Torture, Terrorist Rights & American Lives
Terrorism Lee Boyland
February 9, 2008		  

The Western media is fixated on what it perceives to be torture: Making a Muslim put women’s panties on his head and similar stupid fraternity pranks; and waterboarding. On the other hand, beheading live, bound, captives; a video showing an Arab man being impaled on a sharpened pole; and stoning or lashing a woman attracts little coverage. There must be two definitions of torture—one for the US and one for the terrorists.

 

A similar phenomenon occurs regarding rocket attacks on Israel. Photos of emotional, wailing Arab women lamenting the death of a son, who managed to get killed while launching rockets at innocent civilians, makes the front page, while no mention—much less photos—is made of killed, maimed, and wounded Israelis.

 

Today’s question is: How does one equate the value of American lives to the "rights” of terrorists? Take a few minutes to take a short quiz. Carefully read each of the following scenarios. Note you answer before reading the next one. Answer truthfully, for only you will see your answers.

 

Major City

Terrorists have announced, with credible proof, that they have placed a nuclear device in a large US city. Police have captured one of the terrorists who knows the location of the atomic bomb, and how to disarm it. The atomic bomb is set to detonate in four hours.

 

Would you subject the terrorist to waterboarding or other more severe forms of coercion in order to save the city and hundreds of thousands of lives?  YES   NO

 

A School

The school your children or grandchildren attend has been seized by terrorists. Several children have been killed, and the girls are being raped. Explosives have been planted throughout the building. Police caught the terrorists’ outside observer. He knows which terrorist has the detonator, information required by the SWAT team so they can kill the terrorist with the detonator before they begin their assault. Without this information, all the children will die.

 

Would you subject the terrorist to waterboarding or other more severe forms of coercion in order to save the children’s lives?  YES   NO

 

Major Sports Event

A major football or baseball game is about to begin in a packed stadium. The FBI learns that a small terrorist cell has planted a small "suitcase” nuke in the stadium, set to detonate at half time, ninety minutes for now.

 

Would you subject the terrorist to waterboarding or other more severe forms of coercion in order to save thousands of lives?  YES   NO

 

Spouse

Your spouse or life partner is part of a group being held by terrorists. The leader plans to kill everyone by detonating a bomb. FBI agents capture the leader, who knows where the timer, set to detonate the explosives, is located.

 

Would you subject the terrorist to waterboarding or other more severe forms of coercion in order to save your spouse?  YES   NO

 

Now, substitute my spouse for yours, and answer the same question.

 

Would you subject the terrorist to waterboarding or other more severe forms of coercion in order to save my spouse?  YES   NO

 

If you answered NO to any of the questions above, please determine the number of American lives you are willing to sacrifice before the "rights” of one terrorist can be violated:

 

_____ American lives
_____ One hundred American lives

_____ One thousand American lives

_____ Hundreds of thousand of American lives

_____ Millions of American lives

 

I hope this exercise helps you clarify your thinking about events that soon may occur.
Lee Boyland earned a degree in nuclear engineering, then entered active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. A graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Explosive and Nuclear Ordnance Disposal Schools, Boyland was assigned to the Defense Atomic Support Agency in Albuquerque, NM. A member of DASA’s Nuclear Emergency Team responsible for nuclear weapons accidents, including the rendering safe of armed nuclear warheads, he had access to the design details of every nuclear and thermonuclear warhead developed by the United States through the Mark 63 warhead. His duties took him to the Nevada Test Site on many occasions. After leaving the Army, he designed conventional and special ordnance, and demilitarized chemical weapons at Rocky Mountain Arsenal and Tooele Army Depot. He made the transition to hazardous waste management by applying aerospace combustion technology to incineration of Agent Orange. He is the author of The Rings of Allah and Behold, an Ashen Horse, which received critical acclaim by the Military Writers Society of America.

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