Torture is what you don't want the enemy to do to YOUR guys when they get captured.

I only wish.

Since the end of WWII, in any combat situation we've been in, our side has pretty much been the only one to follow any portion of the Geneva Conventions whatsoever. Nothing has changed in the current combat.

Still, as our troops languished in tiger cages, died from bombs planted on kids and in ambulances, were killed by non-uniformed combatants shooting at them from mosques, schools and homes, and were brutally mutilated or burned after capture, we can take a lot of satisfaction in what a good example we've set over the years.

No doubt the enemy is hanging its head in shame.

Meanwhile, the U.S.--and ONLY the U.S.--is universally condemned for pouring water over prisoners' faces. Would that this was the worst our troops could expect on being captured.

While there are valid reasons to avoid mistreating prisoners, the stupidest one I've ever heard in my life is "if we don't treat our prisoners well, our enemies will do the same things to our guys." As though our enemies hadn't been doing that non-stop for forty years.