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John McCain CIA Torture Report Senate Speech

The 9/11 attacks were the "solemn duty" of the terrorists who committed them in order to defend their way of life against the threat the United States posed to it. It's good to know that you think their actions were honorable.

They had the courage of their convictions. That is what makes them a tough opponent. The difference is that we try to protect innocent lives; they try to take them.
 
I believe that Dershowitz wanted a court hearing before the torture began. Dershowitz's proposal wasn't great but it would be better than having virtually no oversight or consequences.

The problem with torture is that torturers start enjoying it and want to to use more extreme pain, and torture as many people as possible. I think there should be a bit more of a presumption of guilt when there is no question that the torture was committed by the people on trial. In other words, torture should remain illegal with the possibility of a torturer having a reasonable justification in rare cases. More like the way police officers are routinely taken off duty and their badge and weapon confiscated after they shoot someone, no matter the circumstances.

[h=3]The Case for Torture Warrants - Alan M. Dershowitz[/h]www.alandershowitz.com/.../docs/torturewarrants.htmlAlan Dershowitz


The Case for Torture Warrants. by Alan M. Dershowitz. Ó2002. Now that it has been disclosed that our government had information of “undetermined reliability”, ...
 
OK, so you won't fall for the Republican Neocon hustle. Will you fall for the Democratic Neoliberal hustle? That's what we will get if Hillary Clinton wins in 2016.

I'm admittedly unfamiliar with Neoliberalism, but it sure doesn't sound like my ideology:

Neoliberalism

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan gave neo-liberalism a big boost in the 1980s. By then, many economists treated it as an unquestionable and inevitable truth – rather than as a vested economic construct – enabling Thatcher and Reagan to lead the neo-liberal ‘revolution’ with their rallying cries of "competition" and "efficiency." Allowing these mantras to shape all decisions regarding economic, political and social policy, and driven by a strict social Darwinism, neo-liberalists reshaped the face of the world economy in less than a decade. But while competition and efficiency govern life at the lowest levels of society and economy, transnational corporations still reign virtually unhindered in an almost monopolistic alliance.

In a world driven by neo-liberalism, privatization is supposedly the answer to all problems. Privatization began in earnest in Britain under Thatcher, but soon spread to the US under Reagan. In the neo-liberal worldview, anything that has not been privatized is inefficient, and this informs the drive to privatize the public sectors, including things like health care, schooling, welfare and social security. But in order to privatize some public sector services, such as railroads, power grids and waterworks, neo-liberalists are hijacking systems that were constructed and maintained under a welfare state model.
 
I agree with President GW Bush.

I agree with Vice-President Dick Cheney.

I agree with the leadership of the CIA.

These are all honorable men, doing honorable things at a time when America needed such leadership.

As Vice-President Cheney said recently, "these agents deserve commendation, not criticism".

All that said, I'm glad the report was released.

They may well be honorable men, but there was nothing honorable about what they were doing. Call it a necessary evil if you must, but to call what they were doing honorable is to render the word meaningless.
 
I suppose we can agree to disagree on this. Sometimes bad people must have bad things done to them. I am grateful that we have people willing to take these steps in order to protect us.

The Marxist and his henchmen have damaged the US. This is disgusting. And McCain? The Senator from McCain? He stood with our enemies, the Democrats today.

this quote reminds me of something Heinrich Himmler said during the second world war, about how it was amazing that the Germans had managed to remain such decent fellows in spite of all the terrible things they were forced to do.

You should dream of ever having the balls John McCain has. Of course, he's actually been tortured, unlike you.
 
Usually, but not always. I'm not sure about the reasoning behind it, but we recently traded five terrorists from Gitmo for one American Private named Bergdahl. I'm sure he is happy to be home, and the terrorists are happy to be back in the ME, so everything worked out just fine. :confused:

Right. Obama traded five generals for one deserter.
 
The United States Department of Defense (DOD) had stopped reporting Guantanamo suicide attempts in 2002. In mid-2002 the DoD changed the way they classified suicide attempts, and enumerated them under other acts of "self-injurious behavior".

