“We Became The Thing We Hate”

A stirring and challenging cry of the heart from Mark Shea:

Now that the Torture Report is out and we are discovering that the lies we listened to for so long (We only waterboarded three high value targets! We had to do it to save lives! Valuable intel! Are you telling me that some filthy terrorist is more important than an unborn baby in your sick twisted liberal mind?) are all exposed as appalling lies, it’s important to do an examination of conscience. Why? Because we Catholics consistently supported torture in larger percentages then the average American population. And the more we self-described as “faithful conservative” and “prolife” the more likely we were to do so. God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of us. (Romans 2:24)

The ugly fact is that in our fear and rage, we became the thing we hate.

We defended the torture of innocents (indeed people who were on our side).

We defended standing on the broken legs of prisoners (something out of a Gestapo or SS scene in a movie).

We defended drowning.

We defended dungeons and putting prisoners at the mercy of interrogators known to be psychologically unstable and having a history of violence.

We defended forcing prisoners with broken feet to stand in stress positions.

We defended non-stop torture for days and weeks.

We defended 180 hours of sleep deprivation.

We defended “forced rectal feeding” (aka “anal rape and humiliation”) that consisted of ramming hummus up the anuses of helpless prisoners.

We defended refusal to treat bullet wounds and neglect leading to the loss of eyes.

We defended dragging shackled, naked prisoners around around blindfold and beating them.