home

Can We Call It Torture Now?


The House Intelligence Committee's 6,300 page report remains classified, but the Washington Post has details.

1. The CIA lied to Congress
2. More "enhanced interrogation techniques" were used than previously disclosed
3. The torture techniques did not result in valuable information

Via NY Magazine:

One previously undisclosed technique involved the the CIA dunking detainees in tubs of ice water in a method similar to waterboarding. Khalid Sheik Mohammed's nephew, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali [aka Ammar al-Baluchi] was subjected to it at a CIA black site near Kabul in 2003. According to the Post, "CIA interrogators forcibly kept his head under the water while he struggled to breathe and beat him repeatedly, hitting him with a truncheon-like object and smashing his head against a wall, officials said." He is still in Guantanamo Bay.

[More...]

Another example from the Post:

a former CIA interrogator named Charlie Wise was forced to retire in 2003 after being suspected of abusing Abu Zubaida using a broomstick as a ballast while he was forced to kneel in a stress position. Wise was also implicated in the abuse at Salt Pit. He died of a heart attack shortly after retiring from the CIA, former U.S. intelligence officials said.

Politico reports Sen. Feinstein says there will be a vote Thursday on whether to release the 400 page summary of the report.

President Bush in 2007:

"This government does not torture people."

Another Bush lie:

"The techniques that we use have been fully disclosed to appropriate members of the United States Congress."

Dick Cheney said last week:

“If I would have to do it all over again, I would,” Cheney said. “The results speak for themselves.”

< Monday Open Thread | Pew Report: Support for Death Penalty Decreases to Lowest Level >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort:
    Results (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by squeaky on Tue Apr 01, 2014 at 10:26:01 AM EST
    "The results speak for themselves."

    Yes, now there is an indelible stain on all Americans. Maybe we should redesign the US flag, featuring a big stain, in order to honor Cheney's legacy.

    As much as I find his legacy torturous (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by jondee on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 10:37:47 AM EST
    the torturing didn't start with Cheney, the Mayberry Machievellis, and the neocons.

    Google the history of rendition, the School of the Americas, and Operation Phoenix for starters.

    Parent

    You're right. Rendition was proceding apace (5.00 / 2) (#11)
    by Mr Natural on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 11:04:16 AM EST
    under Clinton.

    Parent
    SOA etc (none / 0) (#16)
    by squeaky on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 04:55:29 PM EST
    Yes we have a long history of war atrocities, but Cheney, as Chair of BushCO, not only borrowed and refined Gestapo techniques, but is proud of his evil deeds and would do it again.

    They took it all to a different level. John Yoo redefining torture?

    BushCo took US atrocities to an entirely new level and did everything they could to institutionalize them, imo.

    Parent

    I'm just speechless. (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by lilburro on Tue Apr 01, 2014 at 03:44:05 PM EST
    We were right about anything, but nothing will be done.

    "While the 6300 page (5.00 / 3) (#3)
    by KeysDan on Tue Apr 01, 2014 at 07:46:41 PM EST
    report (Senate Intelligence Committee) remains classified, on Monday, US officials described its contents in detail to the Washington Post."    Unidentified US officials leaked details of the classified report to the Washington Post.  Is this a good leak or a bad one?   If the later, what does this mean for Jeff Bezos for publishing this classified material?  Will his spouse be subject to search and detention if she transfers through Heathrow?  

    All documented in Jane Mayer's 2008 book, (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Mr Natural on Tue Apr 01, 2014 at 11:04:04 PM EST
    The Dark Side, which I read after finding it remaindered for $3.99.  My point is that if you want to know how much people value something, in this case uncomfortable truths, find out what they're willing to pay for it.

    Exactly. (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by ruffian on Tue Apr 01, 2014 at 11:23:13 PM EST
    I guess the news here is Congress admitting what we all knew a long time ago.

    Parent
    Slippery Cheney. (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by lentinel on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 06:09:13 AM EST
    Dick Cheney said last week:

    "If I would have to do it all over again, I would," Cheney said. "The results speak for themselves."

    He also acknowledged that he and W. authorized waterboarding.

    That conflicts with W.'s oft stated lie that we do not torture.

    Cheney "resolves" the situation by saying that waterboarding is not torture.

    So - we did what we did, but we didn't do what we did.

    And these two birds are still free - while people who puff on a flower are in jail.

    Will they be allowed an indefinite pass - or will the present government finally have the integrity to bring them to justice on behalf of the American people whom they so forcefully betrayed?

