The "Red Army" Technique

An excellent and FREE editorial in the New York Times points out that the torture techniques (for that is what they are) approved of by the Pentagon was a combination of turning American training on resisting torture on its head, and then using techniques used by our former Red Army adversaries (which had proven ineffective).

A full account of how our leaders reacted to terrorism by re-engineering Red Army methods must await an independent inquiry. But the SERE model's embrace by the Pentagon's civilian leaders is further evidence that abuse tantamount to torture was national policy, not merely the product of rogue freelancers. After the shock of 9/11 - when Americans desperately wanted mastery over a world that suddenly seemed terrifying - this policy had visceral appeal. But it's the task of command authority to connect means and ends rationally. The Bush administration has too frequently failed to do this. And so it is urgent that Congress step in to tie our detainee policy to our national interest.

There are so many things that are a national disgrace that have come out of the Bush Administration, but the use of torture is the most viscerally disgraceful and openly excused. While the President is trotted out to say they "don't torture" their policy makes it clear that he is either a liar, an incompetent, ignorant of some of all three (I think you know which choice I'd take).