----- Original Message ----- From: "JDG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 10:31 PM Subject: Re: <Insert Reasonable Subject Here> - Darn this is annoying.....
> At 07:18 PM 5/6/2004 -0500 Dan Minette wrote: > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "JDG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 6:47 PM > >Subject: Re: <Insert Reasonable Subject Here> - Darn this is annoying..... > > > > > >> At 06:39 PM 5/6/2004 -0500 Dan Minette wrote: > >> > One needs to ask why our armed services changed > >> >procedures and techniques that had worked so well for decades. > >> > >> Do you include September 11th in working well for decades? > >> > > > >I was referring to the rules for treatment of prisoners. > > I'm sorry if the connection seemed obvious to me.... but there have been a > number of news reports recently that this treatment of prisoners extends > all the way back to Afghanistan. > It makes a ton of sense that in those first months after September 11th > that various people may have decided that the old rules regarding > intelligence gathering needed to be changed.... especially if increased > intelligence could lead to information that would prevent the next > September 11th. I agree. If you argue that the US needs to consider fighting terrorists as a war effort, not as a police effort, then I wouldn't argue. But, torturing prisoners is not an acceptable means of national defense. People who are tortured tend to tell you what you want to hear. The rules concerning the proper treatment of prisoners were not responsible for 9-11. > It isn't a huge mental jump to connect the dots from there.... especially > since the accused soldiers' primary defence so far has been that they were > acting under orders from intelligence personnel. Its reasonable to assume that Rumsfeld et. al. tacitly changed the climate concerning the proper treatment of prisoners in the wake of 9-11. It is not reasonable to say that is an acceptable response to 9-11. As the Stanford experiment and the actions in Iraq have shown, being decent with people whom we have total control over requires a great deal of discipline. Heck, family violence shows that. The US armed forces, to its credit, had forged that discipline. But, it is much easier to break than to forge. Dan M. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
