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Jonathan Alter's Nov. 5 Opinion piece, "Time to Think About Torture," elicited vigorous protest from many readers. One equated the use of torture with "going back to the Middle Ages." Many also considered the idea as "traitorous to the ideals that keep America on the high moral ground," as one reader said. "Torture would negate the values on which our civilization was founded," another declared. However, not everyone considered the suggestion unreasonable. As one reader pointed out, "Being helplessly civilized leaves us at the mercy of the beast."
Taking On Torture
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How disgusting can the human mind be! Fortunately, our European Union will not consider the use of torture even against terrorists. Otherwise, we might as well go back to the Middle Ages and send people to the stake.
Massimo Mariani
Turin, Italy
I'm just as upset as anyone about the September 11 attacks. As an American abroad, I tell my friends, neighbors, colleagues and strangers why my country is going after terrorists in Afghanistan. But I cannot accept the idea that torturing prisoners is necessary or desirable. Even to consider this is traitorous to the ideals that keep America on the high moral ground that makes us the "good guys" in this fight. If America institutes torture, we're no better than the Taliban, the Viet Cong, Saddam Hussein. Worse still, Alter suggests that this torture should not take place on American territory, but in countries where there is no moral or legal scruple against torture. We should be loudly criticizing countries with such policies and demanding that they be stopped. I'm shocked, saddened and disappointed that the citizens of a great country like the United States would sink so low.
David A. Widmayer
Lengede, Germany
It is a telling indictment of American values and frame of mind that torture would be considered now and not in the case of Timothy McVeigh, who confessed to his crime but steadfastly refused to give any information about his accomplices. Torture--even as a measure to fight terrorism--was never mentioned then. The people in custody now are only suspects--with no confessions or proven complicity. The hypocrisy is so blatant, so obvious. Furthermore, Alter's definition of torture includes Islamic justice and Saudi Arabia's beheadings. He should know, however, that such punishments are meted out by Islamic law only after proper investigation and conviction: they are punishments for proven misdeeds, not means to obtain information. Incidentally, it was during the very early years of the Islamic state that the concept of innocent until proven guilty was established--more than 1,000 years before the drafting of the American Constitution.
Amah Rag
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Alter's column on torture shows how soon the moral grounds on which we were founded are becoming the first collateral damages of war. There's no excuse for torture: it's against human rights, it's prohibited by the U.S. Constitution and by the laws of every decent, civilized country. Torture was abolished by most European countries during the 18th century. Wasn't this one of the issues the United States was ready to give their citizens' lives for--to fight a murderous regime which used torture freely? Thanks for pointing out that torture does not even work and that it destroys those who perform it on their victims. Perhaps there is a call for torture because today's generation has grown up witnessing sadistic acts on TV, and does not understand what torture really means. There is no justification for leaving the ground on which Western civilization was founded.
Godela Baldewein
Oerlinghausen, Germany
Alter says that physical torture can't be legalized because "it's contrary to American values." Yet, he adds, "... we'll have to think about transferring some suspects to our less squeamish allies, even if that's hypocritical." In fact, any authority that did so would be an accomplice to the foreign torturers to whom the suspects would be turned over. Free citizens everywhere are supporting the fight against terrorism. They hope that this struggle will not be diminished by inhuman practices like torture, which would negate the values on which our civilization is founded. Torture is a crime under international law. We hope that U.S. citizens will resist justifying its use anywhere.
Jean-Francois Benard, President
Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture
Paris, France
Fathers and Sons
Terrorism and Accountability
Bridging the North-South Gap
Anthrax Anxiety
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Turning Off the Tube
Kudos to Karen Springen. Many Orthodox Jews share the same view about television. Not only do our children not watch TV, we often don't even own one. Having grown up watching television, I was resistant to giving it up. My preferences were among the best that television had to offer, such as public broadcasting programs and football games of my favorite team. But thinking back, I recalled that the first time I saw a person being murdered indifferently by a gangster, I was appalled and wanted to vomit. The next time I saw something like that, I didn't like it, but I didn't feel nauseated. Desensitization is an important issue for children. Parents can determine how they want their children to react to abnormal violence--with disgust or with indifference. Turning on the TV is tantamount to opening a sluice gate and allowing the stuff into your home. My grandchildren will grow up without the two-hour daily exposure sanctioned by the American Academy of Pediatrics. They will see neither an ax murderer running amok on the screen nor the latest sexual perversion. If that turns them into social "lepers," whose society would they really be missing?
Arthur Bickel
Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel
Finland's Golden Boys
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A Dog's Life
I was heartened to read your story on being a dog in Paris. Perhaps there's hope for my new hometown of Berlin. I fail to understand why Berliners think that they can treat their city like a public toilet for their four-footed friends. Does the paltry annual "dog tax" they pay buy them this right? It fills me with dread that my daughter will soon be running through smelly parks. Could Yves Contassot, who espouses fining irresponsible dog owners, take a little trip to Berlin? I agree with him: we should hit errant dog owners where it hurts--right in the pocketbook.
Malin Haugwitz
Berlin, Germany
I like dogs, but I do not appreciate people who let their dogs relieve themselves on sidewalks or building walls, which is common here. In most French cities, especially in Marseilles, it's smart to look where you're walking. When fines are levied in France, we will no longer have to weave through dog droppings.
Johan Mounier
Aix-en-Provence, France
Hygiene, esthetics and economics all combine to make a persuasive case for using pooper-scoopers to pick up canine excrement. Low-tech toilet paper works, too. If Parisians were to carry a roll of tissue when walking their dogs, the streets under the Eiffel Tower would be free of 16 metric tons of mutt muffins. Individual responsibility is needed to keep the City of Light romantic, majestic and beautiful.
Michael Driver
Ichihara City, Japan
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