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By Paul McGuire
December 17, 2014
NewsWithViews.com

Remember the scene in the Terminator when you see a young child swinging on a swing; a mushroom cloud goes off in the background and the nuclear blast vaporizes the child. Then think of the recent videos of Americans being brutally beheaded for no good reason by ISIS terrorists. The recent atrocities of terrorists against innocent people are too many to count.

Intelligence agencies like the CIA can capture terrorists who can give us valuable information to protect America from the next attack, butthis requires an interrogation technique which produces results. The sad reality is that terrorists are not going to talk unless they are forced to. In order to get terrorists to talk you have to use enhanced interrogation techniques. On December 10, 2014 former Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News Political Anchor Brett Baier, in response to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Report:

“Look at the statement by the former directors and deputy directors of the CIA issued just within the last 24 hours. It did in fact produce actionable intelligence that was vital in the success of keeping the country safe from further attacks.”

Cheney also said in the interview, “The terrorists were not covered by the Geneva Convention. They were unlawful combatants. And under those circumstances, they were not entitled to the normal kinds of courtesies and treatment you would accord to those. Nonetheless, the people we captured, especially the folks that went down to Guantanamo have been treated very well.” The term “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” is a relatively recent term. While Cheneyand the CIA do not openly advocate the use of torture, these new more modern techniques rely more on a psychological strategy to get the terrorists to talk. It is not simply about pain; it is about the scientific use of pain and specifically psychological pain to get terrorists to talk. However, the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques to prevent another terrorist attack, or even what some may call torture, is not necessarily morally wrong. The Enhanced Interrogation Techniques are justifiable when dealing with proven terrorists, assuming they are not being done simply to inflict vengeance or pain in some kind of sadistic act of revenge.

America’s politically correct society is very disconnected from realities such as war. War by its very nature is cruel, barbaric, and inhuman. But some wars are justifiable if they are undertaken to protect innocent human lives and to prevent the invasion and subjugation of a people whose conquerors will surely rape, torture, and kill millions of people. Americans have forgotten what happens when a terrorist group or totalitarian political movement captures a single person or an entire nation. In Nazi Germany the people actually elected Adolph Hitler, who cleverly used anti-terrorist laws as a means for murdering over seven million people. But the German people were in denial of what was happening and did not want to know about it, as those who do not approve of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques do not want to know what the terrorists have in mind.

War, terrorism, Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, and torture are extremely unpleasant subjects, but they exist and they have to be dealt with. In these particular cases it appears that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were justified in what they did. But all of this is an extremely slippery slope because as time passes the term “terrorist” becomes an ambiguous term that could potentially apply to all kinds of innocent Americans, who are in reality not terrorists at all. This is the real danger, not the make believe danger in the Senate Report. As the examples of Nazi Germany and many other nations teach us, it is very easy for a totalitarian-type government to emerge in any nation, in the name of fighting terrorism. In these types of governments, any group of law-abiding citizens can be classified by a whim as being terrorists or suspected terrorists. The only thing that prevents this isa strong legal and Constitutional safeguard that our political representative’s demand be strictly enforced. However, that is no longer the case and post 911 any U.S. citizen can be arrested, disappear, and be confined without a trial, if he is even suspected of being a terrorist and can then be subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques…or much worse.

Generally speaking I support the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques by the CIA and other intelligence gathering agencies, if it useful in gaining information that can save lives. However, due to the ambiguity in the laws, it is potentially possible for an innocent American citizen to be the target of either political party, a President on the left or the right whose viewpoints could categorize someone they simply disagree with politically as domestic terrorist.

Both liberals and conservatives should be very concerned about this because many of the categories categorizing a potential terrorist are simply arbitrary political, social or religious categories. You could be potentially profiled as a terrorist simply because you believe in the Bible, read about Bible prophecy and adhere to traditional moral values. You could also potentially be profiled as a terrorist because you hold certain Progressive beliefs. It is the job of our elected officials both Republican and Democrat to aggressively enact legislation to protect all law abiding American citizens from being unfairly profiled. In addition, a mass media with integrity would also highlight this issue. Instead the mass media focuses on non-issues like whether or not legitimate Enhanced Interrogation Techniques are being too tough on known terrorists. Our nation is in a war against known terrorists who have already demonstrated they are capable of committing the mass slaughter of American citizen’s.

It is the responsibility of organizations like the CIA to essentially do whatever it takes to save the lives of the American people,

And they should not be blocked from doing their job.

In my new book, “Mass Event.” I outline how a crisis can change a nation overnight.

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