by Regina Sztajer

On the subject of terrorism congress should have asked that question of McCain’s amendment to ban “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” treatment of any prisoners by an agent of the United States which the Senate voted in favor of 30-9. (www.weeklystandard.com Charles Krauthammer, 5/7/09.)
History has much to teach us on the subject of terrorism and torture if we are willing to be objective. During the American Civil War captured soldiers from both sides were given the choice to avoid detention, leave the battlefield, don’t take up arms and they were paroled but so often they went home and then cheated by re-enlisting. Try that with a terrorist of the 21st century and for sure he’ll be back to kill again.
During WWII, Korean women were taken captive by the Japanese army to serve as slaves and comfort women for their men. They suffered terribly by both physical and psychological terror and they never received
compensation. American prisoners of war were tortured, starved and terribly mistreated if not behead on the spot. During WWII Jewish young children, and the elderly were put to death immediately across Europe and the young were made slaves of to die of hunger, torture, disease and complete deprivation. My husband Rubin Sztajer, a Holocaust survivor, suffered from 1939 to 1945, under the hands of his Nazi torturers. He spent three years of the war in slave labor concentration camps, being beaten and starved barely surviving until age 18, when the war ended.
McCain is not the only person to endure torture and I am sure if others who had suffered were asked what they would consider appropriate there answer would be detention and by any means get any information necessary from them to American save lives. Real people live with reality every day of their lives!!!!
Let’s consider a hypothetical example of a ticking time bomb, a terrorist has planted an Atomic bomb in Washington that will go off in an hour, killing a million people. He was captured and isn’t talking. Would President Barack Obama say it is morally wrong to torture him and would he just wait it out while he and his family were in danger? I’m sure he would pack them onto Airforce One and hightail it out of D.C. Mr. president it is your moral duty to protect the American people that is why you should stick his head in a pail of water until he yells uncle and tells you where he hid the bomb.
A captured terrorist is by profession an unlawful combatant who targets innocents and entitled to no protection. They specialize in barbaric treatment of civilians. A perfect historical the killing of innocent men women and children by the thousands during WWII.
No anti-torture provision will change the conduct of a jihadist holding a gun at the head of an American soldier that he has captured. He’ll blow his head off with no trouble but expects a cushy spot in an American prison with all the rights of an American criminal.
The Daily Show Jon Stewart learned more about the harsh treatment of interrogation during the Bush Administration from Cliff May of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. May asked Stewart if he considered Harry Truman a war criminal for dropping the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Stewart replied yes. A few days alter Stewart apologized to May saying Truman’s decision was complicated. Obama has said America has lost it’s moral bearings under President George W. Bush which will result in his having a problem defending any presidency. President Franklin Roosevelt during WWII ordered the bombing of Dresden ,Germany causing about 40,000 innocent civilians to be incinerated making sleep deprivation as torture look irrelevant. FDR also ordered a forced internment of 100,000 Japanese American’s to war relocation camps who in all probability were not spies and the American people questioned nothing because we were at war.
If Bush will be considered a war criminal for denying suspects habeaus corpus then Abraham Lincoln Obama’s favorite president was also guilty because he ordered the suspension of habeas corpus for all American citizens right here in Baltimore during the Civil War. Also, there is always the argument that the ends never justify the means therefore we have to give all of our presidents a free pass. Times have changed and we must change with the times? I believe these are the worst of times when we have an administration who consider American veterans, military personal, civilian organizations and just about everyone who disagrees with Obama a potential terrorist but closes it’s eyes to Islamic terrorism which has proven it wants to destroy us.
“We are accusing our brave men and women of torturing terrorists but it is more of depravation, depriving them of certain liberties rather than physical deprivation to the point of death. Water boarding and sleep deprivation doesn’t kill it is only uncomfortable, a big difference from cutting off a head with a blunt sword that our enemies thrive on as torture. Would Obama and his associates prevent using deprivation in order to save a son or daughter in the service? If so they are very misguided and should be considered traitors, said Rubin Sztajer. Freedom is a gift to America and we must protect it and not question the manner in which it is provided to us.