    If congressional (none / 0) (#4)
    by Mikado Cat on Tue Apr 01, 2014 at 08:56:05 PM EST
    intelligence committees were not adequately informed, doesn't most of the blame for that fall on them directly?

    CIA is like a snake, no point in blaming them for acting like a snake, its the obligation of oversight to handle them so they do what we want.

    Bashing Bush and Cheney seems like the usual bashing, nothing new.

    I hear that... (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by kdog on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 08:16:05 AM EST
    I don't care if you're a senator or a street-sweeper, if you expect the CIA to do anything but lie to you, you're a damn fool.  We f*ckin' pay them to lie, mislead, and torture.

    Parent
    ..and look after the interests (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by jondee on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 10:53:24 AM EST
    of the "too big to fail", which they've been doing since the company started being run by Wall St shylocks like the Dulles brothers.

    Parent
    There (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by lentinel on Thu Apr 03, 2014 at 05:40:30 AM EST
    has been far too little bashing of Bush and Cheney - especially from our current government.

    Bush is treated with honor and respect by our current president.
    Cheney is accorded fawning attention by our media.

    Going back aways, I remember the campaign of 2004 when Kerry and Edwards were given the opportunity to rid the country of those scoundrels.

    Here was Kerry, faced with the biggest liar and worse president in our history - and he couldn't say anything. Of course, he was protecting his own keister because he supported Bush's wars. He had the choice of either revealing himself as a dupe, (not good politically) - or trying to defend his actions. It didn't fly. just as it didn't work for Hillary in 2008.

    Here was Kerry - and he couldn't bring himself to say to a national audience that his opponent had deliberately lied to the American people to get us into two wars. So he mumbled about Tora Bora and let that sleezebag Bush off the hook.

    And there was Edwards. The poverty tour guy. What a phony if ever there was. He's faced with Gargoyle Cheney. And he couldn't confront him either. He winds up praising Cheney as a loving father.

    Let me outta here!

    Isn't there anybody in politics willing to tell it like it T-I-is?

    This is why I sometimes try to urge people to watch and listen to Malcolm X.

    This is the way, imo, an honest politician sounds.
    And, the man is brilliant.

    We need someone like him in government.


    Parent

    No surprise at all (none / 0) (#12)
    by Dadler on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 11:48:35 AM EST
    Whom do you think peoples these institutions of torture? The most sadistic and psychologically ignorant folks, with the most deluded notions of their own superpowers. And, more sadly, the average American will easily be convinced that thugging it up with them ter'ists is the best way, evidence be damned. This is the chief problem here: vengeance is a overwhelmingly powerful urge in human beings.

    Vengeance coupled with fear.... (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by ruffian on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 11:56:21 AM EST
    Nearly unstoppable. How anyone can sing 'home of the brave' with a straight face is beyond me.

    Parent
    Call it what you want (none / 0) (#14)
    by Mikado Cat on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 03:11:54 PM EST
    If its in the range of "torture" its among the mildest ever practiced. I don't think I know enough to make a firm judgement, nor do I think many others know enough.

    I do think its a little nuts to assume we have a cadre of demons rather than fairly normal people in places like Guantanamo. Its one of the worst lies about things we don't like, that somehow it wasn't a "normal" person doing the stuff, when clearly the average person is capable of great cruelty under the right circumstances.

    "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."

    I think you need (5.00 / 5) (#15)
    by sj on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 03:21:47 PM EST
    empirical data:
    If its in the range of "torture" its among the mildest ever practiced.
    I'm sure you have some friends who could arrange for you to acquire that knowledge.  You have a charming enough personality that I'm sure you have someone in your circle of friends who wouldn't mind doing this:
    "CIA interrogators forcibly kept his head under the water while he struggled to breathe and beat him repeatedly, hitting him with a truncheon-like object and smashing his head against a wall, officials said." He is still in Guantanamo Bay.
    Then you would be in a position to make that ridiculous comment. You might not be inclined to do so, however.

    Parent
    The sad (5.00 / 2) (#17)
    by lentinel on Thu Apr 03, 2014 at 05:24:37 AM EST
    truth is that fairly normal people can be trained to commit horrendous acts.

    And we, as with the Germans in WW2, have gotten quite good at training these fairly normal people.

    After the initial phase, torturing, beating, waterboarding, breaking limbs and the rest can apparently become quite enjoyable if one reads the anecdotal evidence of those who engaged in these activities.

    One of the ways we justify ourselves is to think that we are morally superior to our adversaries.

