Oren Gross
Special to CNN
Popular clichés notwithstanding, not all is fair in war. The idea that war is subject to legal rules is an ancient one.
Over time nations have come to accept that their decisions whether to go to war as well as how to conduct warfare once armed conflict has erupted are limited by legal norms.
But do such limitations hold when the enemy is not another nation that itself plays, more or less, by the rules, but rather a nonstate actor such as al Qaeda that flagrantly ignores them?
Does not following the rules in this context mean that we would be fighting with one hand tied behind our back? And if so, should not all be fair at least in war against such an enemy? Yes, yes, and an emphatic no.
Al Qaeda does not pose a threat to the United States' (or any of its allies') existence. Its real threat lies in provoking us to employ authoritarian measures that would weaken the fabric of our democracy, discredit the United States internationally, diminish our ability to utilize our soft power and undermine our claim to the moral higher ground in the fight against the terrorists.
In other words, the critical threat is not that the United States would fail to defend itself but that it would do so too well and in the process become less democratic and lose sight of its fundamental values. "Whoever fights monsters," warned Friedrich Nietzsche, "should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
| Isabel Abreu |
April 30th, 2009 6:11 pm ET President Obama had a strong, convincing and emotional defense of his decision to abolish torture as treatment of American prisoners of war. The reporters said, and one reporter insisted that "hard methods" in question, saved lives and kept the country safe. |
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| Rosemary Warren |
April 30th, 2009 7:14 pm ET Anderson, Ok already, we know that torture has/does take place, but I am so tired of seeing it on CNN, report it yes but do we at home have to see the footage of the torture being inflicted on someone. I am basically a big fan of your show, but come on, I do not want to, nor do I need to actually see the torture. Enough already. |
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| Annie Kate |
April 30th, 2009 8:25 pm ET Its hard to accept that terrorists can use torture and brutality against people they capture or kill but we cannot retaliate in kind. If one of my family members had been beheaded by the terrorists I would want to do serious harm to them as slowly as possible – but if I did so then I am no better than the terrorists. As a civilized nation we need to stay on the moral high ground and not sink into the morass of depravity that characterizes the terrorists groups. |
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