"Palme D'Or" for Mike Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11&

[Chaerophon]

More innocent Americans will die simply so that maniacal extremists receive the same rights as a petty shoplifter.

I have to say, I find it a bit disconcerting that you refer to these Iraqi men as 'maniacal' in the same sentence in which you generally refer to all Americans as "the good guys".

Rights are contingent on societal recognition and consensus as to the reasoning capacity and inviolability of the individual. Justificatory generalizations about Americans as "good guys" is reductionist in the sense that 1.) it denies the fact that not all Americans are good (duh) and the fact that 'America', as a nation, has the capacity to act unjustly and 2.) it denies the significance of the torture act itself. In judging the Iraqis to be worthy of systematic torture, these men and women (and particularly those who command them) have judged them, in some sense, to be less than human, as their rights are deemed inherently violable. In sum, it begs the question, if they are less than human, why the rush to save them? It is one thing to force information from someone in the event of imminent impending loss of life or danger. It is entirely another to systematically engage in policies of mass torture, be they "psychological" or not. In my opinion, such a campaign has far more dire implications, particularly given the moral "high ground" that people such as yourself attribute to anything and everything American.

EDITED: to avoid my own generalizations.