| From: | shadowtk@********.demon.co.uk (Paul J. Adam) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: More discussion |
| Date: | Tue, 26 Mar 1996 18:27:53 GMT |
>>>>>[Thank you for the courtesy of your reply, Commander. I'm sure by
now that you're aware of the leaked transcript of your meeting. Perhaps
because you present as the best culprit <g> If so, thank you for the
warning. You have your orders, and you must follow them.
You argue your case well, Commander, but you neglect a crucial point:
I really don't care much for the details of the law. I care about
justice. I break the law when I must: those laws are written and enacted
by an elected government. Even if I could, I would not change them: I would
rather eliminate the disease than the symptom, and with the disease gone the
symptom, and the need to edit the law, also disappears.
InterPol's pursuit of those like myself serves a valuable purpose: it
reminds us that we operate outside the law. Agents have forgotten that
fact, and begun to act as though they had divine right: they have not
been permitted to do so for long, sometimes because we 'betrayed' them
to InterPol. It is only a few years ago that SIGA was a byword for
inefficiency, corruption and crime. My method has dangers, to which I am
not blind. It reassures me enormously that I can converse with you, examine
my conscience, and believe honestly that what I do is right. Perhaps
my greatest fear is that one day, this will not be true.
Law is not the ultimate science, though. The law is a tool, to be wielded:
it has no inherent virtue, and it can be used as readily for evil as for good.
The worst of Abilene, Commander, was that the deaths of most of my father's
family were all entirely legal. That those re-education centres are now
considered immoral, and would be illegal today, does not change the fact that
the conditions there, and the actions of the guards, were entirely according
to the law of the area and the day. You would have been a criminal, as
my father and grandfather were, for opposing them in any way.
Perhaps we are closer than we think: even you would surrender the law
if your conscience demanded it. My threshold for that sacrifice is far
higher than yours <g>
You suggest I have sacrified some of my humanity: I beg to differ. When I
was a corporate security officer, part of me died as I was required to
protect blatant injustice - even evil, in some cases - in order to uphold
the law. Now, I break the law to hunt those I once protected: and I have
confidence that I am doing what is right.
Perhaps I lack your long view, and your faith in the long-term outcome.
I lack the means to make such changes, but I do what I can. I cannot believe
that law, in and of itself, has any virtue, and so I work with or around it
when I can, and break it when I must.
And I suggest you review what information you may find on the Director of
SIGA, Commander, if you believe that I have total and unfettered freedom
of action: the sanctions that could be laid against me for misconduct
are rather worse than resignation. We break the law on occasion, in order
to uphold the oaths we took to protect the citizens of the UCAS.
And don't take my public comments on your meeting with your superior too
seriously. I share your sentiments: I admire and respect you for your
dedication and commitment. However, if I am extradited to Aztlan I will die,
unpleasantly, and so I have absolutely nothing to lose when fighting against
that fate. Please bear that in mind, for the sake of yourself and your
men.]<<<<<
-- Lynch <18:03:31/03-26-57>
