COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:An open letter to Dana Rohrabacher

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, you and I don’t always see eye to eye. I’m chairman of the Democratic Party of Orange County, and you’re a controversial Republican congressman. From environmental protection to global warming, stem-cell research to our healthcare system, we have some legitimate differences.

That being said, I hope there are certain values we share. For one, treating people with dignity and respect, even when they disagree with us.

That is why I was so disappointed in you during a recent House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing. The topic was “extraordinary rendition,” whereby hundreds of terror suspects who had never been indicted for any crimes have been abducted and flown to either secret agency prisons or to foreign countries such as Egypt or Syria, where they are tortured.

Throughout the hearing, you aggressively defended the U.S. rendition program and attacked the witnesses, three members of the European parliament who testified that rendition actually hinders prosecutions of terrorists. You told the witnesses that Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann would still be alive if they were in charge. You said they were free to doubt the motives of U.S. rendition. Why? Because, as you explained, “ … there’s a lot of people who hate America.”

At one point, you argued that imprisoning and torturing one innocent person was a fair price to pay for locking up 50 terrorists who would “go out and plant a bomb … and kill 20,000 people.” When members of the audience groaned, you said, “Well, I hope it’s your families, I hope it’s your families that suffer the consequences.”

Congressman, this is where you crossed the line. As Edward R. Murrow once explained, “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”

For someone who purports to be a champion of patriotism, nothing is so un-American as an inability to listen to different points of view. A similar stubbornness has not served President Bush or Vice President Cheney well over the last six years.

It is only a matter of time before the residents of your district look beyond your status as an incumbent and consider your record and leadership qualities.

When they do, I might well have to address you as a former congressman.