Exactly.

But let's put another spin on it. US soldiers drafted during WWII that became POWs in German and Japanese concentration camps. They didn't volunteer exactly. Is the US Government guilty of torturing them?

I don't disagree that waterboarding is a form of mild torture (far harsher forms exist), but it's not done on a whim so someone can get their jollies dunking the brown guy. Someone asked why would the CIA destroy the tapes? I'd respond and say they probably did it to avoid the witch hunt the nannies would wage to hang the perpetrators and their careers for something they were likely under order to do. Our military and CIA is doing this for a reason. I don't know how you could prove that it's saving lives.

I still stand by my assertions, however, that until we start televising our guys beheading these grubby little muslims, we're still taking a much higher road than our enemy. Unfortunately, you just can't satisfy everyone, and making this a political issue is ludicrous.

The trouble today is that EVERYTHING makes it to the media in some shape of form, and since this is sensational news at its best, of course the media is all over it. What you're not hearing about is how we dealt with enemy interrogations in wars past - popular wars that had the country's support, like WWII. You're foolish to think that we didn't engage in much more harsh forms of torture to get information then.

The media coverage and spin, and this notion of political correctness at any cost ensures the US will never win another war. We get attacked on our own soil by Al Queda, and we're more worried about dunking some asshole who's lucky he didn't just get shot on site than we are about gaining ground in the war on islamic extremists. Patriotism is never guilt free guys.