Excellent thread Seneca.
Some thoughts come to mind here, and I am going to use some more generic concepts than dealing with specifics, for instance those that are in Gitmo.
1. I believe the US should treat foreign POWs/detainees to a reasonable level that we would expect/demand that another foreign country would treat an American in a similar situation.
Meaning that they should have access to treatment as agreed to in the various Geneva Conventions we are signators to. Where applicable, access to thier own foreign embassy, and to be actually charged with something, and have habeas corpus apply.
2. In terms of interrogation methods, again the US should apply the same standards we would demand from other countries if an American was in the same situation. Plain and simple.
I say this for a few reasons. Firstly, it has shown that time and time again, torture or hard interrogation tecniques are often not effective, or unnecessary. As was mentioned earlier, if someone were to waterboard me, I would probably tell them whatever it was I thought they wanted to hear and it would be entirely false, because it would harden me against the detainers and want the treatment to end.
Various police departments have the world over have come up some very effective methods of getting a suspect to talk without those methods. If you dont believe me, tune into the A&E show "The First 48" sometime. It chronicles real life murder investigations and they dont need those methods to do an effective job.
Secondly, I believe America should take the high road when it comes to this issue. We are obviously militarily superior and much wealthier, but what makes America great is the concepts it was founded on and still to a large extent enjoys to this day. Freedom under a fair and just legal system. When we lower ourselves to the actions of lesser states, we lose in a number of ways.
We could no longer claim having the moral high ground and the credibility that comes along with that. In which case our allies become less eager to help us in a number of efforts.
Also, it increases the motivation for another 9-11 type event. The methods we adopted under the Bush Administration put American interests around the world at higher risk. And who knows how many American troops paid the price for this. Nor do I think it matters less now that we have moved away from this policy, because the damage has been done. One thing cannot be changed, and that is the fact that a small group of highly motivated, decently equipped and trained people who wish us harm, can cause a great deal of terror in this country. What matters most is how we respond, learn lessons from the crimes, and actually prevent this from happening again.
