As I indicated previously, I like Dick Cheney, a lot. Saw him speak at a Republican lunch. But I don’t agree with him on this. In the realm of relativity, yeah, sure, you would “take” waterboarding over having your fingers ripped off with pliers, knees drilled, chunks of flesh cut off or being burned, but the line is drawn before you inflict physical touch to get information.
I used to teach Geneva-Hague conventions to huge groups of soldiers as part of a legal requirement—the reality being that if soldiers are aware of their rights they will be more able to assert them. While Geneva-Hague doesn’t protect non-combatants, it sets a baseline Americans operate from.
If they are non-combatants and not entitled to protections, I am less concerned about them and more concerned about the effect torture has on the torturer and what it indicates about Americans.
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Thank God there are people ready to do violence for their country. Otherwise, there may well not be a country to fight for. BTW in the long run 50-100 years we will loose the war against Islam because people like you and DiFi insist on playing nice.