Gee, Michael, don't you think that stripping the guy on the helicopter was pretty distressful for him.

Again, it doesn't matter if that wasn't the intent. Shooting him would have caused distress too, but shooting him on the combat field, and shooting him in a prison cell, you must admit, are morally different.

Humilliation is in mind of the person getting the act, not he person doing the act.

So is the extreme pain. It's cruelty when humiliation and pain is the goal, not merely the result. If the goal was merely to possess the other person's clothing, then it wasn't necessarily cruel.

If they were gay, then it would have been all right by you?

No, it would only be alright by me if it's purpose was not to cause distress. I only mentioned homophobia to point out that the intent was to cause extreme distress, not merely to form a naked human pyramid.

So Michael, you are saying the problem with Abu Gahrib was the naked human pyramid. If they had not done that, everything would have been peachy keen?

I'm saying that stripping a prisoner naked isn't itself humiliating, nor torture. Making homophobic men climb naked on top of each other for your own amusement, however, clearly is.

oops. Looks like torture might be involved here. At a minimum, this is an Abu Gahrib offense.

Stripping a prisoner isn't torture, and presumable they didn't stack him into a naked human pyramid either. Probably they just wanted use of his official FARC uniform for an hour or so, while they pulled a little prank on some rebels.

But not long after the group was airborne, Betancourt turned around and saw the local commander, alias Cesar, a man who had tormented her for four years, blindfolded and stripped naked on the floor.

oops. Looks like torture might be involved here. At a minimum, this is an Abu Gahrib offense. They are going to have to give the hostages back. If you can't ply by the rules, then why are you even bothering to fight the terrorists?

[S]he and 14 other hostages — including three U.S. military contractors held since 2003 — were airlifted to freedom in an audaciously “perfect” operation involving military spies who tricked the rebels into handing over their prize hostages without firing a shot.

That was an f-ing brilliant operation.