Assuming for the sake of argument only, everything you say is true, any sins commited were done from the belief, even if mistaken, that it was necessary.
No one every took joy in the acts. No one ever bragged about how wonderful they were.
We prosecuted some (okay, maybe not all) of our bad actors. They make heros out of all their murderers.
We can argue about Gitmo until the cows come home, and I like how you keep enlarging the subject, but the bottom line is we were attacked and everything after that was a reaction to an act of war.
It was best explained by one of the Palies who explained to the Jews that the Palies would win because the Palies loved death more than the Jews loved life. That was there view.
On the other hand, Golda once said that she could forgive the Palies for killing Jews but she could never forgive then for turning her children (figuratively) into warriors.
Those two statements sum it up. One kills for fun. THe other out of a belief it is necessary
One final question in two parts: If the Jews put down all their guns tomorrow, what would happen? If the Arabs did the same, what would happen?
I believe in the first case, there would be a genocide the likes of which the Arabs have bragged about wanting. In the second there would be peace.
Posted By: Laffy
We also sent prisoners to Egypt and other places to be tortured, who were just as brutal as Saddam.
So not were our guys not Boy Scouts, we can't act all HIGH AND MIGHTY when we sent people to some of the worse countries on earth all while claiming how "exceptional" we are.