News Who will turn the dark and painful page ?

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The discussion centers on President Obama's decision not to prosecute CIA operatives involved in interrogation practices labeled as torture, which has sparked outrage among human rights advocates and former detainees. Critics argue that failing to hold anyone accountable sends a dangerous message and risks repeating past abuses. Some participants highlight the complexity of assigning blame, noting that operatives acted under orders from higher-ups, raising questions about the entire chain of command's responsibility. There is a call for a special prosecutor to investigate, despite concerns about the potential futility and costs of such actions. Ultimately, the conversation reflects a deep concern for the implications of this decision on U.S. moral standing and legal accountability.
  • #151


WhoWee said:
It's funny how Patrick Leahy positions himself...Bush isn't doing enough...

I'd say given the mushroom farm approach to torture disclosures - feed congress BS and keep them in the dark - has likely created a number of misunderstandings about just how calculated and crass the Bush Cheney approach to subverting and ignoring Federal Law would have been.

Distracting with Leahy for any of this is quite a stretch. A red herring.
 
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  • #152


LowlyPion said:
I'd say given the mushroom farm approach to torture disclosures - feed congress BS and keep them in the dark - has likely created a number of misunderstandings about just how calculated and crass the Bush Cheney approach to subverting and ignoring Federal Law would have been.

Distracting with Leahy for any of this is quite a stretch. A red herring.

Did you read the post? I said that he didn't mention interogation techniques in any of his communications until now. As head of the Judicial committee, why wasn't he briefed?

As for the mushroom analysis...got any specific information...BS implies someone lied to Congress...do you have any specifics on the BS?
 
  • #153


WhoWee said:
Did you read the post? I said that he didn't mention interogation techniques in any of his communications until now. As head of the Judicial committee, why wasn't he briefed?

As for the mushroom analysis...got any specific information...BS implies someone lied to Congress...do you have any specifics on the BS?

I would expect that the Senate Armed Services and the Senate Intelligence Committees would have been briefed about such matters. Since these memos have only just now been released, it was clear that the Bush Administration had no intention of sharing their "legal" foundation for their actions, and revealing how crudely they were misapplying the law.

As to lying, ... anytime they ever said they had a legal foundation for their "enhanced" interrogation techniques, they were lying. This is evidenced by the Bush Justice Department itself rescinding these memos after determining the shoddy basis that they were employing to provide this fig leaf for the administration's actions.
 
  • #154


Interesting piece in the NYT:
NYTimes said:
Yet we still shrink from the hardest truths and the bigger picture: that torture was a premeditated policy approved at our government’s highest levels; that it was carried out in scenarios that had no resemblance to “24”; that psychologists and physicians were enlisted as collaborators in inflicting pain; and that, in the assessment of reliable sources like the F.B.I. director Robert Mueller, it did not help disrupt any terrorist attacks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/opinion/26rich.html
My emphasis.
 
  • #156


Newsweek talks about how unnecessary the torture was anyway.
‘We Could Have Done This the Right Way’
How Ali Soufan, an FBI agent, got Abu Zubaydah to talk without torture.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/195089
 
  • #157


LowlyPion said:
Newsweek talks about how unnecessary the torture was anyway.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/195089

Did Newsweek run any stories in the 2 years after September 11, 2001 stating how important it would be to protect/respect the rights and dignity of captured terror suspects...or question any tactics being used?

Again, hind-sight is 20/20.
 
  • #158


WhoWee said:
Did Newsweek run any stories in the 2 years after September 11, 2001 stating how important it would be to protect/respect the rights and dignity of captured terror suspects...or question any tactics being used?

Again, hind-sight is 20/20.

Of course they didn't , as we were attacked by terrorists that want to kill us.After gaining info from the captured terrorists , The Liberty Tower in Los Angelas is still there instead of being a hole in the ground like the World Trade Center.Ask Obama to release the memos speaking of what the "torture" obtained.
But now , 8 years later...Newsweek has adopted a pre 911 veiw. Hind-sight is not 20/20
 
  • #159


WhoWee said:
Did Newsweek run any stories in the 2 years after September 11, 2001 stating how important it would be to protect/respect the rights and dignity of captured terror suspects...or question any tactics being used?

