Once upon a time in an America that never really existed, some of the most respected members of our community were doctors and lawyers. They were professionals to be envied and trusted. To be emulated. These were careers to aspire to.
But as Glenn Greenwald pointed out yesterday, one of our country's most brilliant lawyers, John Yoo, is also one of our country's most diabolical. He used legal language and argument to justify torture, and to circumvent the power of the constitution. Greenwald concludes that Yoo is one of several war criminals in the Bush administration, and should be treated as such.
Perhaps more shocking to me are doctors who allow themselves to be drawn into the process of torture. I heard it again in the interview with Murat Kurnaz on 60 Minutes. Kurnaz recalled how he was strung from the ceiling, and when he seemed to be failing, a doctor came in, examined him, and declared he was fit for more torture. Who are these doctors? How do they justify their actions? Didn't we all grow up with the horror of torture and cruel experimentation by German doctors in Nazi death camps? And yet they still exist.
Should these torture doctors and lawyers ever be able to practice in the United States again. Would you want them treating or representing you?
They are the real monsters who make the ogres and beasts of fairy tales pale in comparison.
1 comment:
"Who are these doctors? How do they justify their actions?"
And do we find a parallel between them and the Hippocratic Oath, and Bush and the Constitution?
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