It used to be that the religious cudgels used against non-Republican Catholics in elected office in the USA were fairly clear. They had to be demonstrably against abortion and various types of contraception. But did you know that they have to be in favour of waterboarding? That's what former George Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen says --
It is also worth noting that a terrorist like KSM [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] — who has killed thousands and has set in motion plans to kill thousands more — remains an unjust aggressor even while in custody. By withholding information about imminent attacks, he holds the power to kill. According to the Catholic Catechism, those in power have a moral obligation to render an unjust aggressor unable to cause harm.
It's really remarkable the number of universal principles that can be hitched to KSM's confession to 31 different plots. And there's no practical limiting logic. Conventional techniques could have gotten the suspect to admit to so many plots, but there could always be another one. Time to take it up a notch. And the Vatican says it's OK. Or at least someone who worked for George Bush says they do.
Incidentally, since the future KSM plots to which Thiessen refers must include the West Coast plot, he needs to explain why it was not a sin for the Bushies not to have waterboarded Richard Reid, who had apparent connections to this plot nearly 2 years before it was broken up.
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