Boston01
The Fly
I should say 'We aim to please, Father!' ... that show is brilliant!
you should ask george bush and all the defenders of "enhanced interrogation techniques" if they think john mccain, a prisoner of war, was tortured.
I'm sending him an email now. I'll let you know what he says when he comes to visit Baghdad at Christmas -- we'll probably get Condi instead. Or maybe some pro wrestlers or playboy bunnies.
Either way, we'll be entertained.
i quite agree. he was tortured.
you should email your president and tell him.
"All torture is wrong."
So much for liberal nuance.
The fact that "guests" in Guantanamo receive three culturally sensitive meals a day, medical care, a Koran and time to pray five times a day.
The Hanoi Hilton... wasn't as accommodating.
I wasn't aware of the fact that the legal and commonly understood definition of torture was conditional to the person being tortured being a soldier.
I suppose all civilians are out of luck then.
I am very disturbed by this sort of thinking. VERY.
Have any uniformed soldiers been "tortured" in the past 6 years?
The fact that John McCain was a uniformed soldier entitled to full Geneva Convention protections.
The detainees captured by Americans had no uniform, fought for no country and were unlawful combatants.
Have any uniformed soldiers been "tortured" in the past 6 years?
The fact that John McCain was interrogated for information but also beaten and tortured out of revenge and anger because he refused an early release, to meet with anti-war groups, sign false confessions or propaganda letters.
I'm aware of that.John McCain did in fact sign a false confession.
Which is the point of torture. People will say anything to get it to stop.
so much for conservative moral clarity and resistance to relativism.
I'm aware of that.
What I'm not aware of is our country coercing any of these false confessions. What I have not seen, is FoxNews or any other outlet flaunting these documents to prove ours the just and virtuous cause.
True, which is why I only approve of it in isolated circumstances (grave urgency, information of high value about operations or terror plots), done only on captured terror suspects and only by trained professionals within prescribed parameters and with cabinet level or higher approval and with congressional oversight.)
Never on a uniformed soldier, or as punishment or to gain evidence for trial.
So all torture is bad. Ok, that's a noble position. But tell me, would you ever say killing is always bad? War, self-defense, murder... no difference, it's all killing and none of it can never be justified. Pacifism, that's noble right? But how practicle is it? How practicle is any absolutism?
How about this. How far does your terror prohibition go? Is solitary confinement "torture"? How about sodium pentathol? How about serving goat entrails for dinner two nights in a row? Or with stale dates?
Is a ham sandwich torture?
exceptionalism.
remind yourself of that.
exceptionalism.
we only torture for the right reasons.
Would you be a tad less sarcastic if we called it American Fabulousism?
the "infliction of intense pain (as from burning, crushing, or wounding) to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure" kinda torture as defined by Merriam Webster and denizens of reality.
capitulating Europeans and all other sufferers of Bush Derangement Syndrome