Morning Vid: General Petraeus Comes Out Against Torture
"Abu Ghraib and other situations like that are nonbiodegradables. They don't go away."
This article is from the archive of our partner 
.
.On Sunday's Meet The Press, General David Petraeus made it clear he believes that "enhanced interrogation" methods such as waterboarding don't work and cause long-term problems for the U.S. While making this point, Petraeus, the Central Command chief in charge of all military forces in the Middle East and South Asia, was typically restrained. Though he notes he's long opposed torture, he seldom takes so public a stand on such hot-button issues.
Here's the video, with key quotes below.
I have always been on the record, in fact, since 2003, with the concept of living our values. And I think that whenever we have, perhaps, taken expedient measures, they have turned around and bitten us in the backside. We decided early on in the 101st Airborne Division we're just going to--look, we just said we'd decide to obey the Geneva Convention, to, to move forward with that. That has, I think, stood elements in good stead. We have worked very hard over the years, indeed, to ensure that elements like the International Committee of the Red Cross and others who see the conduct of our detainee operations and so forth approve of them. Because in the cases where that is not true, we end up paying a price for it ultimately. Abu Ghraib and other situations like that are nonbiodegradables. They don't go away. The enemy continues to beat you with them like a stick in the Central Command area of responsibility. Beyond that, frankly, we have found that the use of the interrogation methods in the Army Field Manual that was given, the force of law by Congress, that that works.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.