[George W. Bush]

Conversely, since we abstained, it made John McCain's torture not happen?

Pointless. It is whether we legitimize it ourselves. The actions of the great powers have far more influence than some puny nobody country like Vietnam.

It is our own military who is most endangered when we do not uphold the Geneva Convention fully. McCain spoke about this quite well, one of the few times I've really agreed with him.

The Pentagon opposes torture and they have for decades. It's bad for morale and for the moral bearing of our soldiers as well in addition to legitimizing an enemy using torture against Americans, especially against our troops.

[MrB]

It is our own military who is most endangered when we do not uphold the Geneva Convention fully.

Seriously, you're avoiding my point. You assert that if we DON'T uphold the Geneva Convention fully, our people will be subject to mistreatment outlawed by the convention. I don't see how you can get around the assertion of the converse, that our upholding of the convention will protect our people from mistreatment. And this latter simply is NOT true.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

It is our own military who is most endangered when we do not uphold the Geneva Convention fully.

But we do follow the Geneva Convention. Does the Geneva Convention outlaw waterboarding? I don't think so.