The dangers of trashing the Geneva Convention

Reading through the warblogs today, I came across this oft repeated sentiment in the Powerline blog:

The first day of the Senate hearings seemed to confirm that the key Senators opposing Gonzales don’t take the war on terrorism very seriously. Democratic Senators (along, unfortunately, with Republican Lindsay Graham) kept arguing that our use of debatable interrogation tactics puts our soldiers in harm’s way because it means that when they are captured they are more likely to be tortured. There is some truth to this argument, but it would have been nice if one of these Senators had acknowledged that our actual enemies will behead any American (soldier or not) that they capture regardless of what interrogations tactics we use.

First off, it’s not only “democratic senators” alone who know that the US approval and use of torture puts American soldiers and civilians in harm’s way. These guys also think so and you’d think they’d get a little deference for expertise on the subject:

In a three-page letter to the committee released Tuesday, the retired generals and admirals, including the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Shalikashvili, stated that during his tenure as White House counsel Gonzales “played a significant role in shaping U.S. detention and interrogation operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.”

Those operations, the letter continued, “fostered greater animosity toward the United States, undermined our intelligence-gathering efforts, and added to the risks facing our troops serving around the world.”

Those risks involve what Cullen called “the golden rule of torture.” If the United States justified torturing people, the same rule applied to us, he said.

Cullen, a Republican who last served as the chief judge of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals, described the letter in a telephone interview yesterday as almost unprecedented in terms of the number of retired generals and admirals who signed it and the level of concern expressed.

Among the actions by Gonzales that most troubled the retired military leaders was a series of memos prepared at his direction in 2002, Cullen said. Gonzales’ Jan. 25, 2002, memo to President Bush stated the war on terrorism rendered the Geneva Conventions obsolete, Cullen said.

This letter was signed by: Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms (Marine Corps), Brig. Gen. James Cullen (Army), Brig. Gen. Evelyn P. Foote (Army), Lt. Gen. Robert Gard (Army), Vice Adm. Lee F. Gunn (Navy), Adm. Don Guter (Navy), Gen. Joseph Hoar (Marine Corps), Rear Adm. John D. Hutson (Navy), Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy (Army), Gen. Merrill McPeak (Air Force), Maj. Gen. Melvyn Montano (Army), Gen. John Shalikashvili (Army)

Arthur Silber clips this letter from the NY Times:

During World War II, I was a prisoner of the secret branch of the Japanese military police for 18 months. Except for being hung by my wrists on a wall for three days and being beaten by a sadistic lieutenant (an exception to the typical investigators), I was humanely treated, both in the interrogation center at Fort Santiago in Manila and in the disciplinary barracks where I was confined for seven months.

I felt very strongly that one reason I and my companions were not tortured was that the United States Army had treated its Japanese captives on Bataan decently in accordance with the laws of war.

Alberto R. Gonzales and his political superiors should be less contemptuous of the Geneva Conventions, which were designed to protect fighting men everywhere.

After complaining about democratic senators attempting to represent soldiers who fear the destruction of the Geneva Convention, Powerline offers this non sequitur:

…it would have been nice if one of these Senators had acknowledged that our actual enemies will behead any American (soldier or not) that they capture regardless of what interrogations tactics we use.

Which is interesting, because the first American captives in Iraq were treated quite well, despite (ironic in retrospect) screechings from Rumsfeld & Company about violations of the Geneva Conventions because the Iraqis showed them on television.

Here are three pictures. What do they have in common?

The first American beheaded in Iraq, Nicholas Berg, was wearing a symbolic outfit. Would you care to hazard a guess as to why this outfit was chosen? Here’s another clue:

Recognize those jumpsuits? Every American beheaded in Iraq has been wearing one. Are you following the logic, here? No one was beheaded in Iraq before the torture of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib. After the scandal broke, every beheaded American has been wearing an orange Abu Ghraib jumpsuit.

QED.

We don’t have to wonder if all the people speaking out against torture because it endangers Americans are right. That argument has already been proven correct. The evidence is right before your eyes.