"I was clear throughout this campaign and was clear throughout this transition that under my administration the United States does not torture," Obama said, and with the wave of his teleprompter, enemy combatants will no longer be subjected to the same kind of "torture" he inflicts as Commander-in-Chief.

To the Citizens of America:

The U.S. Army tortured me. It began when I was sent by plane to Fort Knox, Kentucky.

I arrived wearing only a thin shirt and pants and was forced to stand outside in weather that was almost freezing. Then my clothes were taken from me and my head was shaved. I was put into a crude, ill-fitting uniform while soldiers yelled at me. There were quite a few others with me. We were all afraid, because if we didn’t do what the soldiers said, we were forced to fall to the ground and lie on our stomachs, then try to push ourselves up until our muscles burned with incredible pain while the soldiers yelled at us and used degrading terms.

One time they put us all in a long line and other soldiers stuck painful needles in our arms. Another time they put us in a room and filled it with tear gas and made us say our name and a number that they had assigned to us. Every day 20 or so of us were forced to go naked into a room where hot water sprayed from the walls. They used sleep deprivation constantly, and if we fell asleep at the wrong time we were again forced to lie on our stomachs, or even forced to run around the compound holding a heavy wood and metal object over our heads.

Some of us broke and were sent away, who knows where. Others, like me, were sent to an even tougher place where a very thick substance called “starch” was added to our uniforms. This “starch” kept any air from going through the crude fabric. We spent several hours a day in stress positions in the hot sun, standing straight up, not even allowed to move our eyeballs. I was forced to do things like jump off a high platform, to carry a heavy sack on my back for miles, and to crawl on my stomach through mud while the soldiers shot machine gun bullets over my head.

One day they told me that I had “graduated” and was now something called a Second Lieutenant. Although this happened over 40 years ago, I’ll never forget the experience, and will always be thankful to the Army for making me able to take life’s little annoyances in stride.

Richard Boren

Scottsdale, AZ