IN RESPONSE TO GLENN

He criticizes me for not explaining what I think is legitimate and illegitimate in the interrogation of prisoners. The reason I haven’t spelled it out is that I thought it was obvious. My position is that we should stick with the rules and regulations and procedures that have always been followed by the U.S. military – humane treatment, no physical coercion. These are all laid out in a series of treaties known as the Geneva Conventions. That position, by the way, is the president’s own official position. The burden of proof seems to me to lie with those who want to tear up the rules of humane treatment of prisoners of war, and erect new boundaries. That’s what the Bush administration did. And the boundaries for pain were about as extreme as you can imagine. In his own memo, Jay Bybee, assistant attorney general even found a way to justify the actions of some Serbian war criminals against Bosnian victims! And Glenn wonders why some talk about the “degeneracy” of the Bush administration. What amazes me is how so many supporters of the war would rather explain away or rationalize or ignore these evil and utterly self-defeating policies. They seem to care more about defending the administration than either winning the war or standing up to evil. I just don’t get it.