    But the simple truth is, imo, that people are the same all over.
    With the proper indoctrination - skillful manipulation of loyalty and love feelings - ordinary people can be molded into monsters.

    And if you think that waterboarding is not torture - or the daily beatings - the sleep deprivation followed by beatings are "mild", I really don't know what's wrong with you.

    Parent

    Compared to the ANC (none / 0) (#19)
    by Mikado Cat on Thu Apr 03, 2014 at 09:05:49 PM EST
    Soweto necklace, its as mild as it gets. Drowning is a routine part of Seal training, its worse after the first time. Its a very serious action, but I won't go so far as to say no one should ever be subjected to it, and that is the key, knowing all the details related to these accusations.

    What I am hearing here seems mostly whining about the methods the rough men use to keep the posters safe in their own beds at night.

    Parent

    You may (none / 0) (#20)
    by lentinel on Fri Apr 04, 2014 at 02:52:12 AM EST
    think that torturing people keeps you safe in your bed at night. I don't.

    I think it makes ever more dangerous and determined enemies for us.

    And there is the awful prospect that it gives license to our enemies to do that to our captives - and that we would have no grounds on which to protest their mistreatment.

    When the towers were hit, the entire world was appalled. In France. In Canada. In Brazil. The Cuban foreign minister offered airspace and airports to American planes. Chinese and Iranian officials sent their condolences.

    Now, I don't know if anyone would give a damn.

    Parent

    What I am hearing ... (none / 0) (#21)
    by Yman on Fri Apr 04, 2014 at 06:46:56 AM EST
    What I am hearing here seems mostly whining about the methods the rough men use to keep the posters safe in their own beds at night.

    ... is someone quoting a Washington Times film critic to rationalize the use of torture while insulting those who challenge it.

    BTW - Who do you think is responsible for that quote, and were they referring to "rough men" who were willing to fight for their country or willing to torture captives?

    Parent

    Then you are (none / 0) (#22)
    by MKS on Fri Apr 04, 2014 at 08:09:03 AM EST
    advocating torture--even if it is the selective use of torture.  

    That is evil.  When we, the good guys, torture, we cease being the good guys.

    Parent

    Baloney (none / 0) (#26)
    by Mikado Cat on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 06:30:06 AM EST
    Obama kills by the missile load, those who were "tortured" are still alive, and just fine.

    Nothing that reasonable people would need to know, is publicly known. Not the exact procedures, not the people they were done to, not the reason it was used, or information gained or hoped to be gained, just a little redacted partisan leaks.

    Drowning is a horrible experience, but not a great safety risk, or with long term health issues. Since you are gungho about calling it torture, what sort of information extraction measure do you consider not torture?

    Parent

    "Just fine?" (5.00 / 2) (#27)
    by Anne on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 08:07:54 AM EST
    By whose definition - yours?  Or for you, is it just so simple that being alive = being fine?

    Reading your justifications and rationales for why it's okay to torture people makes me feel like Dick Cheney just dropped by for a chat.  The man who gives me the distinct impression that he takes almost as much satisfaction from authorizing others to engage in torture as he might have had he been able to exact it himself.  

    Here's the thing, for me, anyway.  The problem with those who rationalize torture be used for those they deem unworthy of humane treatment is that they never consider the possibility that one day, those who make those kinds of decisions will broaden their definitions, that it will get easier to lower the bar, that that mindset will begin to invade the domestic arena.  I mean, why should the military have all the fun - why not let the police get in on the action?

    I think the argument could be made that we have seen that, which means that it's no longer a case of us feeling safe in our beds because all that nastiness is happening on the military front, it's a case of wondering whether, if we're stopped by the police, it could happen to us.  I can't speak for you, but I don't want to be on the receiving end of a police justification for inhumane treatment, but perhaps, if it were to happen to you, you'd just be grateful they were doing their jobs and that you came out of it alive.

    As far as I'm concerned, those who justify torture are no different than those who order it, supervise it or carry it out; you make it possible for torture to remain a viable option for whatever purpose the torturers dream up.  You may think you're just sitting on the sidelines, removed from the reality of torture, but as long as you continue to justify it, you're right in the middle of it.

    I don't know how you can sleep at night.

    Parent

    I don't believe in inhumane (none / 0) (#29)
    by Mikado Cat on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 06:35:56 PM EST
    treatment, certainly not pointless cruelty. I am not so naive that putting the "tag" of torture on a procedure puts it in the same range as torture as practiced by the rest of the world.

