Rebelling against torture and Bush

The Boston Globe ^ | September 16, 2006 | Robert Kuttner

[A. Pole]

My father was a machine gunner with the Army's 28th Infantry Division, which was among the first units to march down the Champs-Elysées after the Allied liberation of Paris . In December 1944, having landed at Normandy and fought across France and Belgium, he was captured in the Battle of the Bulge, and sent hundreds of miles through northern Germany in an unheated boxcar in the dead of winter to a prison camp at Muhlberg in the east.

My father survived the war not because of the generosity of the Nazis to Jewish soldiers. The Germans must have been tempted to send captured Jewish American soldiers to Auschwitz along with Polish, German, and Dutch Jews and kindred human garbage. But they did not. My father survived because, amazingly, even the Nazis respected the reciprocal agreements on humane treatment of prisoners.

The doctrine was simple: You don't abuse my soldiers when you take them prisoner, and I won't abuse yours. Mostly, despite the multiple atrocities of World War II, the doctrine held.

[...]

McCain was not as fortunate as my father. After his plane was shot down, he was tortured by the North Vietnamese, who did not respect the Geneva Conventions, and kept in a hellhole for six years. If anyone has the right to dispute the doctrine of reciprocal, humane prisoner treatment, it is McCain. But instead, McCain reasons, correctly, that if the United States of America, of all nations, grants itself the right to abuse prisoners, not only are our soldiers at greater risk, but our national soul.

[...]

The founders of this republic wisely gave us separate branches of government as checks and balances against tyranny.

[...]

[rightinthemiddle]

The doctrine was simple: You don't abuse my soldiers when you take them prisoner, and I won't abuse yours. Mostly, despite the multiple atrocities of World War II, the doctrine held.

_________

Let's get Osama and Co. to agree. Perhaps he would sign in person.

[A. Pole]

even the Nazis respected the reciprocal agreements on humane treatment of prisoners

I personally knew Polish Jews who survived the German occupation because they were prisoners of war (they became POWs during 1939 campaign). There were treated rather well and they refused repeated German proposals to be released.

On the other hand Stalin refused to accept the limitations of Geneva conventions and as a result Soviet/Russian POWs suffered horribly.

[Parley Baer]

What a bunch of BS. What the President wants is a clear definition written in law on torture. McPain is using this for his political gains. If McPain had any honesty he would be helping in writing the law.

[wideawake]

My father survived because, amazingly, even the Nazis respected the reciprocal agreements on humane treatment of prisoners.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL!

Tell that to the uniformed American POWs the Germans summarily executed during the Battle of The Bulge!

The author of this article is not only a liar, a traitor, a candyass and a terrorist sympathizer, but a Sheehan style dirt merchant, pimping his father's honorable service to help the cause of Al-Qaeda.

Please tell us, what the hell does a uniformed American soldier fighting other uniformed soldiers on a field of battle have to do with cowards who use women and children as shields, and throw bombs into crowds of civilians?

[JerseyDvl]

Yeah, nice drive-by headline isn't it? The Globe hates America as much as the Slimes and the comPost.
I think they have a little contest as to who can carry the most misleading and seditious material.

[Bahbah]

McCain reasons, correctly, that if the United States of America, of all nations, grants itself the right to abuse prisoners, not only are our soldiers at greater risk, but our national soul.

Hogwash.

[opinionator]

My father survived because, amazingly, even the Nazis respected the reciprocal agreements on humane treatment of prisoners.

Maybe the author should do a little research about the Japanese treatment of their prisoners.

[Clara Lou]

Kuttner is delusional.

[1035rep]

Please tell us, what the hell does a uniformed American soldier fighting other uniformed soldiers on a field of battle have to do with cowards who use women and children as shields, and throw bombs into crowds of civilians?

BTTT 

[Bahbah]

My question to the author is whether he thinks his father would have survived if the Nazis had won.

[HOTTIEBOY]

Last week, the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the most ardent protectors of the administration, was forced to release a report documenting once and for all that there was zero connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein

These people really are living in an alternate universe.

[TomGuy]

My father survived because, amazingly, even the Nazis respected the reciprocal agreements on humane treatment of prisoners.

All of them? Or was this an isolated incident?

From newsreels, it seems the Japanese didn't share that philosophy in their treatment of captured soldiers.

The problem is that we are fighting a war against a non-state enemy while binding ourselves, via Geneva Convention, etc., to rules that apply to warring against a state.

When al-Qaeda/Islamofascists becomes a signatory to the Geneva Convention, then those rules might apply. Until then, we are fighting a war with our hands tied. It may be honorable, but it is a path to defeat.

[Wristpin]

I'm against making them listen to Yoko Ono!!

The Chili Peppers are okay.

[zarf]

The US and it's politicians needs to get their heads out of the 60's and 70's.

[A. Pole]

What the President wants is a clear definition written in law on torture.

GWB said the Geneva Convention’s ban was "very vague" and required clarification. "What does that mean, ’outrages upon human dignity?’"

Look at the photos from Abu Graib. It is obvious to any sensible person what "outrages upon human dignity" are.

[mutley]

Rebelling against victory for political reasons, is the way I see it.

[oh8eleven]

Spot on!

[WOSG]

" ... even the Nazis respected the reciprocal agreements on humane treatment of prisoners."

Which Al Qaeda does not.

Insurgents captured some soldiers in June and murdered them in Iraq. In Pakistan, Al Qaeda beheaded journalist Richard Pearl in a snuff video.

So the people we are fighting are worse than nazis.

[A. Pole]

The author of this article is not only a liar

Am I a liar too? BTW, I would not be born, if Germans did not treat POWs well. My grandfather was in the German POW camp too.