First, under the category of ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me,’ the Chicago Tribune reports that “The conclusion in recently released Justice Department memos that CIA interrogation techniques would not cause prolonged mental harm…” Torture does not cause prolonged mental harm. This definitely is one of the things that makes me go hmmm…. For the whole …
In the very first post on this blog, I wrote: "Actions based on anxiety are often regrettable." That may be true, but someone experiencing intense anxiety or a panic attack feels under great pressure to do something, anything to relieve the anxiety and improve their situation. Nevertheless, actions born from anxiety often have poor or …
I’d like to subtitle this post “Waiting for Martians,” for reasons that I hope will become clear as we go along. The Army Times yesterday posted an article about the Pentagon’s decision to withhold the Purple Heart from soldiers who are inflicted with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The article notes that about 20% of the soldiers …
It seems clear that one of the goals of warfare is to render your opponent’s warriors incapable of fighting. If that’s not one of the goals, then why would you try to kill their soldiers? Therefore, inflicting enough psychological damage to keep them off the battlefield would logically seem to be a weapon of choice. …