When good guys become the bad guys, no democracy survives

To The Daily Sun,

The brief Senate summary of the complete report released Tuesday shows an out-of-control U.S. intelligence community operating with blatant disrespect for law and American values. No wonder the International Red Cross said the U.S. was engaging in war crimes.

Upwards of 100 individuals are known to have died during U.S.-applied torture. Nor did our nation's unrestrained torture lead to substantial benefits (not that such inhumanity could be justified even if there were benefits). As John Glaser writes: "Torture produced wildly distorted intelligence that was then used as evidence to justify an unnecessary war that killed half a million Iraqis and almost 5,000 Americans and has cost trillions of dollars."

Where do we go from here? Do we allow the intelligence community to continue their fascist-like behavior (i.e. radical authoritarian nationalism), targeting Americans as well as foreigners, or do we call for real change, and a republic we can be proud of?

It is sobering to read the Declaration of Independence and realize we justified our independence from England for much milder abuses that our own intelligence community is now perpetuating, even on its own citizens. It will be a question to keep in mind as we see how the intelligence community and its political allies try to deflect criticism and maintain the "we are above the Constitution of the U.S." attitude that has so far characterized their behavior.

If our country is to become a democracy once again, the intelligence agencies need to be brought under civilian control. It would help if the officials we elect also believed that rule of law was more important than the false security of thinking our intelligence work is effectively scaring the bad guys into submission. When the good guys become the bad guys, no democracy survives, as we have been learning these past few years.

Malik Haig

Meredith