The Editor:
[email protected]

Colby Cosh's Upfront news item "The allure of torture" [Report, March 31, 2003] ends with a "punchline" which suggests that "Perhaps stubbing cigarettes into the genitals of Al Qa'eda members is its own reward."

Among those held as suspected Al Qa'eda members at the Guantanamo, Cuba, naval base is 16-year-old Canadian-born Omar al-Khadr. In the past year, the boy has been kept in isolation with many other prisoners who have been shown on TV blindfolded and shackled, held in open-air cages like circus animals. Unlike your resident dominatrix, Colby Cosh, I take no satisfaction in the idea of torture. Though I expect some of us always will, going back to the Roman legionnaires who tormented Lord Jesus.

I understood The Report had subscribed to Jesus' teachings of mercy and compassion. Perhaps, I was misinformed.

Sincerely yours,

Orest Slepokura
Strathmore AB