“Reuters headlined him as a “whistle-blower” while The Associated Press preferred “renegade,” and Redstate, a right-wing blog, was the most unsparing: “A Traitor Dies In Exile.”” – The Lede
While it is undeniable that Agee’s work (the book he published) was controversial and somewhat unethical, it does force us to reflect on what America is doing. While I disagree of his method of exposing current CIA agent’s names and work, as it led to the death of a number of people, it is the type of operations that he brought to light that I believe requires reflection.
“1960 in Ecuador where his primary mission was to force a diplomatic break between Ecuador and Cuba, no matter what the cost to Ecuador's shaky stability, using bribery, intimidation, bugging, and forgery.”
“1965 Agee explains how he visited senior Uruguayan military and police officers at a Montevideo police headquarters. He realized that the screaming he heard from a nearby cell was the torturing of an Uruguayan, a name he had given to the police as someone to watch.”
Credit goes to Wikipedia – Philip Agee
Considering the current events regarding the Guantanamo Prison, CIA possibly torturing prisoners of war to get information, it does make us think how far we can go to ‘serve our country’. There is no question that some of these prisoners hold crucial information that might save American troop’s lives over at Iraq, but at the same time, these people are human beings after all, and the Geneva Convention was set up for a reason. In addition, there’s always a chance that they don’t, and are innocent.
I don’t believe that there is a clean line between right and wrong here, and that the grey area is huge and extremely fuzzy. We don’t even have to look at the current war to see this; I had a similar debate watching the TV series ‘24’, where the Hero, Jack Bauer, had to torture a suspect in order to save hundreds of thousands. How do we, and can we justify this? When and where do we cross the line? Is there a different set of rules we should abide by towards captured prisoners, as we are at war with them? Should the same rules apply to suspected terrorists who have been detained here on American soil? How should we act as Americans, who have been the victim of terrorism? As Christians, who believe that we are all children of God?
2 comments:
I like the title of your post. Agee was, indeed, a troublemaker. Righteous or unrighteous?
The last part of your post got me thinking. I've always wondered the same. Is mistreating, torturing, and possibly even killing people justifiable if it will in the end save a group of other people? Does the end justify the means?
Post a Comment