A Setback for Operation Enduring Nostalgia

After reading the piece about Fort Hunt in today’s WaPo, I’m going to propose a new rule for wingnuts:

All efforts to recruit the historical legacy of the “greatest generation” to amplify the significance of the War on Terra should henceforth avoid conversations with actual representatives of that generation.

Otherwise, if you’re the sort of person who’s prone to extreme displays of hackery, you might be forced to argue that the United States could afford not to torture German POWs because the Nazis were actually quite a charming bunch by comparison with the Islamo-Fascist Menace:

It must be said, however, that [the veterans of Fort Hunt] faced a different enemy in a different war. The Germans fought to expand territory through traditional warfare, at least as arrayed against the US and the West. While they conducted sabotage missions in the US through espionage, they did not use terrorist infiltrators to attempt to kill thousands of American civilians. They also did not face religious extremists who believed that death brought them to Allah and 72 waiting virgins for taking out women and children. One can make a case that the civilized techniques of PO Box 1142 worked because their detainees also believed themselves civilized and members of the Western culture.