This is a great article by my one-time professor, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite. Cheney and the Road to Hell
Cheney, Torture and the Road to Hell
It is said "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Former Vice President Dick Cheney has convinced me that he believes that what he did in regard to torture policy was right and justified. It is all the more damning for that reason. The deliberate policy of torture supported by him and many in the former administration is a great moral evil and undermines our country's capacity to live up to our expressed values. Thus, Mr. Cheney's has confirmed for me he is determined to continue to march down the road to hell; let's not go with him.
Catholic moral theology offers great insight into why good intentions are not only not enough; they can also send you straight to hell. There is a category of sin called "willful ignorance." People can will themselves not to see their own acts (or the acts of others) for what they really are--morally reprehensible as well as criminal. In fact, the higher the moral purpose you claim, the more risk you run of not being able to know when you are morally culpable. Thus, 'we had good intentions' doesn't justify the act. In fact, it helps blind you to what you did and why you did it. It makes you more culpable, not less.
So here's how we get off the road to hell, Mr. Cheney, and that includes you.
First, admit that waterboarding and the other techniques such as "walling" are torture. There can be no question about this. The United Nations Convention Against Torture , to which the United States is a signatory, states, "For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession..."
Deliberate acts that cause "Severe pain or suffering" are torture. You have to will yourself to be ignorant in order to state that what was done to these detainees did not cause pain and suffering, both physical and mental.
Second, admit that living up to our values is what makes America strong and keeps us safe. Adopting policies of torture and then lying about the fact that it's torture is weakness, not strength. We are not more safe because of the last administration's torture policies, we are less safe. We have only "multiplied hate" and made enemies for our country. Here, no one said this better than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing fear, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars."
And in case you miss that point, Dr. King makes it even clearer: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 22, 2009; 11:37 AM ET
Cheney, Torture and the Road to Hell
It is said "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Former Vice President Dick Cheney has convinced me that he believes that what he did in regard to torture policy was right and justified. It is all the more damning for that reason. The deliberate policy of torture supported by him and many in the former administration is a great moral evil and undermines our country's capacity to live up to our expressed values. Thus, Mr. Cheney's has confirmed for me he is determined to continue to march down the road to hell; let's not go with him.
Catholic moral theology offers great insight into why good intentions are not only not enough; they can also send you straight to hell. There is a category of sin called "willful ignorance." People can will themselves not to see their own acts (or the acts of others) for what they really are--morally reprehensible as well as criminal. In fact, the higher the moral purpose you claim, the more risk you run of not being able to know when you are morally culpable. Thus, 'we had good intentions' doesn't justify the act. In fact, it helps blind you to what you did and why you did it. It makes you more culpable, not less.
So here's how we get off the road to hell, Mr. Cheney, and that includes you.
First, admit that waterboarding and the other techniques such as "walling" are torture. There can be no question about this. The United Nations Convention Against Torture , to which the United States is a signatory, states, "For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession..."
Deliberate acts that cause "Severe pain or suffering" are torture. You have to will yourself to be ignorant in order to state that what was done to these detainees did not cause pain and suffering, both physical and mental.
Second, admit that living up to our values is what makes America strong and keeps us safe. Adopting policies of torture and then lying about the fact that it's torture is weakness, not strength. We are not more safe because of the last administration's torture policies, we are less safe. We have only "multiplied hate" and made enemies for our country. Here, no one said this better than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing fear, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars."
And in case you miss that point, Dr. King makes it even clearer: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 22, 2009; 11:37 AM ET