Saturday, October 28, 2006

Torture Use by the United States Government

This is quote from wikipedia:

There have been many reports that the United States has used water-boarding to interrogate prisoners captured in its War on Terrorism. In November 2005, ABC News reported that former CIA agents claimed the CIA had engaged in a modern form of waterboarding, along with five other "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques," against suspected members of al Qaeda, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed. On October 27, 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney apparently confirmed that water-boarding had been used on U.S. detainees, specifically mentioning Khaled Sheikh Mohammed. According to the White House transcript of an interview with Scott Hennen of radio station WDAY:

Hennen: ...And I've had people call and say, please, let the Vice President know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves American lives. Again, this debate seems a little silly given the threat we face, would you agree?
Cheney: I do agree. And I think the terrorist threat, for example, with respect to our ability to interrogate high value detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that's been a very important tool that we've had to be able to secure the nation. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed provided us with enormously valuable information about how many there are, about how they plan, what their training processes are and so forth, we've learned a lot. We need to be able to continue that.
...
Hennen: "Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?"
Cheney: "Well, it's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."
The White House later denied that Mr. Cheney had confirmed the use of waterboarding, saying that U.S. officials do not talk publicly about interrogation techniques because they are classified.
As you can see Mr. Cheney is a barefaced liar . He has stated that the armed forces cannot use water boarding: but the CIA has no such restriction. The CIA is part of the U.S. so they do use torture. What more can I say. They can torture anybody, even you. And you would have to say that you're guilty or you could be tortured to death. Please don't vote for the conservatives this time around people.

5 comments:

Jeff said...

According to US news and world report (a liberal news outlet if ever there was one)... "The water board technique dates back to the 1500s during the Italian Inquisition. A prisoner, who is bound and gagged, has water poured over him to make him think he is about to drown." No one is "dunked in water". They "think" they are oging to drown. It is psychological. I ask again. If your kid was burried in a hole with only hours of air to breathe, how long would you go on asking nicely for the location of the hole?
Lets review the last 20 years of terrorist against the USA:
1986 - April 6: the La Belle discotheque in Berlin, a known hangout for U.S. soldiers, was bombed, killing three and injuring 230 people, for which Libya is held responsible. In retaliation, the US bombs Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon and tries to kill Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi.
1988 - December 21: Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. At the time, it was the worst act of terrorism perpetrated against the United States, and involved the greatest number of peacetime fatalities (270).
1989 - September 19: Suitcase-bomb destroys UTA Flight UT-772 en route to Paris, killing all 171 passengers and crew.
1990 - PLO attack on the US. embassy.
1993 - February 26: World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000 people, by coalition of five groups: Jamaat Al-Fuqra'/Gamaat Islamiya/Hamas/Islamic Jihad/National Islamic Front, see FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, Ramzi Yousef.
1994 - December 11: A small bomb explodes on board Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. Authorities found out that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb to test it for his planned terrorist attack.
1995 - March 8: Terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan, armed with automatic rifles, murdered two American consulate employees and wounded a third as they traveled in the consulate shuttle bus.
1996 - Khobar Towers bombing -- In all, 19 U.S. servicemen and one Saudi were killed and 372 wounded, by Hizballah Al-Hijaz (Saudi Hizballah) with Iranian support.
1998 - U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000.
2000 - USS Cole bombing kills 17 US sailors and wounds 40 off the port coast of Aden, Yemen, by al-Qaeda.
2001 - September 11: Attacks killed 2,997 in a series of hijacked airliner crashes into two U.S. landmarks: the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane, originally intended to hit an unknown, but likely prominent, Washington, D.C. target, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, after an apparent revolt against the hijackers by the plane's passengers; by Al-Qaeda.
There was a Democrat in office from 1992 to 2000. During that time there was a continued escalation in muslim terrorism against the US. The spineless wonder known as Bill Clinton is not far from office. He lives on in the form of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and others.
Just months after coming into office President Bush was faced with the worst act of terrorism/war in over 60 years. The first few weeks of his administration were tangled with the Gore lawsuit that resolved the election. If you like Wikipedia then look up terrorist acts in the US since 2002. Other that local "home grown" things perpetrated by kids who have benefited from 30 years of Dr. Spock and a progressive (liberal) push to remove religion and responsibility from every fascet of their lives there hasn't been any. It has taken 5 years for the number of military deaths to reach the number of civilians killed on Sept 11. Yes it is too many, but it is a war. Did you think that these people were going to stop just because we asked nicely?

Jeff said...

VP Cheney actually states that "the ability to interrogate...(is) a very important tool". He does not say water boarding. His opinion (which is very different) is that a dunk in water is a no brainer.

Jeff Milner said...

jeff,

He actually said, "with respect to our ability to interrogate high value detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, [torture has] been a very important tool that we've had to be able to secure the nation"

Do you see how the US government is lying?

Jeff said...

I see by the your "insertion" of the word torture you've had to make an assumption about what was meant by the phrase. I admit that I also have made an assumption in my interpretation of the paragraph.

Let me ask you this... Would you rather be a prisoner of Al Qaeda or of the US?

Jeff Milner said...

Jeff,

They were talking about torture, using the square brackets wasn't changing the topic—it was just illustrating that technically I wasn't quoting his exact words but I was quoting his exact meaning. When he used the word "that's" he actually meant "torture". Do you believe I was being dishonest with my substitution?

I will indulge you by answering your question: I would rather be a prisoner of the US.

However, do I really need to point out the logical fallacy in even asking this question? It is irrelevant to the point at hand which is about the lies that are being made by the highest offices of the American government.

Why are you changing the subject? Don't try and continue the comparison between where I would rather be a prisoner because that's not what this is about.