82nd Airborne and torture allegations

Sometimes I get lost in thick text. I have to hold a bookmark under the lines to mark my place.

But I didn't have that problem with this Human Rights Watch report.

Ok. We know the intelligence community, including military intelligence, achieves much greater results when they apply a bit of pressure to the questionees. But there has to be a line.

Of course, "the line" has been demarcated in the Geneva Conventions, but it's time to:

1. Hold another convention to clarify the definition of "torture" and resolve other unclear issues.
2. Require US citizens -- or anyone who supplies us intelligence, as much as is possible -- to follow the Geneva Conventions. Seriously.

If you're a fan of torture (and I know lots of folks are), a good case study is the French army's Battle of Algeria.

Here's the Cliff Notes version: Soldiers didn't make good interrogators, torture backfired, the public turned on the occupiers. Failure.