Saul Becomes Paul

A reader writes:

This is an eye opening event for me.  It’s easier for a liberal like me, who voted against Bush twice, to feel I’m off the hook.  But, clearly, I kept my eyes closed and my mouth shut.  When I let talk of torture filter in, early on, such as keeping people awake and some of the accounts of Abu Ghraib, I kept drawing lines to things I wanted to believe.  They’re keeping them awake?  Oh, that must be like playing loud music.  Like… they used on Noriega.  Today, I have to ask myself why I didn’t take to the streets. 

I guess I’m “lucky” again in that I have a President who believes in the rule of law.  But where was I, a Jew, taught to say Never Again when I was growing up? My guess is that somewhere this evil satisfied a dark place in me. A generalized anger or rage that we can all walk around with at times. Why else was I content not to stare this evil in the face?

(Photo: a torture victim murdered while being beaten in a stress position by a masked US agent at Abu Ghraib.)