    Like it or not you are responsible for the people our country sends out to do the dirty work. If it was really a high priority even a fairly small number of people could make changes, but clearly its a talking or whining point.

    Bush dunked people under water.
    Obama kills them and their families with drones.

    Parent

    Bush did BOTH (none / 0) (#34)
    by Yman on Sun Apr 06, 2014 at 08:17:57 AM EST
    Bush dunked people under water.
    Obama kills them and their families with drones.

    ... and refresh my recollection ... which ones were captives, again?

    Parent

    Bush did do both (none / 0) (#40)
    by Mikado Cat on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 07:04:42 AM EST
    Obama made the political choice to kill instead of capture.

    Parent
    You (none / 0) (#43)
    by lentinel on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 08:04:34 AM EST
    can't be naive enough to think that prisoners didn't die under the treatment accorded them by that great painter, Bush.

    Or by the bombings initiated by him either.

    How many died just during "shock and awe"?

    Parent

    Do tell (none / 0) (#45)
    by Yman on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 11:57:48 AM EST
    What made Obama' s decision "political" (particularly as opposed to Bush's use of drones) and when could he have captured them, instead?  Be specific ... This should be good.

    Parent
    Dead people (none / 0) (#53)
    by Mikado Cat on Tue Apr 08, 2014 at 11:53:46 PM EST
    don't complain about their treatment. Obama rather than take the heat of putting more people in some prison, made the political choice to kill instead of capture.

    Parent
    So the short answer is ... (none / 0) (#54)
    by Yman on Wed Apr 09, 2014 at 06:12:18 AM EST
    ... never, and you have no evidence to support your claim that the decision was political ..

    ... as usual.

    Parent

    "Whining" (none / 0) (#23)
    by MKS on Fri Apr 04, 2014 at 08:11:11 AM EST
    about torture....

    I could not disagree with you more.  The rationalizations you use are evil.

    Parent

    How about a terrified child (none / 0) (#24)
    by jondee on Fri Apr 04, 2014 at 08:51:15 AM EST
    dying slowly under a pile of rubble after an aerial bombardment? Would that qualify as torture?

    As Sartre said, the worst has already happened. And people in this country still want to wax nostalgic and poetic about WW2..

    Many in this country are deeply delusional about what has always been required in the service of "protecting our interests abroad". A little graft, a little repression, a little murder, a little torture..

    Parent

    "A little repression, a little torture," (none / 0) (#25)
    by Mr Natural on Fri Apr 04, 2014 at 10:57:13 AM EST
    Sooner or later, you have real authoritarianism.

    Parent
    The techniques used just (5.00 / 2) (#28)
    by MO Blue on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 12:19:37 PM EST
    give people like you "thrills and chills" by allowing you to engage vicariously in these "rough men" techniques. "Rough men" right out of fictional novels on the subject and right up your alley.

    From the actual reports they did little or nothing to keep us safe in our beds.

    overstating the significance of plots and prisoners, and taking credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact surrendered before they were subjected to harsh techniques.

    Let's review the information contained in that excerpt, shall we. The critical pieces of intelligence were surrendered prior to the use of torture.

    excruciating interrogation methods that yielded little,if any, significant intelligence, according to U.S. officials who have reviewed the document.


    Parent
    Why is this (none / 0) (#30)
    by Mikado Cat on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 06:44:55 PM EST
    report being considered as gospel?

    Grow up and open your eyes, adults are doing serious things. Obama has a stooge running the CIA, the report will say whatever the big O wants. Spontaneous uprising about a movie, sure boss.

    Parent

    You would surely qualify as an expert (5.00 / 2) (#31)
    by MO Blue on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 07:09:33 PM EST
    on stooges who cannot be trusted to tell the truth in any situation. You couldn't rely on facts rather than the fiction that you create if your life depended on it.

    Yes, people have been doing serious things. The U.S. torturing detainees is a very serious thing and is against international law.

    You somehow think that sanctioning torture makes you a grown up. I don't agree. I think it makes you a very poor excuse for a human being.

    Parent

    How much of an expert is needed (none / 0) (#38)
    by Mikado Cat on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 06:45:58 AM EST
    to understand that Obama killing people, and all the innocents in a perimeter around them when the missile hits, is worse than dunking someone in water?

    Parent
    You seem to be under the impression (5.00 / 1) (#41)
    by Anne on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 07:16:29 AM EST
    that the report concerns the events at Benghazi, when in fact, it does not; it has to do with the CIA's interrogation program:

    A report by the Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that the CIA misled the government and the public about aspects of its brutal interrogation program for years -- concealing details about the severity of its methods, overstating the significance of plots and prisoners, and taking credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact surrendered before they were subjected to harsh techniques.

