Yes, we are Americans. Our country is better than theirs because we have a concept of natural human rights and liberties, we have a concept of systemic justice, and we support it. The people who suffer the fate you’re talking about are aware of the risk they’re taking when they set foot in a land where Islamic fundimentalism has taken root. I’m not excusing the behavior, but there’s a measure of informed consent. Most non-military assignments are voluntary, and so on.
Your argument that it’s what they’d do to us is that much more of a reason for us NOT to do it to them. We’re (theoretically) civilized. We treat others with respect and care. We take the time to look for the distinction between our enemies and innocent bystanders.
When we catch a terrorist, they should be detained. They should be fed, and clothed. They should be kept safe and healthy, but not comfortable.
You’re still comfortably ignoring the innocents though.
You’re walking down an alley near your home, about to return to your family for dinner, when men speaking a strange language shove a gun into your back, put hand-cuffs on you, and throw you in a van with a bag over your head. Eventually, after some time, you’re able to speak to someone who speaks your language, and who informs you that you have been arrested due to your connections to suspected terrorists, and that you will be transferred half-way around the world.
You’re transferred over. You’re beaten. You’re placed on an inclined plane, and water is carefully poured into your sinuses and mouth so that you’re able to breathe only in very shallow breaths, and your body is convinced that you’re drowning. A wet rag is placed over your mouth. You’re blindfolded. You’re left like this for quite some time. The agents ask you questions that you don’t understand - who you report to, what you know. They won’t stop. They keep doing it.
After weeks, you can’t take it anymore. You name names. Their only crimes? Being people you know, have associated with, and perhaps don’t like. They’ll be arrested now, too. You’re not a terrorist, and neither are they, but you named names, because you simply wanted to end the misery. You keep talking, to keep them from torturing you again. You babble. You make up missions, names, meeting places. The agents will investigate them, and waste precious time that could be spent looking for real terrorists, chasing the ravings of a man half-mad from torture.
It’s 5 years later. You’re sitting in a cell, your wife is living in poverty because you cannot support her. Your sons did their best, but they look upon your captors with hate, even though you tried to instill in them the peaceful, loving aspects of your religion. They see your captors as barbarians, who have ruined their lives and must be punished. They become extremists. You, the innocent man, rot in prison without ever having the chance to defend yourself or face the accusations against you in court. While you may eventually be released (if minds like mine prevail, that is), your life is, for all intents and purposes, over.
My hypothetical is just as real as yours. We have control over what we do to my hypothetical, and none over yours.
You’re arguing that because Arab A committed terrible act, that Arab B who lives in the same town, and who might look suspicious should have his life ruined, just to be safe. At the same time, you’re willfully ignoring that the friends and family of Arab B have just been given a push towards extremism, when the innocent man they loved and admired was stolen away by the “Western Imperialist Swine,” or what have you.
We need to be hard on terror. We can kill those who fight us. Those who are arrested should not be tortured, because it’s not our way. We’re better than that, and we don’t need it (THE QUALITY OF THE FUCKING INTELLIGENCE IS COMPROMISED), and the satisfaction it gives is worth nothing compared to the suffering of innocents at our hands.