Representative Jane Harman (D-CA):shocking memo APPEARS TO JUSTIFY TORTURE

[LittleApple81]

on edit: modified the subject even though I used what MSNBC had. By no means did I want people to believe that "a democrat" approves torture!!!

By the way, MSNBC does not say Representative Harman, but "Democrat says memo justifies prisoner torture." I wonder why they have to say Democrat???? Hmmmmm?

snip...

Rep. Jane Harman of California, senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, released excerpts of one internal Bush administration memo and called its views “antithetical to American laws and values” in arguing that torture may be justified and that the president is above the law in his role as commander-in-chief.

“This memo is shocking in that it appears to justify torturing prisoners in U.S. control,” Harman said.

RELATED DOCUMENT

Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a letter Tuesday to Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, laid out the administration’s legal reasoning on the issue in greater detail than before and denied that the Justice Department was condoning torture.

“The department has done no such thing,” Ashcroft said in the letter.

Ashcroft told senators at a Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday that his department will vigorously investigate those accused of torture that are outside military jurisdiction.

snip...
Still, the attorney general refused to give the committee copies of department memos written in 2002 that Democratic senators said could have laid legal groundwork for abuses that occurred at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere in the war on terror.

snip...

more at link....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5165156/

[Old and In the Way]

1. I think your subject line is a tad misleading.

She's not saying she approves torture based on the content of the memo, but that's what I thought your thread was stating.

[pinto]

3. that's the MSNBC headline, sub-header says "memo shocking"

but your right, a cursory read could be read as Ms. Harmon's views...

MSNBC may have noticed....

[Old and In the Way]

4. Unbelievable, isn't it?

We are a society of headline readers and this one clearly conveys the false connection that Democrats are supporting the tortures based on the memo.

If I'm the Ms Harman, I'd be demanding a posted clarification of that headline. And I don't think this was accidental on MSNBC's part either.

[pinto]

2. "Dem says memo 'antithetical to American values' " would be a closer

representation of what Ms. Harmon meant, obviously.

The MSNBC headline can be misread and many people only read the headlines....

[Piperay]

5. Harman is my Congresswoman

and it pisses me off that they tried to make it look like she would approve such a thing, she certainly would NOT!

[gratuitous]

6. Ashcroft will "vigorously investigate"

He won't prosecute, or bring any legal actions, but by golly he'll investigate the heckola out of 'em! But only if they're outside military jurisdiction. Gee, I wonder if the torturers for hire at CACI and Titan will be found to be in some murky gray area where they become neither military nor civilian, and therefore immune from prosecution?

Now taking bets in Vegas. Look for the big board labeled "Sucker".