The WaPo has a guest column today, written by Charles C Krulak and Joseph P Hoar.

Charles C Krulak was Commandant of the Marine Corps, 1995 to 1999. He has a raft of decorations, earned for both combat and non-combat service.

Joseph P Hoar is also a retired Marine General. He has served in combat several times, and also has a chestful of awards for both combat and non-combat service. His last post was C-in-C, CENTCOM.

Both these officers have been around the block once or twice, and certainly have earned the right to speak their minds in public.

Fear can be a strong motivator. It led Franklin Roosevelt to intern tens of thousands of innocent U.S. citizens during World War II; it led to Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt, which ruined the lives of hundreds of Americans. And it led the United States to adopt a policy at the highest levels that condoned and even authorized torture of prisoners in our custody.

Fear is the justification offered for this policy by former CIA director George Tenet as he promotes his new book. Tenet oversaw the secret CIA interrogation program in which torture techniques euphemistically called "waterboarding," "sensory deprivation," "sleep deprivation" and "stress positions" -- conduct we used to call war crimes -- were used. In defending these abuses, Tenet revealed: "Everybody forgets one central context of what we lived through: the palpable fear that we felt on the basis of the fact that there was so much we did not know."

It seems to me that these two General officers are the first retired generals to accurately describe the interrogation excesses of the Bu$h malAdministration as “war crimes,” and it is a welcome sight.

[I]t is the duty of the commander in chief to lead the country away from the grip of fear, not into its grasp. Regrettably, at Tuesday night's presidential debate in South Carolina, several Republican candidates revealed a stunning failure to understand this most basic obligation. Indeed, among the candidates, only John McCain demonstrated that he understands the close connection between our security and our values as a nation.

Of course, these candidates are only politicians, and not people with common sense. They know how to lie and steal, but have no idea about what personal risk entails, so naturally they think hurting other humans to get information proves they're tough guys.

Right now, White House lawyers are working up new rules that will govern what CIA interrogators can do to prisoners in secret. Those rules will set the standard not only for the CIA but also for what kind of treatment captured American soldiers can expect from their captors, now and in future wars. Before the president once again approves a policy of official cruelty, he should reflect on that.

With respect, Generals, that is the wrong tack to take. The man inhabiting our White House has absolutely no sense of propriety and compassion, no feeling of commonality with 99.5% of Americans. And he has even less regard for people from other countries.

But thank you for your service and your examples today make us proud. Now stand by for the counter-attack.