Re: Evidence Indicates that the Bush Administration Conducted Torture Experiments and
Title too freaking long!
Evidence Indicates that the Bush Administration Conducted Experiments and Research on Detainees to Design Torture Techniques and Create Legal Cover
Evidence Indicates that the Bush Administration Conducted Experiments and Research on Detainees to Design Torture Techniques and Create Legal Cover
While the evidence is obviously not public and therefore I can't really judge the accuracy of the allegations, if this is something solid it really should be brought to the light. I really think 9/11 pushed America to compromise some of its core values. Slowly and steadily we eroded civil liberties and started doing a legal dance with the goal of inflicting more pain on people who are prisoners of war. And don't think I'm just pointing a finger at Bush. The PATRIOT act passed with a huge majority in both parties. Congressional committees oversea a lot of these high-level intelligence activities, or at least they're supposed to. The Obama administration hasn't changed any of these practices significantly, and has even extended the arm of government further in some cases.
It's ****ed up. I want it to stop. We're at war with terror, allegedly. We should treat prisoners as prisoners of war. They may not have signed the Geneva Convention, but we did. This "enemy combatant" label was fabricated with the express purpose of circumventing that code of conduct that we're supposed to stand for.
"All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. "
"Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one."
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- All three Benjamin Franklin
We are America! I don't give a rats ass if it helps! We are America! We do not ****ing torture!"
- Shepherd Smith
First, the entire premise is that the Bush administration were engaged in the wholesale torture of everyone who was detained by US forces in the US GWOT.
The evidence refutes this premise ENTIRELY. The WORST CASE EVIDENCE provides that the US 'water-boarded' only a very few individuals; all of which were highly placed in al qaeda; with the episodes of such being in the months following 9-11; when it was reasonable to, and widely believed, that our Islamic enemies were in the process of executing other such attacks.
And while it's all well and good that pacifists should be allowed to advocate for ethereal notions of universal peace, reality is that the universe is not prone toward peace and declaring that recognizing the violent nature of the universe and preparing to defend against that violence somehow encourages, thus increase that violence, is simply and demonstrably absurd.
And this without regard for what Shepard Smith parrots.
Second, the word torture is meaningless. This because it is subjective and requires a STATED CONTEXT. For instance one could accurately declare that having to read these inane anti-American pacifist rants, 'is torture'; that root canals are torture; that deep-tissue message and basic cable are ALL TORTURE; that each INDUCE VARIOUS AND PREDICTABLE DISCOMFORT onto the individual. And the use of the term; which is the SAME TERM USED TO CONVEY DRILLNG HOLES INTO THE KNEES AND ELBOWS, REMOVING DIGITS AND LIMBS, and other unspeakable, inhuman cruelties, is designed to project US Interrogation of the Terrorist Enemy of the US; as immoral, illegal and as a clear and present danger to civilization itself; that the US DEFENSE FROM TERRORIST EVIL; is immoral.
It's illegal and immoral to pull a side arm, shove it in the face of the person immediately to your front and discharge a supersonic projectile, crushing their skull; forcing the resultant bone fragments into their frontal lobe of their brain, followed up immediately by that seering hot steel encased lead bullet... in MOST situations that MOST people will ever experience.
It's an act which most people would consider UNACCEPTABLE!
EVER! FOR ANY REASON! And that's because those people cannot fathom that another person would be standing in front of them with every intention of IMMEDIATELY killing or seriously injuring them or their family. Such people, usually tend to adjust their 'feelings' on that hard and fast rule, immediately following their being subjected to such an experience; and where they are fortunate enough to survive such, they typically return with a brand new perspective. One which results in their becoming much better prepared to defend themselves from the violent nature which exist around them.
The same CONTEXT applies to the justification for inducing discomfort onto those being detained by US Forces. IF YOU ARE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE PLANNING AND EXECUTION OF A SNEAK ATTACK ON INNOCENT PEOPLE, WHICH RESULTED IN THE MURDER OF 3000 PEOPLE and you're fortunate enough to be 'detained'... It would behoove you to be truthful and forthcoming during the ensuing interviews, or fully expect to find yourself facing a substantial and prolonged period of discomfort designed to encourage you to 'open up'.
Which is to say that detaining your neighbor, locking them in your basement and water-boarding them is an immoral act. Right? Would anyone disagree with that?
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Now let's change the context... You came home from work; found a note from your neighbor with the ring finger of your minor child informing you that you should know they have your child and if you call the cops they'll kill that child; but to come on over and discuss it. ... The ensuing discussion results in your prevailing, after having been informed that your child is buried alive at an undisclosed location.
Sounds pretty nuts doesn't it?
Of course I remember like it was yesterday, when the idea that some force would 'attack the United States, murdering 3000 innocent people; taking down the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and four jumbo jets full of people was a pretty far fetched notion relegated to the pages of thriller novels and tin-foil hat cranks...
Here's the thing... When time is of the essence and ya absolutely positively NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH! There's few methods of getting that truth from those determined to keep it to themselves, than WATERBOARDING.
And spare me the nonsense that 'water-boarding doesn't work.'
I don't give a red rat's @$$ who you are, or what you think you know... But you will tell your interviewer whatever they want to know, whatever you think they want to hear... TRUTH, FICTION, You'll tell them anything to make it stop.
Now... This is a principle which Americans understand; but which is obscured by those determined to undermine the US.
And there's really not much more to it; except to say that UNLIKE ACTUAL TORTURE: Those subjected to US Coercive interrogation can still walk, they have all their fingers, toes and testicles and as a general rule, are no worse the wear after the experience; and they're WHOLLY responsible for how far it goes and how long it takes.
In other words: US Coercive interrogation is NOT TORTURE and to declare it to BE SUCH; is simple deception.
