Readers React: Focus on terrorist threats, not CIA interrogation methods

To the editor: Since at least the Munich Summer Olympics in 1972, the world has fallen prey to new breeds of virulent, barbaric Islamist radicals who have done the following gruesome things: beheadings; suicide bombings; bombs in cars, buses, subways, train stations, airplanes, underwear, shoes, public places and the Boston Marathon; flying planes into buildings; the stonings and “honor killings” of women for “crimes” such as adultery; shooting a young girl in the head for wanting to go to school; butchering a young soldier in London and more. (“Graphic report on CIA interrogations, torture released by Senate panel,” Dec. 9)

So what are we doing? We are wringing our hands over interrogations involving sleep deprivation, standing in a stress position and waterboarding, all of which ended some eight years ago.

We had better wake up. It’s not safe being so stupid.

A.J. Martin, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Germany has fully acknowledged its role in the Holocaust, and it is now illegal in that country to deny it ever happened. In contrast, Turkey continues to stonewall over its role in the slaughter of untold numbers of Armenians. Which nation, then, has a sense of national honor and the political maturity to acknowledge its mistakes?

Stand tall today, folks: America is still a shining city on the hill in many ways.

Jacqueline Kerr, Los Feliz

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To the editor: Here’s what I want someone to report: Tell us about the so-called human beings who performed the actual methods of torture on a day-to-day basis. Tell us how they felt before (when they knew they were going to receive orders commanding them to commit the torture), during (as they were doing it) and after (that day, the next day and for years afterward).

We know all about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the military. Can there possibly be any less PTSD among the men and women who torture their fellow human beings? Or did they actually enjoy torturing someone, the adult version of children who hurt helpless animals?

Perhaps more importantly, do they suffer now because of what they did then? And will they suffer for the rest of their lives, just as their victims surely do?

Kristene Wallis, Valley Village

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