“Torture Is The Tool Of The Lazy, The Stupid, And The Pseudo-Tough"

Jane Mayer has an excellent piece up in the NewYorker entitled "Behind the Executive Orders" which recounts the "evolution of candidate Barack Obama on the issue of torture" as K Tizzle put it. It goes hearkens back to a day over a year ago in Iowa when then Senator Obama met with some retired military leaders to hear them out on the issue of torture and what should be done about it and then goes on to recount many of the steps in between that led to now President Obama signing an executive order last week to effectively ban torture. Many sides are represented in the article including some individuals in the CIA (anonymous of course) who still want to be able to use harsh interrogation techniques torture. But my focus went to the quote that is the subject of this post:

“torture is the tool of the lazy, the stupid, and the pseudo-tough."

Now was this quote attributed to some DFH librul blogger or some wacky far left civil libertarian? No, this quote was attributed to retired Major General Paul Eaton. And who is retired Major General Paul Eaton? From his wikipedia page:

Assignments

As a lieutenant and captain, Eaton served in the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado, and was later transferred to Germany as part of 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division ("Brigade 76"), where he served as an assistant brigade S3 (operations) officer and later was an infantry company commander. As major and lieutenant colonel Eaton was assigned to key battalion and brigade staff positions in the old 9th Infantry Division, then on the I Corps staff. He also commanded an infantry battalion of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York, and later served as the G3 (operations) officer of the division.

As a colonel in the mid 1990s he commanded an Army brigade in Germany and following promotion to brigadier general was the assistant division commander of the 1st Armored Division. In 2000, he returned to the US to serve as deputy commanding general of the Army Infantry Center and School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and later he lead the creation of the Army’s new Stryker brigades at Fort Lewis, Washington. As a major general he returned to Fort Benning to be commanding general of the Army Infantry Center and School. He was then assigned to Iraq as Commanding General of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT), where he was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004.[4]

Upon return to the US he was Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia.


Awards

Eaton's awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Achievement Medal, Expert Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Ranger Tab, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge.

So who should you follow, the words of a decorated retired Major General in the U.S. Army who helped to create the Stryker Brigades at Ft Lewis and helped to train the Iraq military, or the words of the Rush Limbaughs, Bill O'Reillys and Joe Scarboroughs?

You decide.