... to express myself well. I don't believe that other nation-states are or will be unable to uphold the standards of the Geneva Conventions. However, groups of insurgents in Iraq, and the remaining members of the Taliban in Afghanistan for that matter, may now feel even more free to inflict whatever manner of torture they wish on our soldiers because we have already done the same to their people.

The only point I was trying to make is that we may find it a lot more difficult to secure the cooperation of (or sympathy from) other countries in responding to such war crimes, if our servicemen and women are tortured, because of the fact that we have resorted to such brutal tactics ourselves.

And I agree with your comment upthread that our position on this should be based on principle, not self-interest. In other words, regardless of what our enemies do to us, we should not torture simply because it is barbaric and wrong. Period.

I hope I have put it more clearly this time. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify my thoughts.

"Well, you know you're the same old hangman
who rationalizes hope,
whose left hand pats my children,
and whose right hand holds a case full of rope." - Roy Haprer, "Goodbye," from "Flat Baroque & Berserk," 1970