Comments for Waterboarding Is Illegal »
Posted By tehranchik 11 months, 2 weeks ago in Political NewsIn his 2007 confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee considering his nomination to be Attorney General of the United States, Judge Michael Mukasey refused to address the legality of waterboarding.[1] In my opinion there is no reasonable dispute about this matter. The laws of the United States make waterboarding unlawful in no uncertain terms.[2]
In July 2002, President Bush’s lawyers reportedly approved the use of what are euphemistically called “enhanced interrogation techniques” to question prisoners detained in the War on Terror.[3] These techniques reportedly included subjecting prisoners to “longtime standing,” in which “prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours;” “the cold cell,” where “[t]he prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees [and] [t]hroughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water;” and “waterboarding,” which is an old form of torture also known as “water torture” or “the water cure.”[4] This latter method is preferred by some interrogators because, if the victim lives, it leaves no visible signs of torture upon the prisoner’s body.[5] During waterboarding, the victim is tied to an inclined board, his head lower than his feet, while interrogators pour water over the victim’s face, which may be covered with a towel or cellophane.[6] As the victim breathes in water, “a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.”[7] It was reported that “CIA officers who subjected themselves to the waterboarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in.”[8] According to the CIA, three prisoners in American custody have been “waterboarded.”[9]
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tehranchik11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Technology Expert submitted this over a year ago.
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http://www.propeller.com/story/2007/05/29/the-orig... -
AbuAmirahComment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned
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lovemorgulComment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned
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Commodore111 months, 2 weeks ago
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Yes how high and mighty U morons are w/your illegal interrogation rhetoric. As usual U morons don't offer a better alternative for extracting information from those deemed enemies of the U.S. Please just stay up there on your high horses. You're obviously lacking the intelligence to understand the necessity of it. U all whined after 9/11 asking why our intel didn't know then when Bush took action what do U do? U turn. It's because of him were safe and had no other attacks. When another attack occurs I'm sure U whiners will just whine some more. What else R U good at?
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Tangent00111 months, 2 weeks ago
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The best German interrogator from WWII, Hanns-Joachim Schraff, used kindness and respect and got far better results than any of his peers (so much so, he was known as 'The Master'). Intel derived from torture is notoriously unreliable.
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Tangent00111 months, 2 weeks ago
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"Schraff correctly realized that only a bare fraction of captured enemies would have information of immediate tactical use. And it is highly unlikely that one could extract that information in time to use it. So torturing an enemy to get the “whole story” would be a waste of time. Additionally it would run the risk of getting false information from the prisoner.
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Instead, he did everything in his power to help the captives feel relaxed and safe. He would have long talks with the captives and discuss philosophy or some other seemingly safe topic for a prisoner to discuss. All the while, he was collecting bits and pieces of information that he would assemble and use to support the German war effort. Their best interrogator, and he never had to raise his voice.
As a result, after the war Schraff wasn’t tried for war crimes. Instead he was invited to the US to speak to the military about his interrogation techniques. These techniques have come to be used by trained interrogators worldwide."
http://kevinrobinson.wordpress.com/2006/10/05/on-t...
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dwemm11 months, 2 weeks ago
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This was the lead story in the Washington Post this morning.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic... -
Global_WarmerComment removed: Abusive21 Replies
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Charlson11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the gang are no better than the terrorists. The end DOES NOT justify the means. Commode and Global Wetter are prime examples of the mindset of torturers. When you resort to the same tactics as your enemies, then what differentiates you from them? Your cause may be just but your methods are not and that makes your cause tainted with injustice.
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BravoSierra11 months, 2 weeks ago
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That waterboarding is torture is built into our cultural zeitgeist. One of the best examples that we consider waterboarding torture is that simulated or controlled drowning is used to set the stage for the story at the beginning of the 007 movie "Die Another Day". Having seen training to condition and prepare soldiers for interrogation methods the typical soldier would spill all kinds of information after just three days of being in a pit in the ground, cold and miserable without food. I think there is no doubt that waterboarding is illegal. Instead of quibbling over technical definitions we need to have a serious moral debate on whether we think we should torture if we think there is any chance of saving lives; or, whether we think that by losing the moral high ground we strengthen our enemies' resolve. I can tell you, that as a former Marine, hearing of US soldiers being tortured made us 100 times more resolved and deadly to our enemy. Keeping the moral high ground and the resolve that right is on our side is a force multiplier many times greater than any or all information obtained by torture. Torture is illegal...and it is a self-destructive strategy and tactic. Knowing we are becoming the 'bad-guys' destroys our own will to fight more effectively than anything the enemy can do to us.
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BravoSierra11 months, 2 weeks ago
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In my mind, the only way to regain the pure hearts of the righteous warriors that we used to be, men and women who would bring down Hitlers, Stalins and others like them, is to prosecute the Administration and CIC that authorized torture.
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BravoSierra11 months, 2 weeks ago
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The most self-destructive thing a soldier or warrior can do is break the internal covenant that he or she has with himself and his or her God to stay in the right. We talk about key terrain in strategy and tactics. The moral high ground is the most critical piece of terrain in any conflict because it is the foundation upon which the will to fight is built.
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Global_WarmerComment removed: Abusive2 Replies
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BravoSierra11 months, 2 weeks ago
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The most self-destructive thing a soldier, warrior or nation can do is break the internal covenant that he or she has with himself and his or her God to stay in the right. We talk about key terrain in strategy and tactics. The moral high ground is the most critical piece of terrain in any conflict because it is the foundation upon which the will to fight is built.
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In this regard, see the psychobiographies on Bush that are coming out. It's likely that we put a sociopath or at least a Self-Defeating Personality Disorder in the Presidency. That we are even having this debate means he lead us off the moral high ground. -
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Poulenc11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Putting aside--but not too far aside--the issue of whether torture works, a country must follow the law. Absent doing this, its moral authority is jeopardized.
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And once that occurs, one is already at the bottom of that much referred to slippery slope. -
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Hhussk11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and all the other "enhanced interrogation" techniques should not be restricted.
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The debate is still ongoing to its illegality. President Bush spoke to his legal counsel before pursuing his options.
The reason people are expressing their problem with waterboarding et al. is because of moral "high ground" and not law. The opponents of these actions are pursuing legal action to influence what they believe. And that's fine; we should expect this in our free nation.
The problem with moral high ground has been established in early philisophical arguments. What applies to you today is a matter of survival.
If you maintain moral high ground, you will die.
If you adapt, you will survive. -
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Poulenc11 months, 2 weeks ago
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Oh, please, Hhussk! It's not either-or. That is, survival on one side, the moral high ground on the other.
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It's just this sort of dichotomous, authoritarian thinking that continually creates grave difficulties for us.
That Bush spoke to his legal counsel before embarking on torture is the coldest comfort. Sorry--it's no comfort at all.
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