Lynn C. Woolsey: “Yogi Berra once told us that ``When you arrive at a fork in the road, you should take it.'' Well, the United States has…”

“Yogi Berra once told us that ``When you arrive at a fork in the road, you should take it.'' Well, the United States has reached a fork in the road when it comes to torturing other human beings, and it is time we took it, once and for all. {time} 1345 Senator John McCain has offered an amendment to the Defense appropriations bill clarifying that the United States Government, including the military and the CIA, does not condone the use of torture, putting the United States in a position to set an example for the rest of the world by clearly affirming our opposition to the use of torture as a military tactic. Yet if the Bush administration has its way, Congress will reject this amendment, reserving its right to employ the use of torture in certain situations. That is right: The Bush administration has come out against an amendment that states for the record that the United States opposes the use of torture. Do they really want people to think we support torture? For one thing, America's use of torture certainly has not helped us win any friends so far. It did not win us friends when it was revealed that the American military had abused prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. It did not win us any friends when thousands of photographs were released showing U.S. servicemembers torturing, beating, humiliating, and generally violating Iraqi prisoners of war.…”