" You have orally informed us that this procedure triggers an automatic physiological sensation of drowning that the individual cannot control even though he may be aware that he is in fact not drowning."

Just one sentence, taken out of context. I've come close to drowning perhaps half a dozen times in my life. None of those episodes lasted longer than it takes to read that sentence out loud. That sentence does not even come close to expressing the infinite terror which is experienced in those brief seconds.

I know, this is war. And sometimes ugly things happen in war, and people do things they get nightmares about for the rest of their lives. And sometimes, these things have to be done, or at least, otherwise decent men convince themselves these things need to be done. I'm a grown up, I understand this. And I don't know how I would react if I were a soldier in the field desperate to save lives and faced with these impossible choices. I find it disturbing and terrifying but I am not about to condemn men in combat from what they felt they had to do while I just sit comfortably in my office and think about it.

But these fucking lawyers with their double talk and their cover-your- ass memos and their euphemisms and legalisms turn my stomach. Thank you for reprinting these here.