Jeanne at Body and Soul notes an article listing some eerie parallels between the practices U.S. soldiers have used with impunity on prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan and the practices we locked up enemy soldiers for after World War II:
In the annals of law, the case of Masatomo Kikuchi is all but forgotten.
The former Japanese prison guard was tried by the Allies after World War II for war crimes. In 1947, a U.S. military commission, citing the Geneva Conventions and customary international law, convicted him of compelling prisoners of war to practice saluting and other military exercises for as long as 30 minutes when they were tired. His sentence: 12 years of hard labor.
Jeanne says:
Just try to imagine the warbloggers' reaction if an American were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for forcing Afghan or Iraqi prisoners to salute for 30 minutes when they were tired.
There is more. I guess the U.S. is lucky that the victors write the history.
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