beatings because we were too scaredy-cat to administer firing squads, yes, I would have a problem with it and call it immoral. But if we are negotiating a plea bargain by pummeling the guy who was going to set off a truck bomb at Chuck E. Cheese's, then I'd say the terrorist ought to be awfully grateful to us for, whack, being such gentle negotiators.

So who is the real immoral ruling authority in this sad tale? Quite simply, Obama is immoral.

When the president has someone in custody who is convicted, guilty of capital crimes, and you could get information out of the prisoner that would save innocent people if you administered less-than-capital punishment, then it is only Obama's cowardly fear of ickyness that controls his actions. And if a single innocent victim dies in a terrorist attack due to Obama's cowardice at being unable to smack around Abdul The Failed Suicide Bomber, then the blood of those innocents is on Obama's hands. I say again: If we are hit, and Obama could have prevented it with "torture," the lives of every one of our dead will lay at the feet of Barack Hussein the Travesty. And, of course, the proper word for meting out corporal punishment in place of a capital sentence is not properly described by the media's word, "torture." The proper term is "mercy."

So how do we cease to be America?

Simple.

When we don't have the guts to protect the innocent by punishing the guilty.

Andrew Longman is a Christian and an applied scientist.