Santa Already Has Them On His Naughty List

This letter to the editor in the NY Times written in response to an editorial about report on torture release by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Re “The Torture Report” (editorial, Dec. 18):

If we are to comply with the Geneva Conventions, political considerations will not relieve the president of his obligation to undertake prosecutions of top officials for the authorization of torture. The conventions themselves require adherents to hold such prosecutions.

This is a question of law, not politics; and those who try to politicize it are rightly dismissed as outlaws.

If defendants have legal defenses, they can raise them. Our legal system will address them, as it does all defenses raised by the accused. The country and the world can then judge the validity of those defenses and our judiciary’s decisions on them.

This is the only way to restore our reputation as law-abiding citizens of the world. It has the added virtue of being the right way.

Vincent J. Canzoneri
Newton, Mass., Dec. 18, 2008

With our own Vice President admitting his role in the implementation of waterboarding, do we have a hope that he and any others who took part in this will be brought to justice?

Will we restore our reputation?