Editorial: Warner, not Trump, follows Ike’s example

Editorial: Warner, not Trump, follows Ike’s example
By the Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial Board

Donald Trump says torture works. Speculation suggests the administration might resume the practice and reopen so-called black site prisons that employ horrific tactics the U.S. would never resort to in official detention centers. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner differs. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee says that torture not only is bad policy but that it also violates the law.

Many Republicans agree with him. Warner’s Democratic colleagues on the intelligence panel have joined him in calling on Trump administration officials to read the official 2014 report on detention and interrogation. Our thoughts turn to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and World War II.

As Allied armies swept across Europe, they liberated concentration camps. Eisenhower made a point of introducing nearby residents to the sites in part because he did not believe claims of ignorance. He also took Allied troops on tours of the facilities. The troops encountered horrors that cannot be described. “We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for,” Eisenhower explained. “Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against.”

The same standard applies to the war against ISIS and Islamist terror. A reversion to torture would put the United States in the same category as civilization’s enemies. It would mock the principles America ought to defend. Warner is right. American torture would stain the consciences of all who voted for Donald Trump.

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