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Article: Hearts of darkness: torturers among us, and in us.(Essay)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- May 31, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WE all want to think that our boys are different, that they would never stoop to the vile practices of foreign despots, such as the abuse of captives or the torture of prisoners. But this is to forget the meaning of Original Sin: that there is within each and every one of us a capacity for wrongdoing and evil, awaiting only an opportunity to assert itself. And chief among these opportunities is the possession of unbridled power over others.
So the revelations about the mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq, while shocking and dispiriting, are not in any deeper sense surprising. An insufficiency or breakdown of external discipline often leads to a breakdown of ...