KABUL, Afghanistan - Two Afghan teenagers held in U.S. detention north of Kabul this year said they were beaten by American guards, photographed naked, deprived of sleep and held in solitary confinement in concrete cells for at least two weeks while undergoing daily interrogation about their alleged links to the Taliban.

The accounts could not be independently substantiated. But in successive, on-the-record interviews, the teenagers presented a detailed, consistent portrait suggesting that the abusive treatment of suspected insurgents has in some cases continued under the Obama administration, despite steps that President Obama has said would put an end to the harsh interrogation practices authorized by the Bush administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks…

A Defense Department spokesman, Lt. Col. Mark Wright, said that the military does not respond to each allegation of detainee abuse, but that all prisoners are treated humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and U.S. law.

“Department of Defense policy is and always has been to treat detainees humanely. There have been well-documented instances where that policy was not followed, and service members have been held accountable for their actions in those cases,” he said.

Jonathan Horowitz, who works on detention issues in Afghanistan for the Open Society Institute, said: “These allegations of physical and mental abuse at a secretive facility are, if true, patently unacceptable and must be investigated.”

I’ve said from the very beginning when torturing or anything that is done beyond that allowed in the Geneva Conventions, that if we allowed one administration to do it, others will follow.

I know that most of my readers consider it ‘ok’ to torture a prisoner, if it means saving lives of Americans.  However, you forget one thing.  Our soldiers are Americans too.  What we allow in our name will surely someday be allowed to happen to our soldiers and Marines by the enemy.

Yes, I realize this enemy is different.  However, if we ignore our own rule of law, how can we ‘ever’ expect to request another nation to change their way of treatment to a human being.

I happened to click on Hannity’s show last night (not on purpose and I don’t know if this was a rerun or not) while he debated Michael Moore.  Moore was saying something like you love thy enemy don’t you Sean?  Sean said something to the effect, that yes but that, “They don’t respect human life and dignity“.

Well — if we treat other humans inhumanely and don’t respect human life and dignity — how are we any different then they are?

Torturing and treating a prisoner inhumanely has no excuse, especially in the name of America.

A strongly recommend that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Holder get together and discuss hiring a special prosecuter as soon as possible to investigate this and any other actions in our past 9 years while at war.  Are these acts of torture orders from the top commanders?  Are they from the administration themselves?  Or are they truly just a bunch of bad soldiers having fun?  If past information is true, the acts were not just a bunch of bad guys….the orders came from the top.  And if so, those people should be sent to jail for war crimes.  Plain and simple.

I don’t want to give ‘any‘ future president the right to spy on Americans or torture prisoners.

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