    The report, built around detailed chronologies of dozens of CIA detainees, documents a long-standing pattern of unsubstantiated claims as agency officials sought permission to use -- and later tried to defend -- excruciating interrogation methods that yielded little, if any, significant intelligence, according to U.S. officials who have reviewed the document.

    This is why people are talking about torture, not drone killings - because torture is the subject of the report.

    No one is saying killing people with drones isn't bad; why do you keep trying to shape the conversation as if that's what people are saying?

    The real problem, of course, is that you have summarily reduced a 6,300 page report on the CIA's interrogation techniques to "dunking someone in water."

    It seems a little less benign when you get more of the story:

    At the secret prison, Baluchi endured a regime that included being dunked in a tub filled with ice water. CIA interrogators forcibly kept his head under the water while he struggled to breathe and beat him repeatedly, hitting him with a truncheon-like object and smashing his head against a wall, officials said.

    But, golly gee - getting more of the story, getting more information, kinda does a number on your talking points, doesn't it?  Maybe if you were commenting somewhere where fact-free talking points pass for informed discussion, you could get away with the level of ignorance you display here, but as many times as you have had to be set straight, you're still working hard to dumb things down.

    Why?

    Parent

    In case you missed it, (none / 0) (#48)
    by MO Blue on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 02:49:36 PM EST
    we executed people for for what you call "dunking someone in water."

    "Japanese were tried and hanged for torturing American prisoners during World War II with techniques that included waterboarding."

    Do you really want to get into how many innocent people were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan during the years Bush was in office?

    Parent

    Yes (none / 0) (#52)
    by Mikado Cat on Tue Apr 08, 2014 at 11:42:06 PM EST
    post WWII the Japanese were treated terribly, if you think it was due to water boarding, very very sad.

    Parent
    Here's a history lesson for you (5.00 / 1) (#32)
    by MO Blue on Sat Apr 05, 2014 at 08:22:18 PM EST
    Republican presidential candidate John McCain reminded people Thursday that some Japanese were tried and hanged for torturing American prisoners during World War II with techniques that included waterboarding.

    "There should be little doubt from American history that we consider that as torture otherwise we wouldn't have tried and convicted Japanese for doing that same thing to Americans," McCain said during a news conference.
    ...
    "I would also hope that he would not want to be associated with a technique which was invented in the Spanish Inquisition, was used by Pol Pot in one of the great eras of genocide in history and is being used on Burmese monks as we speak," the Arizona senator said. "America is a better nation than that."

    McCain is referencing the Tokyo Trials, officially known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. After World War II, an international coalition convened to prosecute Japanese soldiers charged with torture. At the top of the list of techniques was water-based interrogation, known variously then as "water cure," "water torture" and "waterboarding," according to the charging documents. It simulates drowning.

    R. John Pritchard, a historian and lawyer who is a top scholar on the trials, said the Japanese felt the ends justified the means. "The rapid and effective collection of intelligence then, as now, was seen as vital to a successful struggle, and in addition, those who were engaged in torture often felt that whatever pain and anguish was suffered by the victims of torture was nothing less than the just deserts of the victims or people close to them," he said.

    In a recent journal essay, Judge Evan Wallach, a member of the U.S. Court of International Trade and an adjunct professor in the law of war, writes that the testimony from American soldiers about this form of torture was gruesome and convincing. A number of the Japanese soldiers convicted by American judges were hanged, while others received lengthy prison sentences or time in labor camps.



    Parent
    Getting a history lesson? (none / 0) (#39)
    by Mikado Cat on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 07:01:27 AM EST
    That is just partisan spin, more likely to pollute rational consideration of WWII events, than educate. I've talked to people that served during WWII and it was a very ugly conflict. If you think water boarding was the high point of torture, you really should consider a real education.

    Parent
    Well, it's early yet, so it's possible (5.00 / 3) (#44)
    by Anne on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 08:21:48 AM EST
    someone else will make a comment today that is more unintentionally hilarious than this one, but you lecturing anyone on considering education in order to get the facts straight seems like a winner to me.

    Parent
    And (5.00 / 1) (#46)
    by lentinel on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 12:01:47 PM EST
    so...?

    You're arguing that there are worse tortures than waterboarding.

    And what is your point?

    That the rack is worse?

