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Putting 'Torture' In Perspective

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 10, 2008

The Tribune gave the front page of the Views section on Dec. 6 to the anonymous "Matthew Alexander," who did not use his real name for security reasons. I wondered why. It struck me that Dec. 7 would be the 67th year since the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.

Although not yet old enough to join the Marines (I had to wait until 1947), I was old enough to follow the war to its end, from the Bataan Death March to the stories of the returning POWs from the prison camps in Japan and Germany.

I define torture as the treatment of the American POWs by the Germans and the Japanese; as the treatment given to the American POWs by the North Koreans; as the treatment given to the American POWs by the North Vietnamese; and as the treatment given to the American POWs by the Muslim terrorists.

I don't know what tactics the author is talking about, but the treatment at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib pale in comparison.

PAUL S. FRAPPOLLO

Odessa

The writer is a retired Marine Corps colonel.

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