No Torture. No Exceptions

by Chuck Hagel

During World War II, U.S. Army intelligence officers at Fort Hunt, Virginia, questioned Nazi prisoners of war using ingenuity, skill, and knowledge of foreign cultures. They gleaned valuable intelligence at a time when the United States was fighting for its existence against an evil equally as menacing as that which we face today. And they acquired this information without resorting to abusive techniques, such as waterboarding, that are considered to be torture.

In fact, until now, every previous U.S. administration and every civilized government in history has condemned the practice of waterboarding. After World War II, the American government convened war crimes tribunals that prosecuted and convicted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American prisoners of war. A century ago, the U.S. Army court-martialed American soldiers for using similar methods during the Philippine insurrection. The public acknowledgment on February 5 by CIA Director Michael Hayden that the U.S. government has engaged in waterboarding is a disgrace to America and the values we represent.

Read on... No Torture. No Exceptions. - Chuck Hagel.