A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom speaks on torture

"I am a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and an increasingly liberal defector from the GOP, and like you I have been confused by the GOP's simultaneous promotion of a 'culture of life' and of torture.
I was in Iraq in 03-04 and was really disheartened when Abu Ghraib broke in the media; I didn’t think the war was justified, ex ante, and the revelations of what was happening at the prison really made me feel like a Nazi. I employed a number of Iraqi laborers, and after the Arab media showed the photographs it was very difficult to look those guys in the eye.
As to balancing the seeming contradiction between torture and life, the only conclusion I can reach is that the pro-torture lobby has taken the rhetorical construction of 'The Terrorists' that was the centerpiece of administration pronouncements from 2001-2003 to its logical extreme – 'They' (that is, 'The Terrorists') are unworthy of life because 'They' don’t respect life. 'They' behead people, while all we do is beat them to death. 'They' hate us for 'what we are,' while we hate them for – well, I guess because of 'what They are.' But because we are a Benign Force, it's different.
In class, I compared the construction of The Terrorists to the construction of Japanese identity during World War II, assigning the John Dower book, "War Without Mercy." The enemy is so alien that he has abandoned any consideration as a human being. Consequently, exterminating him is appropriate."

Or torturing him for that matter. Wars are dangerous things. They corrupt us unless we remain vigilant. And one real worry is that because the president sincerely believes that his motives are good, he can find ways to dismiss or ignore or even condone things that are objectively wrong. This is especially a danger for those who believe their actions are sanctioned by their own God. If their motives are pure, they can do no wrong ...

from WWW.andrewsullivan.com, on November 9, 2005