Topic: Decline of the West
What I said here about the attitude of the American public toward the "torture" of Islamofascist terrorists is borne out by this poll from the Pew Research Center. Though titled "Public Remains Divided Over Use of Torture," what it actually shows is that just 25% of those polled believe that torture to extract information from terrorists is never justified. A full 49% believe that it is routinely or sometimes permissible, while a further 22% believe that it could be justified in rare instances.
What is striking about this poll is that it made no attempt to define "torture" for the benefit of those polled. I suspect that if the actual techniques used against the terrorists had been described to them (waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation), an even larger percentage of those polled would have approved.
If Attorney general Holder seriously intends to prosecute for alleged torture during the Bush years, the result is sure to be a public-relations debacle for the Obama Administration. That part's OK with me—but the political persecution of patriotic Americans who were doing their best to defend this country from a savage enemy would be too high a price to pay for the pleasure of seeing the Messiah with egg on his face.
And let's be clear about it: Holder's patent desire to launch this witch hunt smacks of Stalinist thuggery. Perhaps he aspires to be the Vyshinsky of the Obama Administration.
