hnn.us
Eisenhower changed the status of POWs during WWII.
"There were three main categories under which a "Nazi POW" held by American forces in WW II could fall: (1) a National Socialist Party or German-American Bund member, who was perhaps a suspected Nazi-sympathizer already living in the United States, captured by the F.B.I. shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, (2) a captured Nazi soldier who was sent to one of the Prisoner of War camps inside the United States, or (3) a Nazi soldier who was captured and held inside Europe after Germany was occupied by the Allies."
"The most persuasive argument for treating the German prisoners in conformity with international rules was pragmatic: if the Allies did not torture their German or Japanese prisoners, perhaps the Japanese and Germans would return the favor."
"Any ill treatment of Axis POWs might result in reprisals against American POWs. "
"This reclassification of POWs allowed the defeated Nazi soldiers to be used for labor. "
" Now that the war in Europe was over, the Allies had little incentive to treat the Germans well. The Allies no longer had to fear how the Germans were treating their POWs. "
"In 1944, American psychologists who studied newly captured POWs for Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces, argued that the POWs required "a really traumatic experience...to dispel the resistance to reality." Consequently, Allies planned rough handling of POWs to emphasize the war's outcome: there was no myth of an undefeated German army after World War Two as after World War One."
Whether or not such a "traumatic experience" translated to purposefully torturous interrogations, or simply rough treatment in general, Rettig never says. Meanwhile, in the camps across Europe, Ambrose admits:
There was widespread mistreatment of German prisoners in the spring and summer of 1945. Men were beaten, denied water, forced to live in open camps without shelter, given inadequate food rations and inadequate medical care. Their mail was withheld. In some cases prisoners made a "soup" of water and grass in order to deal with their hunger. Men did die needlessly and inexcusably. This must be confronted, and it is to Mr. Bacque's credit that he forces us to do so."
American History. We can change it, but sometimes current events change the change. Despite's everyone's desire for the US to look nice, there are ugly elements that will cause Americans to be ugly.
The idea that we should prosecute anyone who responds in kind to torture should consider what we were up against.
If you just found a camp of tortured American soldiers, would you as a American soldier finding this, start thinking about the trial for the enemy or revenge.
No one should be tortured. The military should be disbanded because anyone left alive after a war that is suffering is deliberately torture.
Missing limbs, deteriorated health, mental state ruined, loss of future income and life: all of this is torture- - ask any American Soldier who is living with this.
