How the Terrorists Really Win

The nominee for Attorney General of the United States of America has declined to repudiate torture in any shape, form, or fashion. And there is a discussion about how many senators will support his nomination?
We have heard over the last six years many formulations that conclude with "then the terrorists win." The first was by the Moron-In-Chief who bravely declared that if we didn't go on with our lives, going to the mall and shopping, then the terrorists win. It has become a refrain for supporting whatever cockamamie pet hobby/observance/practice any given speaker enjoys, believes in or wants to advocate for. Like, if you don't attend the Memphis in May Barbeque contest, then the terrorists win. Or, if you don't mark Clergy Appreciation Month (all month in October), then the terrorists win. (Ok, the last one really matters. If you're an insecure goof. Imagine the Hallmark section on Clergy Appreciation Month: Dear Preacher, Thanks for being there when Aunt Matilda died, and having the good taste to stay as far away from us the rest of the year as possible; or, Dear Clergy Member, I guess we're grateful for your work at our church, but it means so little to us that we haven't been there since Labor Day; or, Dear What's Your Name, thanks for not making us feel bad about your salary, as I needed to make the boat payments this year. But I digress.)
Here's how the terrorists really win: we behave as badly as they do. That's what this is all about. If they can entice us into forfeiting our character and our freedoms in the name of a little neurotic grab at security, they they have what they really want in the first place. We've now joined the list of the hideous who have instigated unprovoked wars. Now, we're up in the air about whether or not it's alright for our chief law enforcement officer to be ok with torturing prisoners. The problems are obvious, almost too much so to name: 1) if we torture, we have no right to tell others they better not torture our soldiers or citizens when they become prisoners, and 2) when you torture people, they will tell you anything you want to hear just to make you stop. Remember that little problem with faulty intelligence before the Iraq War? No, not the President's faulty intelligence; that that was provided by the CIA's wonderfully named "inside man", Curveball. It was all a load of crap. And we never laid a hand on him, or him on a water board.
We don't get to run around the world advocating for our superior way of life if we make human life as cheap as they do. We have no moral upper hand when we make people believe that we are about to do the equivalent to them of what was done to Daniel Pearl and other poor unfortunates captured by the wretched people who believe that beheading one's opponents is a good way to go about your day.
The moral corruption of the Bush administration knows no bounds. And this one isn't about no bids handed out to Halliburton and Blackwater so that they could misplace our billions of tax dollars in the "rebuilding" of Iraq. Where they still have no reliable electricity or water. Nice job. It's no longer about Cheney accusing people who question the war strategy of being agents of Al Qaeda. No, this is about rejecting two hundred and thirty years of striving to live up to the principles on which our nation was founded, and acting no better than the Hitlers, Stalins, Pol Pots, bin Ladens and Husseins of the world.
We were supposed to be better than that.
Ben Franklin's still right: Those who would sacrifice liberty to have security deserve neither.
And the terrorists win. Again.