Dear FRONTLINE,

The virulence and intensity of the world wide Islamic terror campaign has been fueled by the notion that America and the West have lost their will to fight. While I don't support "torture" as a tactic, I think it is important to send a different message than the one UBL, Zakawi, and Tehran have been receiving for decades...

By their own admission, the terrorists have understood American actions to mean: 'if you hit America with terrorism, she will turn and run..."

Exactly how do we convince our enemies that they will regret attacking us if we don't show them harshness when we retaliate?

John Shoenberg

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am neither a soldier, nor a policy maker. I am a writer; more simply, I am a thinking person with a conscience; and I do not buy the line that this administration routinely feeds the nation. To some, of course, this means that I write with a liberal slant. I say, if it takes a liberal slant to understand what level of havoc that this administration is wreaking on U.S. foreign policy, then I welcome the label. So should the producers of Frontline. Thank you for this program.

Point blank...the President's decisions, chief among them being his vague application of the Geneva Conventions, have transformed Iraq from totalitarian dictatorship into a breeding ground for political intrigue, assassination, kidnapping, and unabated terrorism. The continuous (and largely unreported) deaths of U.S. and British soldiers, civilian contractors, and Iraqi civilians are all being touted as progress.

Let us most certainly address the issues raised by this documentary, but let this also be the first glimmer of hope in fully exposing this most disgraceful chapter of American history. And if we must demand the resignations of Secretary Rumsfeld and company, then I would respectfually request the same of Mr. Bush.

Richard Villar
New York, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

Although I did enjoy this documentary, I found it seriously one-sided. No mention was given about prisoners in Gitmo throwing urine at the guards or the prison riots at Abu Ghraib. You made the prisoners look like helpless victims!

The tone of the commentary from the narrator and the experts inferred that sleep deprivation, stress positions, loud music, and barking dogs were illegal torture. The interview with the solder at the end admitting to "torture" was a joke! He said himself that the dog was muzzled and was with a trained handler.

Finally, the documentary tried to paint a "climate of torture," blaming the US military with many unsubstantiated allegations. Lyndie England and the others who were found guilty of abusing prisoners were never featured. They are the real culprits in the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Michael Boone
Greenville, South Carolina

Dear FRONTLINE,

Much has been said of the suffering of the victims of the torture. And much has been said of the "necessity" of torture to save the lives of those in combat. But what about the torturers themselves -

What will become of them when they return to civilian life as fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, husbands, sons and daughters?

... the soldiers who have taken part in inflicting pain, humiliation and degradation will perhaps prove to be the most wounded and tortured of all. Guilt (in theory) can be forgiven if a just punishment is meted out. But shame is a life sentence. Their shame will belong to all of us.

Marcia Timmerman

Dear FRONTLINE,

If a small nuclear bomb is detonated by Muslim fanatics in your city - would anyone expressing outrage about our interogation practicies change their mind? What if 4 or 5 small nuclear bombs were detonated simultaneously in the most populous cities in the United States. At what point does the survival of the country and the preservation of the ideals that we aspire to outweigh a temporary sacrifice of those same ideals? If we stubbornly refuse to "bend" the rules all the way to our ultimate demise and the total/complete elimination of those ideals have we won? Some of the interogation practices were probably over the top and I believe that most of the individuals that did them will be punished. Are any of you naive enough to believe that the will to destroy an American city doesn't exist and existed long beore the exposure of these interogation practices? How much more hate/anger do you think there is beyond what has already been demonstrated by flying jet airplanes into skyscrapers full of civilians?

Bryan Tagliarino
Houston, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

I commend PBS/Frontline for its' presentation. As a former Army officer- one the values we were taught to maintain was honor. It is obvious that the entire chain of command involved- from the lowest officer to the top of the pentagon did not adhere to this. Since the administration has not punished the upper echelon that allowed this to occur, it scares me to think what else can happen now honor is negotiable......

Joe Turkoc

Dear FRONTLINE,

I find what was interesting was that the pictures you broadcast clearly identified the prisoners but failed to identify those who should carry the stigma for their actions. As long as information is kept secret from the American people those whose sickness manifests itself in degrading behavior will return to this country free to continue in this activity. These are the same poeple who abuse children, spouses and the elderly. Many of the civilians will never face criminal proceedings for actions that include rape, and the current administration will prevent these deviants from facing legal action in Iraq. It is sad that a country that prides itself in justice should work so hard to imped the truth.

Gregg Eschright

Dear FRONTLINE,

Many of the responses by the viewers continue to use the word "terrorist" when referring to the victims of the torture. I just want to remind them that most of these men were simply foot soldiers fighting U.S. Forces in the battlefield.

I don't want to debate what constitutes a "soldier" under international law. I simply want to say that most of these men had no intention of hurting American civilians, not to mention any usefull strategic information. Especially in the case of Iraq, where many of the torture victims were ordinary civilians pulled from the city streets or even from their homes. We really need to be more careful when and how we use the term "terrorist" in a post 9/11 world. I want to thank PBS for airing this program. This is exactly what America is supposed to be about....righting our wrongs.

Keagan Furfari
Upper Darby, PA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you for airing "The Torture Question".

"I was just following orders" is not an acceptable excuse. Bush, Rumsfeld, Myers, Franks, Sanchez, etc. would not be able to carry out the orders on their own. America's children are carrying out these orders and, make no mistake, they are coming home someday. Is America ready for their return?

Daniel Isbister
Mansfield, Massachusetts

Dear FRONTLINE,

Having researched and published on US abuse of enemy detainees, I thought your program was excellent. But I was surprised you paid so little attention to the US in Afghanistan, where there have been more fatalities for prisoners under US control than in Iraq. As far as we know, there have been no fatalities at Gitmo. It is obvious why Rumsfeld and Miller would not be interviewed for your program, since their policies would be embarrassing once part of public debate.

David Forsythe
Lincoln, NE

Dear FRONTLINE,

Thank you, Frontline for airing this important program. Everyone needs to know that most Americans realize the treatment of detainees is wrong and is not the American way. This was a very thorough and thoughtful examination of torture and is long overdue.

Pam Harms
Dumfries, Virginia

Dear FRONTLINE,

I've always thought that the Iraq War was most likely unwinnable and not a wise decision. But I begrudgingly supported it because of the Bush adninistration's insistance on the presents WMD in Iraq, and the continued threat of terroism (not to mention my naive belief that we had learned our lesson in Vietnam, and would conduct ourselves accordingly). But after watching Frontline, together with the ongoing revelations of the CIA leak/Judy Miller story, I've become ever more sceptical, to the point of embarrassment in and for our government. I don't believe the Bush administration, or any future administration, can even hope to regain the higher ground we stood on just after September 11th. Where is the outrage and the protest? And not just about the war.Its time to revisit the Sixties!

Fred Menendez
Baltimore, Maryland

Dear FRONTLINE,

As a former officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, I would like to begin by stating that I firmly believe in adhering to the Geneva Conventions as it applies to individuals for which it was written. I don't believe in applying the Geneva Conventions to individuals that take up arms and are not wearing a uniform or a member a formal military organization of a nation state. When the Geneva Conventions were written, they were never meant to apply to terrorists or anyone in an insurgency.

How this country should treat individuals who have been detained in the War on Terror should be vigorously debated. Congress should act and pass a new law that applies to anyone caught on the field of battle for which the Geneva Conventions doesn't apply. They should leave absolutely no ambiguity when writing such a law.

As to your program, it was firmly slanted against the administration. How you edit interviews with former members of the administration and those opposed to not only the treatment of detainees, but the entire war on terror influences perceptions of this issue and the resulting opinions. For this reason, I don't think of your program as a documentary.

Dougas Hyatt
Littleton, Colorado

Dear FRONTLINE,

... I was in the Army myself and served in Desert Storm and Bosnia. Soldiers can be mean and violent, but they can also be compassionate and just. I am sure that if the torture line had not been blurred by the officials the incidents of torture would have been isolated cases.

Donald Rumsfeld and General Miller should be charged with war crimes. If not how can the U.S. ever hope to charge anyone else e.g. Saddam.

I can't believe that some people think that the press should be muzzled. These stories can only hurt the war effort at home. If the idealogoy of the war can't stand up to the truth then then let's hope that the war effort is seriously damaged. It is the reason we have a free press and free speach.

Andrew Thomas
Salt Lake City, Utah

Dear FRONTLINE,

I find it completely unbelievable that people in this country are so quick to believe that what we are doing to gather intelligence is unnecessary. Truth is, the American public has no idea what information came from using these tactics nor should we know. The safety of our military and covert operatives depends on you not knowing. When did distrust for our government turn into the need to audit every single action that our government takes?

Moreover, I find it completely unbelievable that Frontline would produce such a one sided view of the situation. Intelligent, moral people can disagree as to the best tactics to use in gathering information. However, Frontline has chosen create an editorial and wrap it in the cloth of an objective documentary. Show us both sides Frontline or are you afraid that the truth and logic of this subject is a lot more gray than black and white.

Michael DeMartino
Albany, New York