Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “Reclaiming America’s Soul” (column, April 24): Paul Krugman has shown why we should and why we can investigate torture and, where appropriate, prosecute violators.

In my 27 years of active Army service, including nine years of wartime service in Vietnam, I saw nothing to justify torture, but many reasons to prohibit it. On the battlefields of Vietnam, there developed a de facto reciprocity in how we treated North Vietnamese prisoners and how the North Vietnamese treated ours. There was considerable variation among American units in this respect, and accordingly among their units.

Mistreatment of prisoners and the civilian population in South Vietnam served as an effective recruiting device for Hanoi, just as the Bush administration’s torture policies assisted recruitment by Islamic extremists.

Aided by a political culture that learns from the past to orient toward the future, Vietnam now has good relations with America. It’s not about looking backward, it’s about moving forward.

Andre Sauvageot
Reston, Va., April 24, 2009
The writer is a retired Army colonel.

Note from KBJ: The justification of torture is the prevention of harm to innocent people.