Are all our troops torturers? No.

Patrick: My brother sent me photos of American soldiers playing with Iraqi children, with some captions about how they were torturing the children. I took this as a sarcastic attack on the articles against torture that I've recently posted. Here's my response to my brother:

I would never accuse all, or even most, of our troops of being guilty of torture, or other crimes. There's a lot of decent kids that get sent to war who don't want to torture (or even kill in self defense, if they could avoid it). I'm sure that many of the troops do care about the Iraqi people. However...

I'll never be convinced that we had good reasons to go to war against Iraq.

And I'll never be convinced that torture or "enhanced interrogation techniques" are OK. I'm dead set against torture, for various reasons. If some smart guy, like Cheney, asks me what would I do if I KNEW that some terrorist had information that could help me save lots of lives, I suppose I'd say,

1. "A lot of times, you may have been advising the torture of people that you didn't even KNOW were terrorists, much less KNOW that they had important information that would save lives. Don't try to fool me with your clever question, Mr. Vice President."

2. Then I might admit, "Maybe, in a moment of unprincipled weakness and cowardice, I'd give in to the temptation to torture some guy I (thought I) KNEW had important information. But I still believe it ought to be against the law."

When our laws are shaped by a mere survival instinct, we are on a road that leads to a destination that won't have much to do with the Bill of Rights, etc.

Sorry that my sense of humor is nil when it comes to torture and Bush and Cheney. I still love you, bro.

Patrick