Tell THIS to your freshly recruited son or daughter!

On page A19 of today's WSJ: "Getting Serious About Torture" (David B. Rivkin, Jr., and Lee A. Casey). Some thoughts I took away (and wholeheartedly agree with):

* Whether something is "torture" or not is a matter of degree. Standard: "shock the conscience."
* Circumstances - Marine basic training is OK for fit 20-year-olds but not for "middle-aged lawyers or politicians." I had to laugh at that!
* Bush critics have not had "a detailed and reasoned discussion" of whether 'torture' is really torture, but have instead just complained against the whole range of interrogation methods. They really have a superior rhetorical position, don't they?
* Should we have as our standard basic training? Or maybe a little more severe for hardened terrorists?