To the Editor:
For about three years now I have been protesting the use of torture by the U.S. government. On Monday a journalism major named Ben Zenitsky wrote an opinion piece on torture in which he claimed that the use of torture by our government has "almost certainly" prevented attacks such as those of Sept. 11 from happening again. Unfortunately, Zenitsky gives no information to verify this claim. In fact, I have yet to see a single documented case in which the torturous tactics adopted by our government (or anyone else's) have prevented a terrorist attack. If such a case exists, one would think that the proponents of torture would publicize it to let the American people know that these aggressive tactics are working. This has not happened.
I wish I could tell Zenitsky that his sloppy research will not hold up if he wishes to pursue a career in journalism. But, unfortunately, poor research and the inability to critically investigate claims made by officials in the Bush administration seem to be characteristic of the "free press" in our country. It is wonderful that our government does not (usually) lock up journalists for telling truth, but without journalists who work hard to uncover the truth this freedom means very little. The reason that a free press is important is that it allows our citizens to have an open an honest debate about what their government is doing. In the absence of journalists, who are willing to uncover what our government is doing and present it in a truthful light, our press does very little to facilitate such a debate.
Since Zenitsky might be headed to a successful career in journalism, I would just like to encourage him and anyone else to uphold the values of free press even when it is not quite so easy to do so. A quick Google search does not count as in-depth research, no matter what the folks in the major news media seem to think. It is very difficult to have an honest discussion about torture, when its viability as an interrogation tactic been subjected to such little scrutiny by the press.
Bo Chamberlin
Columbus, Ohio
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 4
Jerry
posted 11/25/07 @ 7:16 PM EST
Torture is just a symptom of a larger problem, which is the global diminishment of America caused by internal decay.
When America was at it?s greatest, pre-1940, the central government had the least amount of control over the general population and was small enough that everyone knew who was in office, taxes were low, and manufacturing was everywhere. (Continued…)
Erick
posted 11/26/07 @ 11:09 AM EST
Jerry, Regarding #3: The United States has never been "last" in assessments of education. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/education/14students.html Tom Friedman wrote a while back in answer to a reader's question that "Every nation thinks it's behind. (Continued…)
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