Back in the Reagen / Clinton years - those in the US Military were taught the 5 S’s = Search, Silence, Segregate, Safeguard, Speed to the rear, as how we should treat prisoners. We were to treat them well because then the adversary would be quick to surrender, and we would maintain the moral high ground.

The strong moral center of this kind of action was why I always thought it was so important to have Christians in the military.  That all of this has been undermined by those who supposedly have the strongest grasp on morality (conservatives / evangelicals), should not be missed.

When you hear “the religious right is neither” - this is what is being talked about.

I write this critique not because I want these people to be wrong - but because I want them to be right… to find their way out of a twisted confusion.  And also, because its worth noting that morality is alive and well outside the church and those whom the church sanctions.  Or as Jim Wallace puts it:  “religion has no monopoly on morality”.

My links on torture.

Another important measure we have developed in our overall strategy is applying the rule of law to terrorists. Terrorists are criminals. They commit criminal actions like murder, kidnapping, and arson, and countries have laws to punish criminals. So a major element of our strategy has been to delegitimize terrorists, to get society to see them for what they are — criminals — and to use democracy’s most potent tool, the rule of law against them.

- official policy of the Reagan Administration