I had the lead letter in The Times today, concerning their recent interview with the book-hawking George W. Bush. The circumspect editors cut my text down to the gist — although it was pretty circumspect already by my standards — but at least the message got out to a wider audience.
The Times website is now notoriously behind a paywall, of course, so I can’t link to it — but thanks to the miracle of cut-and-paste technology, here is the letter as they ran it:
Sir, If waterboarding is now a legitimate tool of a democratic state, why stop there? Perhaps cattle-prodding prisoners would have "saved" Madrid? Perhaps boiling oil or the rack would have "saved" Mumbai?
The indiscriminate, ‘War on Terror’ that George W. Bush launched has engendered far more hatred and extremism than fringe groups of violent Islamists could ever have produced. And his embrace of aggressive war and barbarous torture has done far more damage to Western civilization than 1,000 bin Ladens could ever do.
And here is the original:
To the Editor:
"Waterboarding saved London," says George W. Bush, in London no less — even as the inquest into the 7/7 bombing is going on, detailing the horrors of an attack that would not have taken place without Bush’s own unprovoked invasion of Iraq, which has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people. But putting aside the baseless, self-serving mendacity of Bush’s assertion for a moment, we are still left with the depraved logic behind it. If waterboarding — which U.S. law has regarded as a war crime for more than 100 years — is now a legitimate tool of a democratic state, why stop there? Perhaps cattle-prodding prisoners would have "saved" Madrid? Perhaps boiling oil or the rack would have "saved" Mumbai?
The indiscriminate, world-engulfing ‘War on Terror’ that Bush launched has engendered far more hatred and extremism than fringe groups of violent Islamists could ever have produced. And his open embrace of aggressive war and barbarous torture has done far more damage to Western civilization than a thousand bin Ladens could ever do. Yet here he is, swaggering around the world in pomp and privilege — while we all must live with the consequences of his criminal folly.