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Recently many "conservative" pundits and media bloviators have written and spoken in defense of America’s policy of torturing anyone for any reason claimed by George W. Bush. Of course they obfuscate the brutal truth by referring to torture as "enhanced interrogation"; the same term ("Verschärfte Vernehmung") used by Hitler’s Gestapo to describe the same techniques and for which many were convicted as war criminals and sentenced to death.All of the world’s major religions include some form of the principle of moral reciprocity. For example, in his Sermon on the Mount Jesus rendered this principle as, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."; a good summary of all that Jesus said about how to treat other people. Other religions embody similar tenets.
This reciprocity principle also forms the basis for secular moral systems. Immanuel Kant’s rendition of the principle is, "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." He regards this as a categorical imperative, a principle demanded by rational thought under all circumstances. It is the indispensable principle of civilized society.
Bush, Cheney and others who believe that torture is a legitimate tool of government are neither civilized nor Christian (nor, for that matter, followers of any other of the world’s major religious or secular moral systems.) They are amoral Machiavellianists who follow no loftier principle than "Me first and to hell with everybody else."
