Powderman wrote
“Revenge has nothing to do with getting information to save innocent, or American lives, no matter what it takes”.
Isn’t this saying the ends justify the means?
And who is to be the arbiter of RIGHT and WRONG, now that legal no longer has any thing to with them?
I am sure anyone can find support for their position, or at least rationalize it, from whatever belief system / religion they ascribe to for what ever action they wish to take, humanity has managed to do this with every system / religion they have ascribed to, thus I find reference to divine sanctioning of particular actions to be a rather poor justification to behave like those, that one views as in opposition to, their deity’s pronouncements.
But you are correct about it comes down to RIGHT and WRONG, and somehow I just cannot see how acting in a manner that emulates the behavior of someone that we feel is acting WRONG, somehow makes it RIGHT for us. To do so is a rationalization
As a practical matter information has a limited useful life. As the command and control structure of our enemy is fractured and decentralized, the low level combatants we are capturing may have information of an immediate tactical nature, but are unlikely to hold anything of strategic value. Thus coercive interrogations carried out days, week, months, or even years after their capture are likely to result in the obtaining information, which is no longer of value in a given tactical situation. For coercive interrogation techniques to be of maximum value, to the troops on the ground, they must be employed immediately, as was done in Viet Nam. Of course this could lead to the same abuses that occurred there, but then it was a case of an individuals actions. Frankly I find it more understandable when an individual engages in abusive treatment of prisoners, then when a country makes it a matter of policy.
But hey maybe it will lead to the trains running on time.
Life is no joke but funny things happen
Jon