This has been a troubling weekend for me, my friends. A recent Washington Post article has left me grief-stricken for many a day now, my youthful, conservative vigor-drained.
I cannot help but feel that I, as with all conservatives, can in some small way sympathize with Julius Caesar. The proverbial blade has sunk quite deep, leaving me perplexed and weary.
In a stunning display, the veterans of Fort Hunt, Va., felt it necessary to break their 60-year silence and described their experiences interrogating Nazi prisoners during World War II. These men, members of the greatest generation America has even known, sat face-to-face with some of the most despicable human beings in history.
Surely, if there is any group of people who can bring some good common sense discussion to the issue of interrogation techniques, these are the people to do it.
I read with great anticipation, waiting for the moment when they would declare their support of the president’s enhanced interrogation techniques, stating that it was necessary because of the people we were up against and because of what was at stake.
But what did I read of, games of chess with Rudolf Hess? Henry Kolm, in no uncertain terms, claimed that they could “get more information with a game of chess or pingpong than they do today, with their torture.” Even more exasperating was the comments of George Frenkel, who said, “During my interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone. We extracted information in a battle of wits. I’m proud to say I never compromised my humanity.”
What, I wondered, compelled these honest men to betray their country?
Certainly, it cannot be liberalism. No, it must be simply a matter of misinformation.
It is a common refrain in today’s liberal media that we conservatives compare terrorists to Nazis, or men such as Saddam Hussein and/or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Adolf Hitler.
Nonsense. They are apples and oranges, as the Nazis were uninterested in the wanton slaughter of civilians and the bombing of targets within the United States.
More lies and slander from the left-wing lunatics over at MoveOn.org. And you can bet your second home that these left-wing loons will pick up these anti-American war veterans to bolster their agenda, while tossing General Petraeus under the bus when his statements don’t fit their preconceived notions.
Gladly – and I can feel my spirits lifting even as I type this – we conservatives do not reduce ourselves to such blatantly hypocritical actions.
Matthew Kirchner is a junior English major and a contributing writer for the Daily Forty-Niner.
