Why do so many of our politicians fail to understand that the weapons of war, combined with military necessity, ultimately determine the rules of war and not the other way around?
Take two relatively recent examples: unrestricted submarine warfare, which drew us, ironically, into the war against Germany in 1917, although those previous objections failed to deter us from its use after Dec. 7, 1941, and the wholesale bombing of civilians by all participants in World War II. Both activities were clearly violations of existing, though unrealistic, international conventions.
So much for these arguments condemning the use of waterboarding against an adversary that respects no rules of war or codes of conduct. The intelligent observer should realize that you can never say never, for one day you may be obliged to eat your words, or let hundreds, perhaps thousands, even hundreds of thousands, perish at the hands of your enemy.
This is, after all, a remorseless struggle that forces us, whether we like it or not, into gray areas of moral ambiguity.
VINCENT TORLINI
Atlantic City