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Letter to the Editor: Columnist's loose lips may literally misinform readers
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Commentary
Columnist's loose lips may literally mislead readers
Megan Lynch's April 22 column ("Obama's loose lips may literally sink ships") contained numerous misinformed and ignorant statements. Especially disappointing was her discussion of recently released CIA memos regarding interrogation tactics. She claims this was a poor decision because it "will benefit the terrorists and harm the reputation of our nation." However, the reputation of the U.S. is hardly clean anyway, as our exploitation of other nations and bungling of the war in Iraq have people everywhere upset with us. Claiming that this decision benefits terrorists is an exaggeration; while it may give them some idea of the painful procedures they could face if captured, this stands to help them in no conceivable way.
She asserts that detainees who underwent waterboarding were "found to be terrorists with inside information" and that "the U.S. military was not harming innocent people." This is a comforting thought - except it is utterly false. There is absolutely no solid evidence that waterboarding elicited any useful information from detainees, many of whom probably had no information to disclose because they were wrongfully detained by the U.S. Lynch argues that terrorists "know what to prepare for." I suppose this is true, but simply knowing the names and methods of the techniques used and actually experiencing the pain and suffering that each entails are entirely different stories. You can prepare all you want, but it won't make the feeling any less awful.
Her last, most outrageous statement is that Obama "is more concerned with protecting terrorists than U.S. citizens." This is downright idiotic. Is Obama ending the war in Afghanistan and having dinner with Al-Qaida leaders while funding their operations? I'm certainly not aware of this. His administration was right in releasing these memos because it wanted to be fully honest and inform Americans of the acts it had a part in. We have a right as part of a democracy to know. It is typical of people like Megan Lynch to play up the fear card and insist our country is in constant mortal peril to justify keeping people in the dark, and detaining everyone who is merely suspected of being a threat and violating their human rights regardless of innocence. Criticizing this memo release only implies that it is more desirable to cover up rights abuses for fear of attracting a negative response, which is just as wrong as committing the abuses in the first place.
-David Cranston
4th-semester political science major
Megan Lynch's April 22 column ("Obama's loose lips may literally sink ships") contained numerous misinformed and ignorant statements. Especially disappointing was her discussion of recently released CIA memos regarding interrogation tactics. She claims this was a poor decision because it "will benefit the terrorists and harm the reputation of our nation." However, the reputation of the U.S. is hardly clean anyway, as our exploitation of other nations and bungling of the war in Iraq have people everywhere upset with us. Claiming that this decision benefits terrorists is an exaggeration; while it may give them some idea of the painful procedures they could face if captured, this stands to help them in no conceivable way.
She asserts that detainees who underwent waterboarding were "found to be terrorists with inside information" and that "the U.S. military was not harming innocent people." This is a comforting thought - except it is utterly false. There is absolutely no solid evidence that waterboarding elicited any useful information from detainees, many of whom probably had no information to disclose because they were wrongfully detained by the U.S. Lynch argues that terrorists "know what to prepare for." I suppose this is true, but simply knowing the names and methods of the techniques used and actually experiencing the pain and suffering that each entails are entirely different stories. You can prepare all you want, but it won't make the feeling any less awful.
Her last, most outrageous statement is that Obama "is more concerned with protecting terrorists than U.S. citizens." This is downright idiotic. Is Obama ending the war in Afghanistan and having dinner with Al-Qaida leaders while funding their operations? I'm certainly not aware of this. His administration was right in releasing these memos because it wanted to be fully honest and inform Americans of the acts it had a part in. We have a right as part of a democracy to know. It is typical of people like Megan Lynch to play up the fear card and insist our country is in constant mortal peril to justify keeping people in the dark, and detaining everyone who is merely suspected of being a threat and violating their human rights regardless of innocence. Criticizing this memo release only implies that it is more desirable to cover up rights abuses for fear of attracting a negative response, which is just as wrong as committing the abuses in the first place.
-David Cranston
4th-semester political science major
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