Forgiveness for $40M

The Torture Report Reminds Us of What America Was - NYTimes.com:



http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/12/feinsteins-war-on-the-cia-what-purpose-does-it-serve.php



The top link is to a writing by a former Abu Ghraib interrogator now a college professor that proudly proclaims that "he can't be forgiven". His level of hubris is palpable, the need for Christ is rarely screamed as loudly.



"What America WAS"? What a sad joke -- the propensity of government agencies to abuse their powers is eternal. To not see the constant reality and threat of all forms of abuse by all forms of government is to show willful disregard for known and oft proven reality.



The second link is to some coverage of "the torture report" with what I consider to be the main reason for the report -- Feinstein and other Democrats in congress signed off on "enhanced interrogation", and they now want to do the Pontius Pilate symbolic washing of the hands.

For Feinstein, $40 million, long-term damage to the CIA, and the potential for deadly attacks on Americans overseas apparently are a small price to pay for this satisfaction.

 The insanity of our elites navel gazing about what was or wasn't done by one government agency or another in the months and years after 9-11, while we continue to do battle with a ruthless enemy that has no qualms about public beheading nor any forms of real torture (that leave lasting physical marks) is comedy. Which often gives way to tragedy.



Government agencies have always been and always will be capable to ANY form of abuse or torture imaginable. If the 20th century made anything at all clear, it ought to have been that. Ultimately, THAT is the reason that GOVERNMENT MUST BE LIMITED! Leave it un-limited and it is as predictable as aging that the eventual recipients of the most egregious possible tortures will be the thoroughly  demonized and scapegoated "opposition".  (See German gas chambers and Soviet Gulag)



Man has known from the time of his first consciousness of mortality that he is in dire need of forgiveness. All manner of sacrifice, penance, and sundry contrition has been attempted, but only God taking on the form of man and dying for the sins of all as made forgiveness a reality for billions.



What makes us "better" than our enemies? Nothing at all intrinsically -- we are all sinful humans.



To the extent we are "better" is to the extent we recognize the authority of Christ and retain increasingly small vestiges of being  a "Christian Nation". Much as surgery will always be painful, war will likewise always be painful. Attempting to put controls on the carnage is reasonable, but having illusions as to just how effective such controls can be given the doubly de-humanizing aspects of government bureaucracy (CIA, military, etc) and war itself,  is always going to be a recipe for disappointment.



We need controls, but we also need to be FAR more forgiving of the men and women in the front lines of the messy business of war than of the preening pretenders to royalty like Feinstein. Let's face it, they signed off on enhanced interrogation because they were afraid for themselves and their political careers, and now they want to "un-sign" for their own political skins and personal sanctimony no matter the cost.



We are rarely treated to such a clear example of total fecklessness.



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