US security chief does not rule out torture

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14351404.htm

LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said on Friday that torture could be used to extract information from terror suspects in extreme cases to prevent huge loss of life.

He told the BBC in an interview that the United States did not condone the use of torture, but said it could happen "under an extreme set of circumstances" such as the threat of a nuclear holocaust.

In such a case "you would try to exhaust potentially every means you could to extract the information to save hundreds and thousands of people," he told the BBC's HARDTalk programme.

"But by and large, as a matter of policy, we need to state over and over again: we do not condone the use of torture to extract information from terrorists."

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[Technowitch]

1. Translation: "We don't 'condone', but we do it anyway."

Why? Because they want to.

[ixion]

2. garbage like this should simply not be allowed

So Ridge endorses torture by the US, and the MSM just report it.

No one seems to realize the extent, the ramifications, of that type of proclaimation.

In short, we are so very, very screwed.

[Malikshah]

3. Does that mean

that, God forbid, he gets captured and they want information that would save "huge loss of life" that he could be tortured?

Do these people even think before they open their mouths?

This guy is certifiably wacko.

It's clear that he doesn't care about US citizens (troops or civilians)--if we condone torture and conduct it--it will be used against us.

What a sick bastard.

[NNN0LHI]

4. To prove it really works could we try it on Ridge first?

That way we won't be wasting a lot of time. Hook about 220 Volts to the genitals of this Frankenstein looking mother and see if he tells the truth.

Don

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Remember kiddies, the Israelis tried this

it is called the Ticking Bomb Standard. It works so well that the Israeli Supreme Court declared it ilegal some time ago... I guess Bolton and the rest of the boys, including Boykin, forgot to read that memo....

By the way, I wonder if we could try it on Ridge to make the point that it does not work... and anybody who knows the least about interrogation knows it does not work and produces pure BS... when in the depths of pain anybody will say whatever will make the pain stop... so Tom can we try to see how many lies we can get out of YOU? By the way, anybody has some electrical wires? Don't watch, ain't pleasant...

[MisterP]

6. plot for '05: Ingrid Newkirk (doubleplusungood) turns out to be Iranian-

Syrian (doubledoubleplusungood) and HS Thug Czar has every birdwatcher and shelter worker's ribs torn out one by one to "save lives" (plusgood).
And from the Shadowrun timeline:
"1999: the Seretech Decision"
"when a mob attacks a Seretech truck hauling infectious medical wastes in the mistaken belief that it carries food, Seretech security forces use lethal force to protect it. 20 Seretech employees and 200 rioters are killed.
"the Supreme Court upholds Seretech's actions as responsible for saving thousands of lives, rather than costing hundreds.
"2001: the Shiawase Decision
"The shiawase court decision establishes extraterritoriality for megacorps."
(oh, doubledoubledoubledoubleplusgood, Commander Eddie Munster! orgasmically doubledoubledoubledoubleplusgood!)

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. My my, when fiction meets reality

by the way... I doubt most of the Shadowrun plot will come to be... but one that is even scarier is mongoose's Warmech fighting one set in 2082.

DoD beomes General Defense by 2050... no more Department of Defense, no more US Army... now it is... yep privatized and outsouced.

Read it someday... will make the fun and games with the dragons and the great awakening read more like fantasy than reality

[MisterP]

13. another future route in fiction: Max Headroom

bizzes are angry that people aren't recording the ads when recording TV shows; they're restricting TiVos, I think, or working on it.
Why limit ourselves to Orwell and Huxley, Orwell and Huxley, Orwell and Huxley, Orwell and Huxley when we have so MANY hellish dystopias to choose from!
On edit: I still have no idea what your last line means (I was referring to the corporate extraterritoriality than the fantasy elements, though I can't be sure about Rumsfeld).

[arcane1]

7. makes sense.. anyone who would detonate a nuclear bomb..

would NEVER lie under torture :eyes:

[VegasWolf]

8. But, but. didn't they just convict graner for torture? I'm confused.n/t

[onenote]

10. this reminds me of the old joke

Man asks woman if she'll sleep with him for a million dollars. She says yes. So he inquires whether she'll sleep with him for two dollars. She says no and yells, "what kind of woman do you think I am"? He answers: we've established that, we're just negotiating the price.

Tom Ridge: we acknowledge we're torturers. We're still negotiating the price.

onenote

[Orsino]

11. Translation: "We condone torture." n/t

[NYC]

12. How would you know that the person you are torturing

actually has the information anyway?

It's just a wild guess, isn't it?

[0007]

14. This whole scenario is sickening and Tom Ridge is one dumb asshole

Guaranteed this will come back to bite him one day.

[Voltaire99]

15. "Rule it out"?

These scum live and breathe it.

[FlyByNight]

16. Yet again, just more double-speak in triplicate

In what circumstance was torture ever used to "prevent huge loss of life?" How about some examples Tom? What the fuck does one have to do with the other?

Orwell would be proud.