Posted by
Jon Williford on Thursday, September 21, 2006 12:00:45 PM
Congress is deadlocked in its debate on what is considered “cruel treatment and torture, or humiliating or degrading treatment,” according Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions [Article 3: Geneva Conventions] with regards to interrogations in the war on terror. Do you know what is in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions? Do you think Usama Bin Laden or Ayman Al-Zawahiri does? Or better yet, Omar Sheikh; do you think Omar whipped his pocket copy of the Geneva Conventions before he beheaded Daniel Pearle? Of course they don’t! Article 3 is specifically aimed at prisoners of war. Now for the umpteenth thousand time, these are not prisoners of war as defined by the same Geneva Conventions. These are enemy combatants, and they really don’t care about how they are supposed to behave with regards to the rules of war. These people have been promised heaven, and they will do what is necessary to get there.
So, with all this controversy, I had to ask myself, “What would Sipowicz do?” You remember Andy Sipowicz, the hot-tempered detective from ABC’s NYPD Blue. Perhaps Sipowicz wasn’t an A student in political correctness, but who needs to be PC with someone, who if given the opportunity, would plant a bomb in an elementary school. He was often caustic, bigoted, and unapologetic. He didn’t give a rip about who you were, where you were from, or what your cause was. If you committed a crime or knew who did, he was going to get the information he needed, even if it meant smacking you around.
Now, I understand Sipowicz was a hot-head, he got into trouble every now and then, and the NYPD probably isn’t as lenient as portrayed. But what is wrong with allowing the CIA all means necessary? How much punishment is really due an operative who helped thwart a bombing? I have been asked, what would I do if one of my family was being held hostage, and someone knew where they were, how would I respond, how would I act? Like most Americans, I would risk life, limb, and liberty, to find out where they were. So, what if it were hundreds of family members? What would Sipowicz do?