Where do you stand on the issue of torture?

I stand to disagree with you Minchey. Have you read any of the Reports/Views from both sides? Many of the claims are half-truths, hundreds of people were available to be interviewed but were not, no solution or alternate means were provided in the Senate's report. My view is that I believe that the "enhanced interrogation techniques" were useful in capturing and temporarily halting several Al-Qaeda operations. Another point is that it is okay for our adversaries to brutality murder Americans and our allies but our source of retrieving information from them is inhumane. I get it, we are America, were supposed to be better than everyone else but torturing our enemies to help stop/halt future attacks against our citizens is fine with me. I bet if any of us or our love ones were captured by any of these adversaries we would want our government to use any means necessary to come rescue us, just food for though.

I do bad things to bad people. That is where I stand, firmly.

I still need to lighten my mood......

As with most of my responses, I gave this a lot of thought, and I'm still going thru the "...On the other hand..." ideas, but I'll take a shot at it.
First, I've always thought that torture was a bit more involved than waterboarding. Heck, I know people who went thru that for training purposes, and yes it wasn't comfortable or fun, but neither was the Tear Gas/Gas Mask event in Boot Camp.
Having been a mother, I have endured insanely long events without sleep... try having twins with Colic and a full time job. I have endured hours of loud, obnoxious music that goes on endlessly, loud enough to make the entire house vibrate... its called having teenage twins.
I am not trying to minimize what those people went thru, but what I am thinking, is that in my estimation, I think that was hardly torture... but it was exhausting, terrifying, and bad enough to confuse a person totally.
That said, I think about those Americans who died on 9-11. I think about the class of little kids flying to DC with their teachers... and I think of those who jumped rather than burn. I think about those Marines I knew who died in other terrorist attacks like Beiruit, and after considering that, I have to say that if putting a few prisioners thru waterboarding or keeping them awake for three days and nights kept us from having another 9-11, then forgive me, but I'd have to agree with those tools being used. Of course, I am one of those people who tend to believe strongly in the 2nd Ammendment, so my answer is probably a long way away from the answer that might have been given by someone who believes that you need to understand and empathize with such people.

The most effective torture is not physical, and leaves no visible marks. Properly applied, ones own mind will perform the breaking of ones will.

My opinion is just my Opinion, But these dirtbags are cutting heads off people , even children and WOMAN, Flying planes into buildings, blowing up market places. If a little bit of pain and anguish will possibly result in some saved lives, I say go for it, just remember red is positive and black is negative and properly connected gives very bad burns, ask our men who where tortured in Vietnam and Germany. I say take 10 to the air in a chopper and through one out question the rest and let them know if their information proves false they are the next one to be thrown out. IF a Muslim is caught doing a terrorist act gather his remains and grind it with a pig and spray it over his families farm. We are the only nation that I know of that tries to follow the rules of war. It is causing us to loose a bunch of life's
and equipment.

Since the report has come out and really hasn't told us anything we didn't all ready know. And our technics can arguably be construed in ones mind as outrageous or nothing at all. Just depends on who's opinion you are listening to or reading. But do you think it has really stopped? Yes the administration has said it stopped but they are not always the must truthful. Do you really think there are no more black sites? And since our operatives need to work with friendly and some not so friendly intelligence sources will it hinder them?

These criminals on the battlefield show no mercy. If torture is required for a situation then I will support it. Imagine this situation, if someone kidnapped you child or spouse, would you use any means necessary to get them home safely ?

It seems that a lot of people in favor of these "enhanced" interrogation methods are under the assumption that those being "interrogated" ACTUALLY have something worth listening too. Statistically, there is no way every individual apprehended is actually holding actionable information.

I'm also inclined to believe that kind of stress can just as easily lead to inaccurate information. The individual being "questioned" may be so concerned with the questioning methods that they'll say what ever you want to hear just to get you to stop.

This question brings to mind the "Total War" concept. That a nation would wage war with every ounce of it's will and being. Every asset (civilian and military) is dedicated to wining the war and will do ANYTHING to accomplish this goal. This would unleash a holocaust of human suffering if it is faithfully employed.

So we created a multitude of laws and regulations to keep war from getting to that point. I like to believe the US wins it's fights honorably. Some of the individuals may not, but as a whole, the organization does what it can to do more good than bad.

PFC Eric Minchey, your perception is uncanny, as you posted this question 4 months ago. Props.