Enhanced Interrogation vs. Torture?

Okay, so I do not usually address really serious issues in this blog, but this is something I have to say.  When the United States agents were doing "enhanced interrogation" I felt like this activity did not represent the moral character of the United States I want to love.  Today, a report about these activities has been widely discussed http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/enhanced-interrogation-techniques-ineffective/. 

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA in case you did not know) https://www.cia.gov supports the value of enhanced interrogation because it provided intelligence that helped to keep the United States safe.  Do I believe this?  No.  These are the same people who provided intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that allowed us to justify war with Iraq. The American public bought it, and it was a lie!  President Bush's government needed to find a reason to retaliate against Irag for 9/11.  As if the attack on this country was not reason enough.

Instead of saying "We are attacking you because you sanctioned, supported, aided and abetted the factions that attacked the United States" we hid behind the "weapons of mass destruction" façade which was a total lie.

And, when we went to war, we abandoned the moral character of this country and supported "enhanced interrogation" and generally inappropriate behavior by the United States Military ala Abu Ghraib http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse.

I do not like war.  But the character of the war in Iraq was very different from the character of the war in Desert Storm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War.  I believe that had to do with several things, but most importantly, our leaders at the time.

In my mind, although he is a Republican, President George Herbert Walker Bush was a man of honor.  He surrounded himself with military men of honor: General Colin Powell http://www.biography.com/people/colin-powell-9445708  and Commander-in-Chief General Normal Schwarzkopt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Schwarzkopf,_Jr.  to name a few.  Desert Storm was conducted in such a way as I was proud of this country although I do not support war. 

Not so the U.S.- Iraq War. Not so the "intelligence gathering" techniques of the CIA that included methods of torture.  I am sorry that my country engaged in these acts.  They are not reflective of the values of the United States. They are not reflective of the moral character of the United States.  I am grateful the President Obama has made that clear.

I am concerned that we may have a future president who does not have such a strong moral compass.  I want to love my country. I cannot love abuse of human rights.