I don't think BG, Redleg, and others are approaching this from a philosophical perspective of whether it's right or wrong for 1/3 of US soldiers to consider torture acceptable in some circumstances, but rather from a pragmatic perspective, considering the numbers from this survey in comparison to the nature of soldiers historically, and the military's concern with the issue in comparison to lack thereof historically. It's not a good thing, surely, but perhaps much better than it could be.

As for winning hearts and minds, holding people in contempt is certainly not conducive to earning their love, but then I don't think military occupation is a way to win hearts and minds in general. The problem is with using the military for something it doesn't do. Armies defeat other armies in battle; they don't conquer ideas and win the trust and appreciation of civilian populations. They're fighting an impossible battle insofar as they're being used to combat an ideology. Ideas must be defeated with other ideas, not with bombs and steel.

Ajax