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If we jail Polanski then jail Cheney
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Who really raped who? Copyright myUSAi.org
During my recent vacation I heard that movie director Roman Polanski was arrested in Zurich on an outstanding 30-year old U.S. statutory rape charge.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no apologist for child molesting and I certainly don’t excuse Polanski’s actions. However, as I recall, he plead guilty and actually served some time. But when now-deceased judge Laurence Rittenband reneged on his plea agreement, Polanski's ill-fated decision to flee the United States was clearly illegal, but understandable given the judge’s behavior.
Also remember that Polanski’s family was killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz and his wife, actress Sharon Tate, was killed in the infamous Manson murders. Taken together, these circumstances, along with the time that has elapsed since the rape, might now make it a bit of a stretch to bother making an example of a 76-year old man, unless the district attorney of Los Angeles County, Steve Cooley, intends to just fine him and force restitution -- an unlikely but reasonable possibility if you are on Polanski's side.
Most U.S. commentators, but mainly those on the right, feel Polanski deserves what he gets. Personally, I really don’t care one way or the other. But rape is such a heinous crime that the perpetrators should almost always serve time for their crime.
So then I juxtaposed Polanski's case with that of former vice-President Dick Cheney. It was he who allowed the abuses at Abu Gharib prison in Iraq, detained prisoners in Guantanamo Bay indefinitely without charges (even underage detainees), declared that water boarding was not really torture, and then bragged that his actions made America safer – despite the fact that torture (according to the experts) does not elicit accurate information from those so treated. Equally troublesome were the illegal eavesdropping programs committed by the National Security Agency under Cheney’s watch.
The problem is that if you justify the arrest Polanski for raping then 13-year old Samantha Geimer, shouldn't you also arrest Cheney for raping the U.S Constitution and the Geneva Treaty? This question represents a moral dilemma that perhaps only an immigrant to the USA or someone not living in the U.S. (or France) can be completely objective about.
And is Polanski’s violation any worse than Cheney’s from a legal perspective? After all, U.S. torture has actually killed numerous detainees. If Cheney broke the law, why not investigate his involvement and indict him if he is guilty? What does this say of America's sense of values if we go after a 76-year old man who has at least apologized for his crime, and then let go those responsible, if guilty, for the most flagrant violations of our Constitution and international law?
What do you think? Should we arrest Polanski and then let go a possible international war criminal?
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