We're better than barbaric torture

Bob Lowth of Arlington Heights begins his May 17 letter to Fence Post with the following statement: "I'm always amazed when I read people who assume individuals that are anti-abortion should also be against the death penalty."

Perhaps I can explain why so many of us do not agree with Mr. Lowth's anti-abortion, pro death penalty position by quoting another part of his letter. In defense of the death penalty, he says, "Most of those executed have killed a number of people, and more than once." But by using the word "most" he identifies the fatal flaw in his argument. "Most" means "not all," so he admits that some of those executed had killed nobody and were executed by mistake. That kind of mistake can never be corrected.

Mr. Lowth either does not understand or does not care about the unspeakable horror that has been visited upon an untold number of people throughout history who knew they were innocent as the firing squad's bullets tore into their bodies, the guillotines sliced their heads off or the hangmen's nooses tightened around their necks."

How would you feel if your life, or the life of a loved one, ended in such a barbaric way? It is disheartening to know that our country is one of the few on earth that still allows vengeance to be a legally sanctioned part of its justice system. And now it even appears that the Bush administration approved torture. I would like to believe that we as a people are better than that.

Gene McDougall

Arlington Heights