Richard Cohen (WAPO) writes yet another pro-torture column: "What if Cheney is right?"

[Old Hank]

Richard Cohen, who recently begged that Bush-era torturers not be investigated or prosecuted, today has written yet another piece condoning torture and asking that the memos Cheney cites, purportedly proving the efficacy of torture, be released.

Cohen does not ask for documents which could undermine Cheney's point, nor does he once mention the Convention Against Torture, which makes the practice illegal under any circumstances. He is clearly angry that we flooded his latest pro-torture column with dissenting voices.

But you be the judge. I invite you to read the piece and post your comment in the readers' section:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051102668.html

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Richard Cohen has been a whore for years and years .....

He's also got a reputation for chasing young female interns around, that nice married guy. He's slowed down, though, in his dotage.

I quit reading him when he climbed up on the "Bomb Iraq" bandwagon, and couldn't get his lips off Chimpy Fucknuts' ass. Then I just cancelled my Post subscription, after thirty years.

I miss neither of them .....................

[Bolo Boffin]

2. What if Irish babies really could have sustained the Irish during the potato famine?

Cohen needs to get real.

[BlooInBloo]

3. It's funny because they're the same people who whine about how we can't live without them...

I can't wait for the papers to go out of business.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. What if God wants Cohen to incinerate the planet with thermal nuclear devices?

Yeah, what if?

[WillParkinson]

5. It is not a bad question. I think it deserves consideration.

The Cabal of Mr. Bush held lots of secret meetings that threatened to damage the United States horribly, both domestically and internationally. I think we should get Mr. Cheney and try it out on him to see what, if any, secrets he will spill under torture...er, I mean enhanced interrogation. If, as Mr. Cheney states, it does work, then we can discuss it. I do realize, however, it may take many many sessions to finally get all of our questions answered, but that's a step we must be willing to take.

[Truth2Tell]

6. This is a good sign actually.

They've gone to the bench. This is second rate propaganda. They've used up all the heavy hitters and yet they still can't move opinion quite enough. Desperation.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. Media whore indeed!

Is it possible that Cohen would not even be "debating" the use of torture, if the tortured parties were of Western European origin or of a different religion? I wonder ... .
The US is also party to international conventions against torture, which brand its use as a war crime. When did we cease to exist as a nation of laws? Republicans, it seems, are held to different standards.
IMO, Cohen's bigotry and bias are quite blatantly showing, in addition to his tortured sense of whatever remains of any personal code of personal ethics and behavior. And yes, he lost all credibility with me back in 2000, when he came out for Dubya. He's just another media whore.
If torture is so effective and not inherently wrong, let us waterboard Mr Cheney to find out the truth about his role in the outing of Valerie Plame (a traitorous offense at the very least and one which clearly made our country less safe, given her area of expertise) and exactly what he knew about 9-11 prior to its occurrence. Those are just for starters.

[summer borealis]

8. What if Israel is really satan and must be nuked?

What if, Richard?

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Idiotic Column

One could paralyze one's self by constantly "what iffing".

That's why we have ethics. You don't "what if"! You just decide that something is right or it's wrong. Once done, there is no "what if"!

Cohen is an idiot.
GAC

[ejpoeta]

10. it doesn't matter if he is right.... torture is a war crime. it is wrong. period.

end of discussion. and also, we don't get to tell any other country anything or demand the international courts step in if we refuse to hold our own selves accountable. because believe me.... if we don't hold these folks accountable, then we are as responsible after the fact.

[Fool Count]

11. How many times does it need to be repeated:

It does not matter if Cheney is "right". It does not matter if torture "works".
It is a crime according to US and international law whether it works or not.
If any criminal successful and efficient in committing a crime was made immune
from prosecution by virtue of his "success" there would be no criminal justice
system. Enough of that completely irrelevant "efficiency" argument. Put the
criminals in jail already.