OR A SHORT DIATRIBE IN FAVOR OF ENHANCED INTERROGATION From The Daily Gut
It's always amazing listening to people who believe you must adhere to a set of standards when fighting an enemy who refuses to believe standards exist. Our enemy - who beheads the innocent, flings acid into the faces of children, and flies planes into buildings - must relish this endless opera of handwringing - for they know a worried adversary is a weakened one.
Lets get this straight: implementing enhanced interrogation techniques is not immoral. What's immoral is not doing everything possible to prevent an enemy from killing the people you love. That one rule overrules everything - making the actions you take toward that enemy supremely moral - whether the acts involve waterboarding, sleep deprivation, playing loud music, or watching David Shuster.
The idea that waterboarding is evil really stems from certain folks feeling awkward when asked about it at Brentwood cocktail parties. And that's the truly immoral element in this ridiculous debate: if saving face means more than saving lives, then we're totally screwed. I'd rather live in a country that's despised for waterboarding two asshats, than a well-liked one with craters for cities. The desire for popularity is really at the heart of this: and it's a far worse moral crime than anything done with a rag and bucket of water.
To which I say: Amen, brother. Nancy Pelosi is a woman who would perjure herself and weaken our country by playing politics and for the sake making herself look good and for political correctness. It's utterly despicable.
H/T
There is a rule of law to which the US is a signatory, it's called the Geneva Conventions.
ReplyDeleteIf it were, as you say, torture was used to save lives and did so, we might be able to sweep this under the carpet. But it is now a matter of record that torture was used and was ineffective, and most sinister, was not used to protect Americans, but to save face for the Bush administration. Torture was used for political purposes with the express intent to extract a confession to establish a non-existent Iraq - 9/11 link. How could any person with a true set of morals condone torture for political reasons? Especially in cases where people were tortured to death. This is the type of torture you'd expect from Saddam, not an American administration, especially one that ran on a 'moral values' platform.
I'm glad to see GOP Chair Michael Steele said today he supporting a probe into these war crimes. Only the corrupt and immoral person would want to cover up and not seek the truth. Is this what you stand for?
The "blame Pelosi" strategy is simply avoiding the issue and is a pathetic attempt at a diversion.
The Geneva Conventions did not specifically address and apply to terrorists, as you know. And as you also know, terrorists who were not wearing uniforms within an organized army of another country were not considered applicable to theses treaties.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Bush Administration did not consider its enhanced interrogation echniques "torture." and neither does anyone who's been through them. And, Vienna/Ellen I am not going to replow that ground here today....don't have the time or energy....you've made you view known here many times, and so have I.
Excellent, you seem convinced of your righteousness so you'll have no problem with an investigation. Good. That is what we all want, the truth.
ReplyDeleteIn case you missed it, Bush's top Iraq General, David Petraeus admitted today in an interview on FoxNews that the US did in fact violate the Geneva Conventions, in case you had any doubt:
ReplyDelete"When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Conventions we rightly have been criticized, so as we move forward I think it’s important to again live our values, to live the agreements that we have made in the international justice arena and to practice those," Gen. Petraeus said on Fox News Friday afternoon.3 other points.
1) Those that have seen the memos that Cheney said would justify the use of torture prove nothing.
2) A retired US General has said the newest unreleased torture photos reveal that both male and female prisoners were raped and sexually assaulted.
3) Ali Soufan, a former FBI interrogator, revealed in an article being released in June that Osama Bin Laden's bodyguard opened up about the 9/11 terror attacks only after being offered cookies. This echos what Matthew Alexander, US military interrogator has said, brains not brutality elicit intelligence. It was such conventional tactics, not torture, that led to the killing of al Zarqawi.
The case is closed. The top US General has now admitted to US war crimes.