We got information from prisoners the old fashioned way.

If you've ever heard rumors of what interrogators have done in the name of American Security in the past, or wondered if Tom Clancy knew things you didn't know, this is going to shock you. Seriously. The Washington Post ran an in depth story on the Nuremberg interrogators this weekend.

No, it' s not what you think. No, we haven't always done this stuff. Yes, we have been lied to. Yes, we can be better than we are now. And without a doubt, surely it is true that the worst among us have risen to rule over us.

But keep praying ... the lights are coming on and their weaknesses are showing.

Cruelty is the tool of a weak mind.

Violence is the tool of a fearful mind.

Fear is the tactic of an empty argument.

Standing, protecting, sacrificing and respecting are the tools of the strong. We need a stronger Senate. We need a stronger Congress. We need a stronger President.

This summary explains it better than I can, with links. Here's your teaser ...
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During the pensive and chaotic weeks and months between the end of World War II and the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials,
the U.S. military and an elite, undisclosed team of Foreign Service officers set about interrogating Nazi prisoners, questioning thousands of German officers, scientists and submariners. For the decades that followed, none of the interrogators would speak of the methods used to extract information.

Until now.

--snip--

Saturday’s Washington Post has the untold story of the men ultimately providing the evidence to punish the perpetrators of the greatest threat the world has ever known.

When about two dozen veterans got together yesterday for the first time since the 1940s, many of the proud men lamented the chasm between the way they conducted interrogations during the war and the harsh measures used today in questioning terrorism suspects.

Back then, they and their commanders wrestled with the morality of bugging prisoners' cells with listening devices. They felt bad about censoring letters. They took prisoners out for steak dinners to soften them up. They played games with them.

"We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture," said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.

Blunt criticism of modern enemy interrogations was a common refrain at the ceremonies held beside the Potomac River near Alexandria. Across the river, President Bush defended his administration's methods of detaining and questioning terrorism suspects during an Oval Office appearance.

Several of the veterans, now in their 80s and 90s, vehemently denounced the Bush regime’s controversial interrogation techniques. One veteran even refused the honors bestowed upon him and the others. When the time came to receive his award, the veteran cited his opposition to the war in Iraq along with the interrogation processes used at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

"I feel like the military is using us to say, 'We did spooky stuff then, so it's okay to do it now,' " said Arno Mayer, 81, a professor of European history at Princeton University.
When Peter Weiss, 82, went up to receive his award, he commandeered the microphone and gave his piece.

"I am deeply honored to be here, but I want to make it clear that my presence here is not in support of the current war," said Weiss, chairman of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy and a human rights and trademark lawyer in New York City.

The veterans of P.O. Box 1142, a top-secret installation in Fairfax County that went only by its postal code name, were brought back to Fort Hunt by park rangers who are piecing together a portrait of what happened there during the war.