Torture's Terrible Toll

[Occhidiangela]

Actuallyeven anti-torture advocates(smart one like McCain) dont even say that. Its pretty much accepted that at some point of "duress" almost everyone will break. The real problem is that when people "break" they will lie if they percievw that will stop the pain better than telling the truth.
[right][snapback]95095[/snapback][/right]

I direct you to the case of LTC West, whose circumstances in Iraq about two years ago addressed handling "perishable information/intelligence."

He didn't torture anyone. He scared the crap out of a guy, good cop bad cop routine that ended in vocal threats and a fired pistol (pointed elsewhere) next to the guy's head. The dude talked because he probably thought he was about to get shot. West's men rounded up a dozen or so guys they'd been looking for. Those guys, once apprehended, were no longer out setting off bombs or IED's, and one can conclude that quite a few lives were saved as a result of that innovation on the spot.

West got hammered for good police work, as I understand it he was relieved of command. I am still not sure why.

You can possibly appreciate my reservations when anyone talks about "abuse" or "mistreatment" in a scenario where you aren't talking about knocking over the local 7-11.

The problem about this whole discussion: the over generalization, extremely cloudy definition of terms, not to mention ignoring the varied cases, and the inane presumption among the bleeding hearts that Americans are supposed to be aligned lawful stupid. :P Leonard Pitts' recent column, however, about "why do we even need make this rule" is the most important point to ponder.

Back to cases, once you have someone in jail for an extended period of time . . . the West scenario no longer applies. I find the hue and cry over "abuse" of the Koran to be complete BS. It's a book. Or, if it is to be held sacred, then the BIble must be held sacred and the 10 Commandments need to go back up on the wall in Georgia. (Or wherever that judge argued about that.) How about a little consistency, eh? While we are at it, let's hold the Black Sabbath sacred. (Yeah, I know, play Black Sabbath backwards at 78rpm and you see God . . . Big Bambu.)

The long term prisoner, Abu Grahib and Gitmo, I think, is what Senator McCain is raising the core issue about, and where he holds a profound experience.

Translating that sound byte about "torture" and "abuse" "poor treatment" into broad brush policy is, and trust me, please, I have written policy, a lot trickier than a few words in a paper mentioning "torture." And the sound byte is all most people get, or are actually interested in, thanks Short Attention Span Population.

Ask any lawyer about the care one has to use in crafting policy, since lawyers make their fortunes diving into the loopholes.

Occhi