???? A group of four retired Army generals are traveling through the primary states in an effort to tell the candidates of both parties that “torturing war detainees is incompatible with a strong defense, and instead puts national security and the safety of U.S. troops at risk.” They are here in South Carolina this week as that is where the candidates are in expectation of the upcoming primary here next week. They are part of a larger group of military officials who have petitioned Congress and at least 8 candidates so far. Seven democrats and one republican have been contacted about the seriousness of this issue. “Torture doesn’t accomplish the mission that you’re torturing for,” said retired Lt. Gen. Charles P. Otstott. With 32 years in the Army, including two combat tours in Vietnam, Ostott is no novice and knows from experience that torture does not give credible results. Otstott and his colleagues, claim they have “direct experience” with the issue, said they believe the U.S. has tortured and abused prisoners since Sept. 11, but that its use has declined since the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Their focus is to get the next Commander In Chief to make sure that torture is not confused with getting and being tough on terrorists. They make the point that when a candidate pledges to do anything to track down terrorists, it can be misinterpreted as a license to abuse detainees.
In the end all torture does is get the detainee to say anything true or false to get the torture stopped. Information gained like this is seldom good and mostly gives us a black eye on the world stage.
We are supposed to be leading the world with our morals,and instead we are acting like thugs or a petty dictator like we unseated in Iraq.