Where Have All the Leaders Gone? Read Online Free PDF Page B

protect our soldiers in captivity. From that day forward, even during the Vietnam War when the North Vietnamese refused to abide by the Geneva Conventions, we always did.
    Until now.
    Vice President Cheney has argued in favor of torture. He said, “We have to work through, sort of, the dark side.”
    Sort of the dark side? Hey, I have news for Cheney. There’s no sort of about it. Torture is the dark side.
    I can’t believe we’re even having a discussion about whether it’s okay to torture prisoners. The people who think torture is okay seem to get most of their examples from the movies or TV dramas. They always give some outlandish example, like, if you were holding a guy who knew of a plot to blow up America, wouldn’t torture be justified to get information? The problem is, that’s not what is really happening. What’s really happening is that you’ve got a bunch of guys who were rounded up in Afghanistan, handed over to the U.S. military by locals, and shipped off to Guantánamo. To my knowledge, there’s not one leader of Al Qaeda in the bunch. Am I the only one who’s embarrassed that they call Guantánamo the American gulag ?
    By the way, morality aside, I think we have to ask this question— even when we’re talking about torture: Does it work ? Most experts on the subject say that under torture a prisoner will tell you anything you want to hear. But it won’t necessarily be true. And that’s what’s really pathetic about this whole mess. We’re trashing our principles, and we’re not even getting anything in return.
     
    I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK
     
    When I say I’m proud to be an American, what I mean is that I’m proud to live in a nation that is a force for good in the world. I’m proud to live in a nation that values human life. I’m proud to live in a nation where we “hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
    We don’t say “some” men. We don’t say “except when we decide you’re evil.” How did we lose our way?
     
    LET’S START BY TONING DOWN THE RHETORIC
     
    Words matter. Winston Churchill, one of the great orators of the twentieth century, put it this way: “Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. Abandoned by his party, betrayed by his friends, stripped of his office, whoever can command this power is still formidable.”
    Words can inspire. They can lift us to heights we never dreamed possible. Words can also provoke fear and rage. They can pound people into the ground.
    A true leader always strives to inspire. That doesn’t mean he can’t express outrage. But he motivates people to act by appealing to the good in their hearts, not the evil in the hearts of others. He motivates people with possibility, not with threats. President Dwight Eisenhower once said, “You don’t lead by hitting people over the head. That’s assault, not leadership.”
    If you want to know how we got to the point of condoning torture, all you have to do is look at the trail of rhetoric from our leader:
 
    Axis of evil
Mushroom cloud
Shock and awe
Wanted, dead or alive
Ticking time bombs
Enemies of freedom
The forces of darkness and tyranny
You’re with us or against us
Bring ’em on
     
    Do you start to see a theme here? We can’t bully the world into submission. We can’t expect to win cooperation by calling people evil. You don’t have to talk tough in order to be tough. I have a simple piece of advice for President Bush: Fire the goddamned speechwriters!
    Look, this planet is a crowded place, and the only way we’re going to survive is to learn to get along with one another. Now, you can decide that the way to lead is to knock off all the people you think are against you, but that’s never really worked, has it? And it’s not what democracy is all about.
    It’s time to get