On January 24, 2005 the U.S. military revealed that in 2003, there were 350 incidents of "self-harm."[1] 120 of those incidents of self-harm were attempts by detainees to hang themselves. Twenty-three detainees participated in a mass-suicide attempt from August 18 to 26, 2003.[1] A number of incidents happened after a change in command at the camp in 2003 increased the severity of interrogation techniques used by military and CIA intelligence officers.[1]

On June 10, 2006, the DOD announced that three prisoners held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps had committed suicide. The June 10, 2006 suicides were the first inmate deaths at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.[2] The DoD acknowledged there had been a total of 41 suicide attempts among 29 detainees until that date.[2] Since June 2006, DOD has announced three suicide deaths by detainees at Guantanamo. In 2008, the NCIS released a heavily redacted report of its investigation of the three suicides at Guantanamo in 2006.

In reports published in 2009 and 2010, Seton Hall University Law School's Center for Policy and Research and a joint investigation by Harper's magazine and NBC News, respectively, strongly criticized the government's account of the 2006 suicides. Harper's 2010 article, based on accounts by four former Guantanamo guards, asserted that DOD had initiated a cover-up of deaths resulting from torture during interrogation. The DOD has denied these allegations.

Fourth suicide, May 30, 2007

The Southern Command announced on the evening of May 30, 2007 that a Saudi prisoner had died of suicide.[32][33] They announced: "The detainee was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell by guards." The DoD did not immediately release the dead man's identity. The DoD asserted that his body would be treated with cultural sensitivity.

The statement closed with the following:[32][33]

"The mission of detention and interrogation at Guantanamo continues. This mission is vital to the security of our nation and our allies and is being carried out professionally and humanely by the men and women of Joint Task Force Guantanamo."

On May 31, 2007 Saudi officials announced that the dead man was Abdul Rahman Maadha al-Amry.[34] The Associated Press reported that same day that al-Amry had been identified as one of the "high-value detainees", held in Camp 5.[35][36] Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald reported his name as Abdul Rahman Ma Ath Thafir Al Amri and that he was a military veteran of the Saudi army.[37] He had never been allowed to meet with an attorney.[37]

Other newspaper reports commented on the timing of the death, pointing out that it was almost a year after the three deaths of June 10, 2006. They noted that both incidents followed a new commander being assigned to JTF-GTMO. In addition, the deaths had occurred before the convening of a military commission to judge detainees' cases.[38][39]
Fifth suicide June 1, 2009

Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi, a 31-year-old prisoner from Yemen, died in the camps on June 1, 2009. On June 2, 2009 the DOD reported that he committed suicide.[40] [41] A number of journalists were at the camp to cover a military commission for Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who is the youngest detainee and the last western citizen to be held there. (Note: He was returned to Canada in 2012 after a plea bargain, to continue serving his sentence.) The camp authorities did not allow journalists to report news of Al Hanashi's death until after they had left Guantanamo.[41]
Sixth suicide May 18, 2011

DOD announced that Inayatullah, 37, an Afghan detainee held since 2007 on suspicion of being a member of Al Qaeda, was found dead on May 18, an apparent suicide.[42] The press reported that his given name is Hajji Nassim, according to his attorney.[43] He was referred to as Inayatullah only at the Guantanamo camp. He was arrested in Iran near the border with Afghanistan, and was classified by DOD as an "indefinite detainee."[43]
Wikipedia

You know they do those things because some people will sympathize with them. Like you.

Personally, I believe we should give every one of the option of being released in the middle of the Atlantic ocean or to live their lives quietly at Club Med.
 
"I suppose we can agree to disagree on this. Sometimes bad people must have bad things done to them. I am grateful that we have people willing to take these steps in order to protect us.

The Marxist and his henchmen have damaged the US. This is disgusting. And McCain? The Senator from McCain? He stood with our enemies, the Democrats today."
this quote reminds me of something Heinrich Himmler said during the second world war, about how it was amazing that the Germans had managed to remain such decent fellows in spite of all the terrible things they were forced to do.

You should dream of ever having the balls John McCain has. Of course, he's actually been tortured, unlike you.
How do you know McCain has any balls today. He endured. He had no choice. Today he is a danger to society.