    I think to get a definitive answer, you'd have to ask the person being tortured.

    There is simply no doubt in my mind that when we descend to the depths of those we consider to be subhuman, we not only become subhuman ourselves, but we encourage our enemies to even greater depths. It becomes a contest in numbness. Who can inflict the most pain and feel it less.

    One final question:

    What do you  think about Abu Ghraib?
    Interrogators sexually assaulting prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube...
    Not enough for you?

    Urinating on detainees
    Jumping on detainee's leg (a limb already wounded by gunfire) with such force that it could not heal properly afterward.
    Continuing by pounding detainee's wounded leg with collapsible metal baton.
    Pouring phosphoric acid on detainees.
    Sodomization of detainees with a baton
    Tying ropes to the detainees' legs or penises and dragging them across the floor.

    Not enough for you?

    Parent

    No (1.00 / 1) (#51)
    by Mikado Cat on Tue Apr 08, 2014 at 11:40:47 PM EST
    I am pointing out that if you choose to classify water boarding as torture, then it is the mildest form of torture. You taint the word "torture" by including water boarding.

    How water boarding is classified should not be fodder for political gain, and much of this is just Bush bashing as usual.

    Parent

    Aren't you classifying? (5.00 / 1) (#55)
    by Anne on Wed Apr 09, 2014 at 06:48:48 AM EST
    You've decided waterboarding is the mildest form of torture - how is that not "classifying?"  Seems like you want to take waterboarding out of a class - would that be for political purposes?  So you can end the so-called "Bush-bashing?"

    It might surprise you to know that many of us are repulsed not just by the actions of the Bush administration, but by the Obama administration's grant of blanket immunity for those actions AND for Obama's decision to employ drones for the purpose of killing American citizens as well as countless numbers of innocents.

    I think that's because some of us just know right from wrong, and don't adjust our moral compass on the basis of the political affiliation of whoever is engaging in such things, or ordering others to do it.

    Parent

    Fine (5.00 / 1) (#56)
    by MO Blue on Wed Apr 09, 2014 at 07:11:49 AM EST
    let's take this discussion completely out of the political arena and go by international law.

    International law classifies water boarding as torture. BTW, it does not have a classification for a mild forms of torture. It just classifies certain actions as torture.

    Parent

    If you think someone ... (5.00 / 1) (#47)
    by Yman on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 12:03:25 PM EST
    ... was claiming wakeboarding is the "high point of torture", you should heed your own advice about education and take a basic reading comprehension class ... maybe a choose in logic, too.  There are many forms of torture, and one form needn't be the harshest form imaginable to qualify as torture.

    Parent
    D@mn autocorrect ... (none / 0) (#50)
    by Yman on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 05:14:07 PM EST
    Waterboarding, not wakeboarding.

    Parent
    Parisan spin? (5.00 / 1) (#49)
    by MO Blue on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 03:05:00 PM EST
    IIRC John McCain is a Republican.

    I did not just talk to people who served in WWII. I have relatives, including my father, who served in that war. My father was on full permanent disability as a result of his combat in that war. So please refrain from telling me that I need a real education.

    When it comes to being knowledgeable about the issues under discussion, I doubt there is anyone on this blog that displays a complete lack of knowledge in his comments more than you do. But I have to give it to you, you have never let your lack of knowledge stop you from making your fact free comments.

    Parent

    Partisan? (none / 0) (#42)
    by lentinel on Mon Apr 07, 2014 at 07:59:34 AM EST
    Partisan on whose behalf?

    Parent
    Torture Doesnt Work But There Are Exceptions (none / 0) (#33)
    by john horse on Sun Apr 06, 2014 at 07:26:35 AM EST
    Torture generally doesn't work but it might be the only way to get the CIA and other intelligence agencies to tell the truth and provide valuable information to Congress (sarcasm alert).

    Sure, why not (none / 0) (#35)
    by beefeater on Sun Apr 06, 2014 at 02:32:14 PM EST
    I'll call it torture when we start calling the drone killing of American citizens MURDER and we bring the perpetrator to justice.

    Why is one ... (5.00 / 2) (#36)
    by Yman on Sun Apr 06, 2014 at 03:05:54 PM EST
    ... dependent on the other, and why is your concern limited to American citizens?

    Parent
    Well, that is (5.00 / 1) (#37)
    by Zorba on Sun Apr 06, 2014 at 05:35:15 PM EST
    the essential question, isn't it?
    People are people.  What is done to one of us is done to all, regardless of where we live.

    Parent