CIA has secret bases for interrogation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051102/ts_nm/security_prisons_dc

I have often been fascinated with a 1960s television
show called The
Prisoner starring Patrick McGoohan. (He played King
Edward the
Longshanks in Braveheart, by the way.) I really find
it interesting
that what seemed to be a fantasy may be real life.

The Prisoner relates the story of a British secret
agent who resigns
one day. We never really know why except for one hint
that it "was a
matter of conscience." He is kidnapped, by one side or
the other, and
sent to a place called The Village in order to find
out what he knows.
This was all during the Cold War, remember. The Iron
Curtain could have
taken him to find out what he knew being a top level
agent. The British
could have taken him to prevent a possible defection.
In any case, we
never know who kidnaps him. It is the struggle of one
man to stand for
what he believes in and not give in to the majority. I
have always
found it powerful stuff. It is a pity to me that there
were only 17
episodes.

So I see this article today about secret prisons to
interrogate al
Qaeda captives. The world does not know of this,
except in leaks
apparently. I was sort of ok with interrogations going
on at Guantanemo
Bay. At least we knew where they were. If they start
hiding captives,
whatever noble pursuits are in their heads, we start
becoming corrupt.

I always found comic books gave me this moral debate
too. The X-Men
would often say that stooping to the level of the
villain makes you
just like the villain. Batman never killed the Joker,
although he had
every right to and he constantly kicks himself when a
new crime
happens. Killing the villain makes you guilty and
unclean. You cannot
be the shining beacon of hope if you bring yourself
down to that level
of disregard for life.

By not making light of this situation, they are
playing the same game
as the terrorists. As a country, as a people, as
civilized people, we
must stand strong and play up to our ideals. We
corrupt the basic
fabric of what we espouse when we go behind the doors.
We have to stand
as that ray of light in the dark world. We have to
shine that light
wherever we can, so that everyone can see it. We have
to be better than
that.