What relationship do you find between the traitorous, but not yet a traitor, John McCain, who endured because he was shot down in a war and was tortured, and someone on the Internet who is grateful that people like you were not in charge after we were attacked on September 11th?
 


Too bad that video is propaganda. They use giant 4 inch diameter, pressurized pipes to water board. Do you have any idea how much water can eject from 4 inch piping? You can actually drown a person to death with it.
 
Too bad that video is propaganda. They use giant 4 inch diameter, pressurized pipes to water board. Do you have any idea how much water can eject from 4 inch piping? You can actually drown a person to death with it.

Where in the world did you hear that?
 
Where in the world did you hear that?

I seen it when they did a tour and recorded the facilities. They showed the water boarding section and I noticed they used benches with 4 inch piping.
 
There is really nothing I can say to someone that still believes in the ethics of centuries past that wouldn't be breaking the rules.

If it helps you are welcome to message me privately. I have only flagged one pathetic individual, ever on this board. I won't turn you in, either way.
 
Isn't it wonderful to have that luxury?

not really. our country is still engaged in perpetual war, even though history proves that strategy to be a potential road to even more conflict, and eventual collapse.
 
Actually, he does, being a POW for several years. I may not agree with him on everything but he's sure earned the right to be heard.

(I'm one of the few people that actually likes John McCain)

McCain has been heard enough. It is time to stop hearing from that SOB. He now stands with traitors.
 
"what does Feinstein giving aid and comfort to our enemies in wartime have to do with establishing policy?

Do you believe Washington's words kept the infantryman from occasionally clubbing a wounded enemy or giving him just one more jab with his bayonet?

Do you believe Washington's policy, in enemy hands would cause them to attack Americans with greater fury?"
I believe that our treatment of POW's gives the enemy the excuse to treat our troops the same way. They can also use it as propaganda.

Then you agree with me that the reprehensible Democrats, typified by the traitor Feinstein, has harmed the nation and damaged the CIA in was that won't be repaired for decades.
 
Like I said, perhaps one could argue that torture is necessary or even morally permissible. It is, however, a step much too far to call the decision to torture people honorable. There is no honor in such disregard for human life even when it is necessary.

This disgusts me. You want the result. But you do not want the responsibility.

You can't handle the truth.

 
"Isn't it wonderful to have that luxury?"
not really. our country is still engaged in perpetual war, even though history proves that strategy to be a potential road to even more conflict, and eventual collapse.
What does your response have to do with my comment?
 
"what does Feinstein giving aid and comfort to our enemies in wartime have to do with establishing policy?

Do you believe Washington's words kept the infantryman from occasionally clubbing a wounded enemy or giving him just one more jab with his bayonet?

Do you believe Washington's policy, in enemy hands would cause them to attack Americans with greater fury?"


Then you agree with me that the reprehensible Democrats, typified by the traitor Feinstein, has harmed the nation and damaged the CIA in was that won't be repaired for decades.

The damage was done 8 years ago. Only the accounting was done this week (...and I agree the accounting was pretty sloppy and incomplete). Nonetheless, its time to stand up and be counted. You either believed it was ok to torture people or you did not. Either way, stand up! The truth will set you free.
 
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perhaps you should read it again.

Do you think repetition will improve your statement?

I do not.

You don't support any kind of torture. That is a nice, safe, easy statement with no actual meaning. But you do have the luxury of making statements that have no actual meaning.

But you believe this somehow makes a difference...

"not really. our country is still engaged in perpetual war, even though history proves that strategy to be a potential road to even more conflict, and eventual collapse."

It is as if you went to sleep, woke up and typed the first thing that came into your mind.

In addition, can you explain your statement?

" Our country is still engaged in perpetual war..."

Okay. Nearly all of history is the history of mankind at war with mankind.

"...even though history proves that strategy to be a potential road to even more conflict..."
Is perpetual war a strategy? To what end?

If war is perpetual doesn't that mean more conflict?
 
The damage was done 8 years ago. Only the accounting was done this week (it it was pretty weak). Time to stand up and be counted. The truth will set you free.

Why not just admit that you like the traitorous Democrats and, if truth be told, are one yourself?
This was a democratic party hit piece against the CIA and the nation.
 
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