Torture: It Was Good Enough For Jesus

"We do not torture" (Yeah Right)

The President and his policies are all over the news today. In Canada a judicial inquiry has cleared the name of Maher Arar, a computer consultant, who was falsely accused of being a terrorist with ties to Al Qaeda. The Canadian Mounted Police, without proper investigation or cause, gave his name to the US authorities, who promptly arrested him and sent him to Syria where he was tortued for 10 months before being released. This was done under Mr. Bush's policy of rendition, where suspected terrorists are transported to secret locations around the world to be tortured.

Mr Bush's policies in this area are again being questioned by members of his own party and at least one former cabinet member. Colin Powell, when interviewed said, "If you just look at how we are perceived in the world and the kind of criticism we have taken over Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and renditions, whether we believe it or not, people are now starting to question whether we're following our own high standards."

But does America hold itself to such high standards? Here are the results of a poll conducted last year which, when studied carefully, show that a great many Americans, especially so-called Christians, are in favour of torturing suspected terrorists. Only a minority of people answered "never" to the question of torture. The people who did answer "never" the most were those who described themselves as Secular .

It would seem that the high standards that Colin Powell attributes to the American people are as ficticious as the Weapons of Mass Destruction that were used to drag the USA and her allies into a seemingly never-ending and unwinnable war. But Colin Powell is right about one thing: The image that America has of itself, and the image of America that is fast being formed by the rest of the world, are two very different things indeed.