Sep 27, 2006 2 min read

Will torture make us safe? The Geneva Convention has served us very well and should continue to do so. Gutting the Geneva Convention and approving torture is a defeat of American values and a victory for our enemies. It is proven that torture isn’t efficient. Information gathered this way is useless and yet the Bush administration pursues “aggressive interrogation techniques” as if they worked, and without regard for the consequences.

Those consequences include: loss of our moral authority, rage in the Islamic world, distrust among our allies, loss of opportunity to gain useful information, putting our own troops at risk when captured, and creating a cadre of torturers who will return to our communities.

So where are we now? President Bush has asked Congress to pass a bill authorizing the redefining of torture. People in the 9th Congressional District of Pennsylvania have a clear choice in this matter. Our present representative Bill Shuster has rubber-stamped this administration’s disastrous policies since he took office.

Tony Barr, his opponent in the coming Nov. 7 election, will not condone the torture of prisoners, and is not afraid to take a stand for our values as Americans. In this issue of torture, it’s not who the enemy is, we can’t control that; it’s who we are.

So here’s our choice. Tony Barr, or Bill Shuster. I hope you will join me to end the disastrous policies that have damaged our country by voting for Tony Barr.

Kathie Hendricks

McConnellsburg, Pa.