better late than never

[Wisha Haddan H3]

I really only have one more thing to say. The Geneva Conventions aren't a license to do whatever we want to non-signatories. They are the world's best attempt at curbing and limiting wartime abuses.

Whether or not a nation signed one of the Conventions, it shouldn't stop us from treating prisoners and civilians like human beings. Question them, interrogate them, and detain them ... well yeah, they're prisoners. Deny them scented soap, DVDs, finger bowls and moist towelettes ... of course. But beat them, whip them and hang them by their arms for hours on end? Drown them, burn them, remove their fingernails and then break their fingers? I don't think so.

Torture only satisfies our own whimsical need for revenge. It doesn't gather reliable information or make our country any safer. In the end, it only creates a dilemma where we can't let our prisoners go, because the hatred we inflame in them will only infect their families and communities, until even our allies become our enemies.