Krulak and Hoar: Remember Who We Are
From the conclusion of a remarkable opinion piece in the WaPo by a former commandant of the Marine Corps and a former commander in chief of U.S. Central Command: It’s Our Cage, Too.
The torture methods that Tenet defends have nurtured the recuperative power of the enemy. This war will be won or lost not on the battlefield but in the minds of potential supporters who have not yet thrown in their lot with the enemy. If we forfeit our values by signaling that they are negotiable in situations of grave or imminent danger, we drive those undecideds into the arms of the enemy. This way lies defeat, and we are well down the road to it.
This is not just a lesson for history. Right now, White House lawyers are working up new rules that will govern what CIA interrogators can do to prisoners in secret. Those rules will set the standard not only for the CIA but also for what kind of treatment captured American soldiers can expect from their captors, now and in future wars. Before the president once again approves a policy of official cruelty, he should reflect on that.
It is time for us to remember who we are and approach this enemy with energy, judgment and confidence that we will prevail. That is the path to security, and back to ourselves.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Yeah this torture thing is f’d. I don’t see how we can earn the trust of a region by being just as brutal as the other guys. The west’s strength has always been that we are basically decent people (not so much these days). I say this as my countries’ soldiers are being accused of a similar crime. They are handing over suspected taliban/al qaeda fighters to the Afghan Human Rights Commission (yeah, it’s hard to keep a straight face saying that) where obviously people are being tortured.
I’m not saying I really care if a real asshole who has raped/maimed/killed innocents gets tortured, but think of the many “joe’s” who get caught up in this. Talk about fuelling the fire. Like the commander said, “It is time for us to remember who we are and approach this enemy with energy, judgment and confidence that we will prevail.”
May 19th, 2007 at 3:35 am
What, take the high moral ground again? For the current goons, that will be like climbing mount everest.
“John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.”
google “USA torture testacles” to find the rest of that story.
May 19th, 2007 at 3:45 am
In any event, there is good money to be made in the growing US torture industry (discussed at about minute 3 in this 4 minute clip, but the whole thing is insightful.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJlJudDtVE