Reports of Torture by Americans Recently it has come to light that some of the foreign prisoners of the U.S. Government have been tortured. In the history of the United States, it has never been the practice of the American people to condone torture, abuse, or deprivation, to prisoners. The founders of this nation adopted the Eighth Amendment to the bill of rights for the purpose of prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. Torture and imposed starvation, were repugnant to the founding fathers. This nation has opposed cruelty to prisoners, since the nation was founded. During the Second World War, German prisoners of war were brought to prison camps in the USA, in mostly rural areas. It was because the Geneva convention prohibited the use of prisoners of war to be used for military purposes, that these German prisoners were put to work farming the land to grow food for civilians. The German prisoners were told that if they worked the land, then they could eat all that they wanted from the crops that they grew. We treated the German Prisoners of war much better than our prisoners were treated in Germany. We even provided German language movies for the German prisoners. There was rationing in the USA during the war, and many Americans complained that the German prisoners were eating better than patriotic Americans. To some degree the complainers were correct. As the result of the relative kindness by the USA toward the German prisoners of war in WW2, many of the prisoners cooperated with US Army intelligence in interrogation. Many of these German prisoners were 16-25 year old farm boys, who had little or no loyalty to the Nazis. These young men just wanted to survive the war, and many were draftees. The hard core Nazis and high ranking officers who were captured were treated pretty much the same as federal criminal prisoners. Not mistreated but not given any slack. The United States gained a lot of useful information from these well treated prisoners of war in the farm camps. After the war was over, many of the German prisoners of war that had given useful information that had actually saved American lives were allowed to stay in the United States. History conclusively proves that the better prisoners of war are treated, the more cooperation and collaboration results. It has been known since ancient times that torture, deprivation, and cruelty, rarely if ever results in useful information of military value. I am looking at this from a historical perspective. President Franklin Roosevelt NEVER authorized torture against Nazi prisoners, and many of those that we captured, were indeed guilty of being murdering terrorists. The historical record is clear. Woodrow Wilson NEVER authorized torture of German prisoners during WW1. Once again, the historical record is clear. During the war of 1912, there was a gentlemans agreement between the combatant that prisoners were not to be abused. During the American Civil War, there was torture and mass starvation at the confederate prison camp at Andersonville, South Carolina. The commander of this hideous concentration camp at Andersonville was sentenced to death and hung for mass murder of union soldiers held prisoner of war. The historical record is clear that torture and cruelty to prisoners of war was a capitol crime in the United States during the American Civil War. George Washington ordered traitor, spies, and saboteurs executed during the American Revolution. However the historical record is clear that he never ordered anyone tortured. In light of recent revelations regarding torture of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo, it is little wonder that our enemies detest us. As torture and deprivation are contrary to our history, and our cultural values as a nation. In the first versions of the Geneva Convention it was the United States that lobbied for humane protections for prisoners of war. We seem hypocritical in retrospect. Those who do not know the history of this nation have replicated the sins and tortuous atrocities of Andersonville, once again at Guantanamo. Any member of the US Armed Forced involved in torture should be subjected to a full general court martial, as soon as it can be arranged. Those responsible for these obscene torture that are in flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention, should be brought to justice before the world court in The Hague, and charged with crimes against humanity. Normally I am opposed to Capital Punishment. However, for the brutal crimes of genocide, or crimes against humanity. I must make exception. Stephanie Heck Huntington, West Virginia USA
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 15:19:55 +0000