[Petronius]

America: the light of the world, a moral beacon to humanity, mankinds' last great hope, blah blah blah . . .

So nice to see the cavalier approval of torture by so many "good" Americans - makes me feel real patriotic. And the ingenious rationales: "It's ok if wedo it because we're perfect and war is hell and we were victims and it's done for a good reason . . ."

Any "moral superiority" this nation enjoys is a function of our refusal to engage in certain practices, practices we rightly deem beneath us. To approve of torture in any form is to abandon all claims to moral altitude.

BTW - History testifies to the utility of torture - for getting people to admit to things they didn't do! Of what use is a type of interrogation that can compel the subject to admit she's a witch, or a wrecker of the latest five-year agricultural program?

I can't believe this is even being discussed. What's next? Are some of you going to reconsider the issue of cannibalism?

[AppyPappy]

Peddle that whine to the families of the 3,000 who died on 9/11. It's a war. People get hurt. Things break.

[AmericanInTokyo]

If your son or daughter were a blob of smoldering, burnt flesh on the 98th Floor of the World Trade Center, I doubt you would have penned such nonsense to this forum.

We are at war. These methods have already pre-empted a number of major terrorist attacks on the US and American facilities with live Americans in them, overseas, again, and saved many people from terrible fates such as those suffered b the 3000 in the New York City holocaust.

[angkor]

America: the light of the world, a moral beacon to humanity, mankinds' last great hope, blah blah blah . . .

Certainly there are people on FR who'd like to see some revenge being extracted, and you'll have to consider such comments in that light.

But back to the main issue, there is not a single sentence in the ComPost article that alleges any torture whatsoever has occurred, aside from the academic questions as to "sleep deprivation" being a form of torture (and even then, there is no allegation in any case that "sleep deprivation" is actually being employed in a manner that would technically constitute torture).

In any event, the several quotes in the article specifically say that torture is not being employed.

In its entirety, the article is a hodegpodge of speculation and artfully-woven innuendo. Nothing more.

Frankly, it looks to me as if the reporters said to their editor "Look boss, there's no story here, just innuendo", to which the editor reminded them of line counts and quotas, and urged them to find some filler and bulk up the story.

This story has the fragrance of a sensationalist hack job.

[mikegi]

Any "moral superiority" this nation enjoys is a function of our refusal to engage in certain practices, practices we rightly deem beneath us. To approve of torture in any form is to abandon all claims to moral altitude.

Our "moral altitude" in this war was assured when we refused to use nuclear weapons in Afghanistan on 9/12/2001. Instead, we fought an extremely gentle war there after losing thousands in our own country.

Please tell me which war we, the USA, fought in the past that meets your definition of "moral altitude". Was it World War II? Back then we firebombed and nuked relatively defenseless enemy cities at will, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians (old men, women, children, etc.).

[hford02]

Please explain for those of us without your mild manners -
How the H--- we are supposed to get information from these hardcore terrorists without the use of these techniques?

In Vietnam I saw several gooks fail flying lessons and commit suicide out the cargo bay of a chinook... the instructors were always South Vietnamese police or army.
I understand the talk to fly ratio was about five to one. HMMMMMM the good old days....

I love the smell of ragheads burning in the morning.

[cpdiii]

We are at war with an enemy that wants to kill us. In WW II
we had an enemy that wanted to kill us. We killed them instead. Sometimes we did extract information from them using torture. It saved American Lives.

The rules that apply to civilians in this country do not apply to those captured in battle in Afganistan.

It is also true that you can torture and get an confession on anything you want. The key is to already have information that the individual being questioned does not know you have. In this manner the veracity of the things he says under duress can be validated against this and the data that others have given.

It is not pretty but is does work. I would sure as hell see this done rather than one of our American Sons die needlessly in battle or another 3000 die in a terrorist attack.

[paul51]

Are some of you going to reconsider the issue of cannibalism?

If there is some way to get the terrorists to do it, I say let's give it a try

[Toddsterpatriot]

So nice to see the cavalier approval of torture by so many "good" Americans - makes me feel real patriotic.

Boo frickin' hoo. Go preach to the terrorists about how mean they are and then you'll have the moral authority to preach to us. War is hell. I suppose its our fault that we were attacked?

[smoking camels]

PEACENIK alert!

[Smile-n-Win]

America: the light of the world, a moral beacon to humanity, mankinds' last great hope, blah blah blah . . .

So nice to see the cavalier approval of torture by so many "good" Americans - makes me feel real patriotic.

Nostalgic for the Sixties, eh?

[semaj]

"...History testifies to the utility of torture - for getting people to admit to things they didn't do! Of what use is a type of interrogation that can compel the subject to admit she's a witch, or a wrecker of the latest five-year agricultural program?

If such is taking place it is not for the reason you state (confessions). We already know what they believe, we need to know what they know. Coercive action might be justified to gain crucial information concerning current and future operations and the identity of terrorist operators.

[Ace's Dad]

BTW - History testifies to the utility of torture - for getting people to admit to things they didn't do! Of what use is a type of interrogation that can compel the subject to admit she's a witch, or a wrecker of the latest five-year agricultural program?

As I understand it we are only seeking information, not confessions. This so called "torture" is nothing compared to real torture!