[Vision2020] Humane interrogations work

[Chasuk]

I hate typos.  My previous message, revised and resubmitted:

On Sun, Feb 22, 2009 at 19:29, g. crabtree <jampot at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> Take from my response anything you like. It's definitely not that I have no
> argument with your diatribe, it's just that I see little point in trying to
> have a discussion with anyone who actually believes that the USA is the
> moral equivalent of al-qaeda or the taliban. If that's the world you live in
> I feel sorry for you but I really don't believe there is any common ground
> from which to move this dialog forward. As for your infernal living
> arrangements, again my sympathies but I'm afraid I can accept no
> responsibility for where you choose to reside.

There isn't an al-Qaeda or a Taliban terrorist gene.  Terrorists are
made.  The first question is, has the US contributed to their
manufacture?

I would say almost certainly yes.  An Afghani boy is the same as an
Idaho boy except for their place of birth.  Switch them when they are
infants and the boy born in Kabul has as much chance of becoming a
farmer as the boy born in Boise has of becoming a member of al-Qaeda.

The difference is environment, and Garrett has already cataloged a
number of the US offenses that turned our hypothetical transplanted Boise
boy into a terrorist.

The second question is, can the US do anything to reduce
its role in the manufacture of terrorists?

Hopefully, yes.  We've spent decades building them -- with, arguably,
an especially accelerated production schedule during the last eight
years -- but maybe, if we give our new Commander in Chief a chance,
our grandchildren and our grandchildren's children won't be waiting
for al-Qaeda or its successors to stage the next 9/11.

Chas