Letter to the editor: Torture should never be allowed to occur

In the June 13 edition we read the headline, “Court says detainees have rights, bucking Bush.” And further, President Bush disagrees with ruling.

This concerns the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, which said Guantanamo Bay detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution to appeal their apparently endless detention as so-called terrorists.

Interestingly, it was the two Supreme Court judges nominated by President George W. Bush, plus Clarence Thomas and Anton in Scalin who were the four dissenters to that ruling. This information is most interesting because perhaps most of us believed that the days of acquiescing to the cruelty of the inquisition were at least 300 to 700 years into the past, and that such activity could never again happen in a somewhat civilized society.

Torture via physical or spiritual pain of any human being should never be allowed to occur, least of all by civilized Americans, and it is certainly not an activity that would be sanctioned by Jesus Christ.

Oh yes, we must admit that the past century had its quota of sadist rulers, but we do not need a continuation of that into this new century. Also let us remember who flogged Jesus and nailed him to the cross. It was Roman soldiers who did this. The inquisition started then and still continues.

Remember, “All power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely,” as was said in Lord John Acton’s letter to Bishop Mandel Creighton in 1887.

Allen Osmundson

Binford, N.D.

Tags: torture, terrorism, bush, supremecourt