Letters to the Editor
Torture is never justified
In regard to the April 26 article, "Did CIA 'enhanced interrogation techniques' work or not?": Whether torture works is irrelevant. The ends cannot, in such situations, justify the means.
Torture is an affront to human dignity, and every person, whether guilty of a crime or not, deserves basic human rights. Even when the state kills someone via capital punishment, we do our best not to inflict pain. The means must be "humane," and that is long after guilt is actually determined.
We cannot go down the road of asking whether torture worked, or opening the door to post hoc justification because lives might have been saved, for in that direction lies a future where America loses its soul completely.
David Koepsell
Penfield, N.Y.
The subheadline of this article reads, "Debate now rages as to whether they were effective."
No, the debate does not rage. It is accepted by FBI, CIA, and virtually all professional interrogators that torture does not work. Period.
Rev. Michael McCarthy
Virginia. Beach, Va.
Why are journalists approaching this controversy from this angle? Torture is illegal! No country is supposed to practice it. It has been proven that it does not work. It works only to get the rest of the world questioning why a great country like ours practices it.
Dan Ciskal
Phoenix
US soldiers are heroes
Regarding the April 27 Opinion piece, "US soldiers are heroes, not terrorists": This commentary is wonderful. I hope members of the Obama cabinet see it, and especially the Homeland Security cabinet member who spoke without thinking about this topic. Thank you to author Kyndra Rotunda for her clear, truthful, and substantive writing.
Vera Eberhardt
West Brookfield, Mass.
Perhaps the word "patriot" is more appropriate.
Let's offer them our gratitude and support.
Mell Schoening
Kenmore, Wash.
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