Aren't we better than an 'eye for an eye'?

Didn't we prosecute some Japanese for using torture tactics after WWII? What was Nuremburg all about? Remember Lt. Calley at Mei Lei?

Do these events in our history resonate with anyone anymore?

It is pretty clear from the photos we have seen from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and now allegations of waterboarding and other atrocities used during "enhanced interrogation," that Geneva Convention rules were pretty much thrown out the window by the Bush Administration.

I really feel that we need - as a nation - to address that. Are the Geneva Convention rules outdated? Should human rights be totally disregarded once someone becomes a prisoner? Are we proponents of the 'eye for an eye' rule instead?

I don't think I can accept that. As an American we are supposed to be better than that. I feel that the rest of the world looks to the U.S. as the arbiter of the high moral standard in this regard and that, as such, we need to address the actions of our government since 2002. Waterboarding someone 83 times in one month is not interrogation - it is torture and it is also revenge.

Judy Arenas

Arlington Heights