We Is Them and They is Us

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George Bush was on the tube recently saying that he approved waterboarding because his legal advisors told him that it wasn't torture. Let me provide another point of view. Pete Peterson was a POW in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Here is part of a letter to the editor he wrote in reponse to POW abuse by the Bush administration.

As a former POW in Vietnam, I know what life in a foreign prison is like. To a
large degree, I credit the Geneva Conventions for my survival. . . I am disgusted, angry, outraged and at the same time grossly embarrassed by what my government has sought to justify in the name of freedom! This is not the principle of freedom that I nearly gave my life to defend.

As the Army Field Manual says:

Abuse of detained personas is immoral, illegal, and unprofessional. . . Torture
and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment is never a morally permissible
option, even if lives depend on gaining information. . .

Finally for those who believe that abiding by laws and rules keep us from "winning" the war, the Army Field Manual provides a good historical counterpoint in its examination of the French in Algeria.

(The) failure to comply with moral and legal restrictions severely undermined
French efforts and contributed to their loss despite several significant
military victories.

The title of that section of the Field Manual says it all "Lose Moral Legitimacy, Lose the War."