Dan Doughty In Milwauke Journal

Dan Doughty In Milwaukee Journal

Ex-POWs defend tough interrogation of terrorism suspects:

Dan Doughty agrees. He, too, was shot down in Vietnam and spent almost seven years as a prisoner of war. He, too, was tortured and forced to write letters saying he was treated well.

In the war on terror, "there are no uniformed soldiers. They're not fighting for a country. They don't have a nation behind them," said Doughty, 73, who grew up in Ladysmith and now lives in Eau Claire. "I'd sure hate to see several thousand people die (in a terror attack) because we couldn't ask a question for fear we were mistreating" terror suspects.

When he was first captured, he told his captors his name, rank, serial number and date of birth - the only information military members are obligated to provide under the Geneva Conventions.

It didn't do any good and only infuriated Doughty's captors. It took two decades for the numbness in Doughty's hands and arms to go away.

Doughty saw the Abu Ghraib prison scandal photos and read about the convictions of American soldiers working as guards at the Baghdad prison. In Doughty's opinion, the Abu Ghraib prisoners were mistreated, not tortured. And the Bush administration's attempt to clarify some of the language in the Geneva Conventions probably won't matter in future wars, he said.

"I don't think anybody we'd have a future war with is going to be different than Vietnam," Doughty said. "Look at what happened to our soldiers that have been captured (in Iraq this year). They've been tortured and cut up and put in the street. That's what we're dealing with."

Sponsorship?

Sponsorship?

We spent a lot of time on the last 500 talking about trying to line up a sponsor for next year's tour. The name Leinenkugels was thrown around quite a bit and with good reason. But I think we can expand beyond merely the "Official Beer of The Doughty 500" and so I've started a list. Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments or send me an e-mail. Then we'll get our crack marketing staff (which I believe consists of David and one of his nieces) to work on lining 'em up.

- The Official Gin of the Doughty 500

- The Official Scotch of the Doughty 500

- The Official Tire of the Doughty 500

- The Official Coffee of the Doughty 500

- The Official Sunscreen of the Doughty 500

- The Official Hotel of the Doughty 500 (you can trust that it won't be Days Inn)

- The Official Hand Held Video Game Player of the Doughty 500

- The Official Snack Food of the Doughty 500

- The Official Bail Bondsman of the Doughty 500

- More?