"Some People Do Bad Things"

...And Just Who Is Responsible For Them?

From The Washington Independent:

Feith, the former undersecretary of defense for policy, testified that he was an ardent proponent of the Geneva Conventions, even though he approved of interrogation policies that no international lawyer has ever argued complies with Geneva protections. These "enhanced interrogation techniques" included 20-hour questioning sessions; the physical contortion regimen known as "stress positions"; the use of dogs for interrogations;
Man being "interrogated"
for wearing "non-Islamic
dress"

removing a detainee’s clothing, and exploiting detainees’ fears. He claimed that official administration policy was that detainees should never be tortured—though he conceded that under certain conditions the techniques approved by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could constitute cruel, inhumane and therefore illegal treatment. Feith conceded that detainees in U.S. custody had been tortured and, in some cases, murdered, but denied that there was any connection between that behavior and official policy. "Some people do bad things," he said.

Now Comes The Case of Omar Kadr: (from Rolling Stone)

His name was Omar Khadr. Born into a fundamentalist Muslim family in Toronto, he had been prepared for jihad since he was a small boy. His parents, who were Egyptian and Palestinian, had raised him to believe that religious martyrdom was the highest achievement he could aspire to. In the Khadr family, suicide bombers were spoken of with great respect. According to U.S intelligence, Omar's father used charities as front groups to raise and launder money for Al Qaeda. Omar's formal military training -- bombmaking, assault-rifle marksmanship, combat tactics -- before he turned twelve. For nearly a year before the Ab Khail siege, according to the U.S. government, Omar and his father and brothers had fought with the Taliban against American and Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan. Before that, they had been living in Jalalabad, with Osama bin Laden. Omar spent much of his adolescence in Al Qaeda compounds.

... [Upon incarceration] At that moment, Omar entered the extralegal archipelago of torture chambers and detention cells that the Bush administration has erected to prosecute its War on Terror. He has remained there ever since.

There are radical fundamentalists on both sides of this war. We hear the term used only in the Islamic context, and we certainly can not ever imagine equating even our most extreme Religious Right with the strictest tenets of Islam.

We've heard it said that a popular preacher has stated that America was created to "destroy Islam" It's the word "destroy" that carries just violent visions. On both sides, men are telling other men to kill.

Just a thought.