Feb 01, 2013 - A former chief prosecutor at the war crimes court at Guantanamo Bay is making a tour across the state to argue that torture is not only immoral, but also puts U.S. troops at risk.
Morris "Moe" Davis, a one-time Air Force colonel with 25 years of military service, said the belief that torture is acceptable contributes to the environments that created the Abu Ghraib scandal and the Joint Base Lewis-McChord-based "kill team."
Davis said that during the first Gulf War, Iraqi soldiers surrendered en masse because the U.S. military would not torture prisoners and would provide food and water.
Now, he said, foreign fighters can either fight or face the possibility of indefinite detention and torture.
"I question whether Iraqis would do that today," he said.
He also said that condoning torture over the past decade put the lives of captured American troops at risk and may have created terrorists.
Morris lamented that the majority of Americans accept torture. He attributes the statistics to young adults who have grown up in a post-9/11 world.
He argued that torture does not elicit information that can be used in the court of law and said the practice has damaged the nation's image.
"We are not the shining city on the hill," he said. "If we're the country we claim to be, we've got to get back to the values we claim to represent. Regardless of whether it's illegal, it's immoral.
"War is hell. But the rule of law makes it a little less hellish," he added. read more>>>
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