Petraeus Condemns Torture

doesn't even believe what he's saying. And more than likely the military personnel who say they would allow "some" torture have been induced to that reasoning due to the fact that the terrorists have no problem torturing anyone in their sights. If you are an enemy of the Islamic radicals, nothing is too harsh for your enemy.

Also, the way our soldiers are forced to fight with their hands tied behind their backs, is it no wonder they could be a little upset? We didn't fight WWII with a lawyer sitting on the shoulders of every soldier fighting the battles. We fought to win and that meant they did what was necessary.

In Iraq, the soldiers can't even shoot until the enemy shows their ID as a terrorist. Now that is a stupid way to fight a war.

So Petraeus is lying? He *really* believes in torture but issued a letter saying he doesn't just for fun?

So what is "necessary" to win in Iraq? Carpet bombing of cities like Dresden, Tokyo, Cologne, Hamburg, Kobe? Nuclear attacks on civilians like Hiroshima and Nagasaki? SOP torture of suspected terrorists by the US military? That tactic worked out real well for the Germans in occupied Russia, didn't it? This isn't WWII Pepp. It's a guerrilla war, not a war against a state with an army and a military machine we can bomb to pieces.

What are the ROE in Iraq? Do you even know?

You have to ask...how many were actually polled. Is this a 100% consensus? Or is this just a poll based on "Oh look at them standing there glaring at those people?". The thing about polls...and I have said this before, they aren't accurate. They don't ask ALL those involved. Did the people that were polled just come back from seeing their comrads blown up while they were conducting a patrol around a neighbourhood? Are these just regular GIs? Are they groomed? You really have to ask. What is the level of "torture"? Inhumane treatment is one thing...It is a fact that in the earlier Iraq war soldiers were told of the inhumane treatment from the """DEVIL""". I won't say there isn't torture on our side, but if you knew you had someone who had just killed several soldiers and civilians...would you give him a glass of milk and some cookies? A lawyer? How about a feather bed and all the legal aid he could get? If you knew, or suspected he knew, where the next attack was to take place..how would you act? You're family is going into a "hot" zone that he knows will be or won't be attacked, are you going to be nice to him? The military is like family, you aren't gonna send your kids into a busy street.

First of all, kudos on starting your blog! It's pretty good, too. I read and commented on your other essays already. I'm going to link you on my Blog Roll so I can come by regularly, and hopefully others will stop by, too.


As to the issue in this essay, you start out by saying that the acceptance of torture is accepted by many on the Right. If this is going to be a Left/Right issue, then it's also fair to criticize the Left for defining the threshhold of "torture" so ridiculously low. When forcing some dude to put underwear on his head is called "torture", we've got a real "failure to communicate", Cool Hand.

I guess it depends on what you define as torture. Sleep depravation, physical discomfort (i.e. cold or hot), isolation, intimidation, disinformation, humiliation, etc. are not torture in the classic sense of the word, the Left's desire to redefine the term notwithstanding.

Furthermore, our enemy has been trained to make the allegation whether or not any actual incident has taken place to exploit our sense of justice and fair play.

To portray our side as equivalent to those that used the recently published picures of actual torture techniques is misguided at best. When our commanders condemn torture, they mean torture in the classic sehse, not the watered down version the left wishes to use in order to acheive moral equivalence. Sorry Brad, no sale on this one. The US doesn't torture people, the enemy DOES.

When you consider the real torture and execution our troops are subjected to without a peep from Amnesty International, I think we should deport all these people whimpering about torture to the Sudan and let them learn the true meaning of "Human Rights Abuse".

BrianR and everyone who stopped by.