[inteldump] Phillip Carter: The wisdom of experience

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Posted by Phillip Carter:
The wisdom of experience
http://inteldump.powerblogs.com/archives/archive_2007_09_30-2007_10_06.shtml#1191667220


   [1]Photo: Washington Post They may be crusty; they may be a little
   slower; they may be a little cantankerous. But for the most part, you
   can count on old guys -- especially old combat veterans -- to offer a
   few amazing stories. Between the lines of those stories, you can often
   find some common sense with great value for understanding today's
   events.
   [2]In today's Washington Post, we hear a few stories from the old guys
   who manned Fort Hunt -- the Army's top secret intelligence facility
   outside of Washington DC for the interrogation of top prisoners during
   WWII. It's a very touching story, and if you've ever listened to your
   father or grandfather (or great-grandfather) tell war stories, it'll
   probably remind you of that. But you don't need to read too closely
   into these men's comments to find prescriptions for today; they come
   right and say it:

     When about two dozen veterans got together yesterday for the first
     time since the 1940s, many of the proud men lamented the chasm
     between the way they conducted interrogations during the war and
     the harsh measures used today in questioning terrorism suspects.
     Back then, they and their commanders wrestled with the morality of
     bugging prisoners' cells with listening devices. They felt bad
     about censoring letters. They took prisoners out for steak dinners
     to soften them up. They played games with them.
     "We got more information out of a German general with a game of
     chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture," said
     Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play
     chess in Germany with Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.
     * * *
     The veterans of P.O. Box 1142, a top-secret installation in Fairfax
     County that went only by its postal code name, were brought back to
     Fort Hunt by park rangers who are piecing together a portrait of
     what happened there during the war.
     Nearly 4,000 prisoners of war, most of them German scientists and
     submariners, were brought in for questioning for days, even weeks,
     before their presence was reported to the Red Cross, a process that
     did not comply with the Geneva Conventions. Many of the
     interrogators were refugees from the Third Reich.
     "We did it with a certain amount of respect and justice," said John
     Gunther Dean, 81, who became a career Foreign Service officer and
     ambassador to Denmark.
     The interrogators had standards that remain a source of pride and
     honor.
     "During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone,"
     said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information
     in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my
     humanity."

   It's a hell of a story. I think that sometimes, we forget how bad
   these guys had it. We think that we're the first ones in American
   history to face an existential threat; that the world really changed
   and became more dangerous on 9/11/01, and that we've never been here
   before. But, in fact, we have been here before. Our nation has faced
   existential threats in its short history, like the Civil War and WWII,
   and we've prevailed. History offers many lessons for today about how
   we might view these threats, and respond in a way consistent with our
   nation's core values. These men did it during WWII. I hope we're doing
   what we can to learn from them while they're still around.

References

   1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/05/AR2007100502492.html
   2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/05/AR2007100502492.html