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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 9, 2006 Case In Point: Caution needed as we gaze into the abyss Nietzche once wrote, “Whoever battles with monsters had better see that it does not turn him into a monster. And if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into you.” Clearly, that is the subtext for the intensely engaging political thriller, “Munich,” directed by Stephen Spielberg. In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, 11 Israeli athletes are taken hostage and then killed by a Palestinian organization called Black September. “Munich,” loosely based on the book, “Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-terrorist Team,” tells of the decision by Israel, using Mossad agents, to track down and kill those responsible for the massacre. The narrative follows Avner, played by Eric Bana, a young agent who is the team leader. Operating deep undercover, these men find and kill those they have been told are implicated. Their only sustaining rationale is that they are killing the killers and therefore their actions are just and righteous and without ethical ambiguity. But, gradually the implications of what they are doing, the sheer violence and finality of it all, begins to haunt them, especially Avner, who becomes the moral compass of the film. He has gazed long into the abyss and incrementally he is transformed. There is a scene in the film when the team bombmaker, Robert, stops Avner and tells him that he no longer feels righteous in what he is doing. And if he cannot feel righteous, if he is not righteous, then he has lost his soul and can no longer be a true Israeli. “Munich” is a cautionary tale, certainly relevant to post-9/11 events. Since that most terrible day when we witnessed the twin towers collapse, saw the Pentagon horribly ruined, and were told that passengers on United Flight 93 made the collective decision to take back the plane from the hijackers, we have, as a nation, gazed into the abyss. We have come to realize that we can all to easily begin to resemble that which we fear the most. When the photos from Abu Ghraib Prison made their way around the world, we saw American soldiers posed with prisoners who were being debased, some bloody; dogs snarling as they leaped at cowering men; prisoners standing on crates, their heads hooded, their fingers attached to electrodes. Suddenly we were confronted with the reality that in a prison infamous for the torture of the Iraqi people, we had become what we once abhorred. The irony, the sheer horror of it all, should have then given us pause. This is not who we are as a people. Is it? And yet, still, this administration argued strenuously for the right to torture those we captured, claiming that information gleaned from such practices has saved lives. Waterboarding is but one example, where a detainee is brought close to drowning then interrogated. This in spite of the fact that America is a signatory to several international treaties and conventions that prohibit the abuse and torture of those captured. Habeas corpus allows a prisoner to submit a writ to the court asserting that his or her custody violates the law. The court will then determine whether the prisoner is being imprisoned unlawfully. Habeas corpus has long been celebrated as the most fundamental safeguard to our liberty and is mentioned in Article One of the Constitution which states that the privilege of writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless in cases of rebellion or invasion. Yet, this administration, with muted protest by the citizenry, has suspended habeas corpus for hundreds of prisoners (some referred to as enemy noncombatants), many held at Guantanamo Prison, who have been jailed for years, now, without charges or access to counsel. America has also “renditioned” countless people to prisons overseas where they have been held and interrogated without right to counsel or the courts. Of late, we have read of this administration’s decision for eavesdropping on American citizens without obtaining the appropriate warrant from FISA, a panel of federal judges who oversee such petitions. Once again, the proffered legal rationale is that the president has the authority as stated in the Constitution, though exactly where is not explained. As well, members of the administration have insisted that the information gleaned from such wiretaps can save lives. But we know that to conduct warrantless eavesdropping is against the law and a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which safeguards our right to privacy as well as unreasonable searches and seizures. The great contradiction — what we do to preserve our freedom also has the potential to erode it — is ever with us, a Gordian knot of staggering proportion. It is ours to unravel and not to cleave. In the face of terror we must act. With the image of 9/11 ever with us, the loss seared in our collective memory, we must respond, decisively and lethally, a mailed fist aimed at our enemies. But in the end, if we lose our liberty while defending it, we have indeed lost this momentous struggle. As a nation we must gaze into the abyss and know and recognize the face of evil. We can only hope that what we see reflected back is not ourselves. If it is, then, we too, are lost. Case in Point is a weekly editorial column designed to provide in-depth commentary on current events. 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