Krauthammer and Sullivan

The first thing I have say about Krauthammer is that he writes in an extremely obnoxious and patronizing manner and that it made it very hard for me to listen to his argument because I kept feeling annoyed at how he kept condescending at me with his overuse of rhetorical questions. Now that that is off my chest, I can actually talk about what he said. One thing I found ironic is that while Krauthammer loves pointing out other people's paradoxes, I found it to be a paradox that he calls captured terrorist different from prisoners of war. Aren't we involved in The War on Terror? And he talks about the terrorist breaking the rules of war while the U.S. refuses to sign some protocols of the very document that clarifies the rules of war.

Anyway, I liked the idea he had about banning torture in the Military because it upholds the honor and discipline that we pride ourselves on and because we don't want to force the responsibility of choice on lower ranking people. I like this finally puts some responsibility it allows those in the lower positions to not have to worry about being held responsible for a wrong choice, which I think is far because judgment in war as we have seen can become clouded. And to be honest I find that his idea of only special agents requiring review and being held responsible for their actions if they do torture is actually possibly plausible. I think it could possibly stop a slippery slope of going too far and getting the wrong people because it's not hidden, people must take responsibility for their actions even if it was for the greater good.

And yet, I agree wholeheartedly with Sullivan. If we as the United States present ourselves as arbiters of freedom, of justice and have a promise to life, liberty, and justice for all, we need to stand by it. We need to stand by the morals we say have, we have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. If we want to spread freedom and democracy across the world, we need to extend and show the benefits of those to all people and not just, as Sullivan said, those who are lucky enough to find them on our soil. And yes this probably does seem idealistic and naive but I feel like it is an important strength to stick to the morals you claim to have, even when it seems difficult, this is a trait that is often seen as desirable in individuals, isn't it? So why not the entire nation. I think it goes along with McNamara's rules and the ability to emphasize with the enemy and see that despite any atrocities committed, they are still human and deserve the human rights we claim to uphold.