A Man for All Seasons
I didn't write this. It's from Robert Bolt's play, A Man For All Seasons. But it's been in my head since the US first sent prisoners of war to camp X-Ray, so here it is:
Roper: So now you'd give the devil the benefit of law?
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?
Roper: I'd cut down every tree in England to do that.
More: Oh, and when the last law was down and the devil turned on you where would you hide Roper, all the laws being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast, man's laws not God's, and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - do you really think that you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake.