Yes, I am a retired army brigedear (

DI: Yes, I am a retired army brigadier general. I was commissioned as a strategic intelligence officer. I taught prisoner interrogation for the army intelligence school for approximately 18 years. And, I am a lawyer, and presently practice in Salt Lake City.

HOST: If you will, go ahead and explain to us. You know, we are taking a good hard look at torture. It has been much in the news lately. It got well, perhaps not as much as it aught to, but it got quite a good deal of exposure when the new military general came into office. Where do we stand with this problem?

DI: Well, first of all, I’m part of a group of approximately 50 retired admirals and generals who have decided to speak up on this issue because of our experience, our conviction that torture is unnecessary, that it produces unreliable information, that it is just wrong, and that it really is a danger to the army and to the nation. Obviously, torture and the abusive treatment of prisoners is a violation of international law, of the Geneva Convention, and of federal law. Unfortunately there has been a tendency among some in the military and in the positions of civilian authority over them, particularly in the years 2003 and 2004 to try and ignore those responsibilities and operate outside the law, and that is what produced the incidents at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, that have done so much to undermine our position in the world, and damage our interests to make it difficult for soldiers to operate. Obviously, if our people are taken prisoner, we want them to be treated humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. And, if we aren’t following that part of the law, we loose whatever moral authority we have to make the claim that our people should be treated humanely as well.

HOST: General, with Florida’s presidential primary right around the corner, what can people living here in Florida do when they take your point. What do we do about this?

DI: Well, we are here, as we have been in other primary states – Iowa and New Hampshire – hopefully to create an opportunity to meet with some of the presidential candidates. We have met so far with seven of them – from both parties. We are not a partisan group endorsing a candidate, but we are here to be a source of information for these men and women, so that we can hopefully help them inform their positions on this topic. Floridians, like other citizens in the country are concerned about this issue. We hope that they will take advantage of the opportunity during these primary debates and candidate appearances to question candidates about their positions on this issue and to make their feelings known about it. As we have been in different parts of the country speaking on this issue it is fairly obvious to me that many many people are uncomfortable and unhappy with our adoption and embrace of torture as a national policy. This is the first time in our history that it has ever been viewed that way. And, there are a lot of people who would like us to get our moral standing as a nation back and start operating and keep operating within the law.

HOST: Now, your gathering is hosted by Human Rights First. Have your folks actually been in touch with some of the presidential candidates at this point, or is this more of a grassroots type thing?

DI: We have been in close touch with the campaign staff s of all the candidates and we are hoping that there will be an opportunity in their schedules for us to meet with them. That’s an ongoing process, and we are hopeful that we will have that opportunity during this swing through Florida.

HOST: Now, how can Floridians who are hearing our conversation or are interested – how can they be in touch with your group to become involved?

DI: They can go to the Human Rights First website at www.humanrightsfirst.org and there is extensive information available there. There is information about this group of officers and they are welcome to contact Human Rights First, or if they would like to get in touch with us my email address is drirvine@aol.com. We are happy to speak to anyone who has an interest in this topic and we hope that we can make it a non political issue in the debate that is going on because it shouldn’t be. We should be leading and taking advantage of our position as the world’s strongest nation and most authoritative moral figure to make it clear that we are not going to operate from a position of barbaric cruelty.

HOST: General, you have done very nicely for us. Any points that you would like to make that you haven’t touched on?

DI: Well, I just want to underscore that there is no conflict between national defense, protecting the nation, and operating within a framework that protects basic human rights. We do a better job defending the country if we gather reliable, accurate intelligence. Torture historically has been proven over and over again to be an unreliable and dangerous way of getting information, frequently which is of little to no value.

HOST: General David Irvine, thank you so much for visiting with us. We wish you well and we look forward to hearing from you folks again.

DI: Thank you.

HOST: Thank you, sir.