Again, hind-sight is 20/20.

That's pretty irrelevant. This article citation serves to demonstrate that the administration fabricated documents even of the great intelligence successes was fabricated as justification for their illegalities.

What relevance is it that Newsweek did or didn't uncover something 6 years ago about the commission of these acts?
 
  • #160


Lest we forget...

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83319641.html
See more articles from Newsweek

Our Worst Nightmare.(September 11, 2001 attacks)(Brief Article)

Article from:
Newsweek
Article date:
September 13, 2001
More results for:
newsweek sept 11 2001 | Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2001 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)

September 11, 2001

Nothing like this has ever happened to America before. With chilling skill, terrorists struck at our heart last Tuesday, hijacking commercial jets, then crashing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon--cold-blooded murder on a mass scale. The human toll is beyond imagining, the psychic costs difficult to calculate. We always thought we were safe. We were wrong.

United Flight 175, speeds toward its target shortly after 9 a.m. Tens of thousands of people worked in the twin towers.

fire, more than the impact, caused the towers to ... "

Newsweek would not have published an article in 2001 or 2002 discussing "the right wat to interrogate a suspect"...that is what makes it relevant.
 
  • #161


WhoWee said:
Newsweek would not have published an article in 2001 or 2002 discussing "the right wat to interrogate a suspect"...that is what makes it relevant.

The interrogation Memos are dated from August of 2002, nearly a year after the article, when the Bush Administration was casting about for ways to implicate Al Queada for their apparently planned war with Iraq the coming spring.

The more that we know about Bush Cheney, the more it looks to me like obliterating Iraq was their original agenda, actual proof or fabricated proof or no.
 
  • #162


LowlyPion said:
The interrogation Memos are dated from August of 2002, nearly a year after the article, when the Bush Administration was casting about for ways to implicate Al Queada for their apparently planned war with Iraq the coming spring.

The more that we know about Bush Cheney, the more it looks to me like obliterating Iraq was their original agenda, actual proof or fabricated proof or no.
I'm glad you said it. I have believed that (in bold) part of your comments for years now.
 
  • #163


LowlyPion said:
The interrogation Memos are dated from August of 2002, nearly a year after the article, when the Bush Administration was casting about for ways to implicate Al Queada for their apparently planned war with Iraq the coming spring.

The more that we know about Bush Cheney, the more it looks to me like obliterating Iraq was their original agenda, actual proof or fabricated proof or no.

This may surprise you LP, but I have no doubt in my mind Bush wanted Iraq. On the other hand, I'm not sure Clinton wouldn't have done something similar...Hussein provoked him repeatedly.

To be honest, I always thought Bush would push on to Tehran...they have the good oil.
 
  • #164


WhoWee said:
This may surprise you LP, but I have no doubt in my mind Bush wanted Iraq. On the other hand, I'm not sure Clinton wouldn't have done something similar...Hussein provoked him repeatedly.

To be honest, I always thought Bush would push on to Tehran...they have the good oil.

Of course he wanted Iraq. Saddam got the better of his Daddy. And this was likely his chance to find some way, any way, to do better than Dad did. I think Bush is so predictably banal. The real surprise to me would have been if he had actually exercised statesmanship. But alas, those skills were apparently above his abilities. Sadly, he was in tune with Cheney's dark visions, to the detriment of the Nation.

Given more time I have no doubt that he and Cheney would have thrilled to go to Tehran as well. Never mind the consequences, or the lack of justification, and the radicalization of the world that illegal action would have resulted in.
 
  • #165


Carl Levin sheds some light on these documents that Cheney has been calling to have released alleging that torture saved lives.
Levin Calls Cheney A Liar On Torture
By Eric Kleefeld - May 28, 2009, 6:39PM
... Levin said: "But those classified documents say nothing about the numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques. I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction."
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/levin-calls-cheney-a-liar-on-torture.php

Another parlor trick from Cheney, expecting that the documents wouldn't see the light of day, so he could impose his own conclusions on what's not there to begin with?
 

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