Let's Talk About Waterboarding

[Solly Mack]

by Joanne Mariner

"Last week saw a few more steps toward the banalization of torture. On Monday night, it was former President George W. Bush on television, acknowledging his personal responsibility for ordering the waterboarding of Al Qaeda suspects in CIA custody.

On Tuesday, it was the Department of Justice, announcing that Acting US Attorney John Durham would not pursue criminal charges for the CIA's destruction of videotapes showing the abusive interrogation of terrorism suspects.

And on Wednesday, it was the op-ed page of the New York Times , with an apparently unrelated item: an opinion piece about an arms control treaty currently awaiting ratification by the Senate. A co-author of the piece was John Yoo, who, during his tenure with the Bush administration at the Justice Department, was the author of legal memos purporting to justify torture.

Taken together, these episodes send an ugly but resounding message: Senior U.S. officials face no real consequences for the crime of torture. Not only do they seem immune from prosecution in a court of law, they are even welcome on the op-ed pages of elite publications."

[JDPriestly]

1. The Constitution states in the Fifth Amendment

Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am5

No person . . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself . . .

I suppose they avoid the bar by claiming that people not yet charged have no Fifth Amendment rights. But we all know that was not the intent of the authors of the Constitution who abhorred the Star Chambers of Britain.

The historical abuses of the Star Chamber are considered a primary motivating force behind the protections against compelled self-incrimination embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.<8> The meaning of "compelled testimony" under the Fifth Amendment—i.e., the conditions under which a defendant is allowed to "take the Fifth"—is thus often interpreted via reference to the inquisitorial methods of the Star Chamber.<9>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Chamber

[Solly Mack]

4. Thank you for the added info.

[Iggo]

2. IT'S TORTURE!!!

Okay, I'm done.

[Solly Mack]

5. Pithy. Accurate. Well done!

[leftstreet]

3. "...the banalization of torture"

Indeed

K&R

[Solly Mack]

6. I like it too. Absolutely fitting.

[Matariki]

7. It's not torture - it's 'enhanced interrogation'.

And they've investigated themselves and determined they're doing nothing wrong.

Do I need the sarcasm emoticon? Or the weeping at the state of things emoticon?

[Solly Mack]

8. Nah...not needed.

For me, anyway :)

[Solly Mack]

9. kick

[marmar]

10. The banalization of torture is such a good term for it......

..... and sadly, most Americans are no longer outraged by it.

[Solly Mack]

12. I agree....on both counts.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[NuclearDem]

18. Hehe you're silly

And it seems you even misspelled "libs".

:rofl:

[marmar]

16. I would quote Cee-Lo Green in response to your enlightened dictum, but instead....

...... I'll offer you this:

[leftstreet]

17. GD must occasionally be watered with the blood of trolls

:-)

[NuclearDem]

36. Flamebaiting is the virtue of the vicious...

according to Oscar Wilde :D

*go go gadget movie references!*

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[Luminous Animal]

22. Can you blame us? I don't think any of us have talked to a lobster who loves terrorists before.

[TheKentuckian]

23. Fuck you too. Waterboarding is torture. We've convicted people for this crime ourselves.

It is torture whatever your silly justification for inhumanity.

Ronald fucking Reagan prosecuted waterboarding.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

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[marmar]

30. The inhumanity was starting a war based on absolute lies and falsehoods.....

nt

[slipslidingaway]

14. K&R n/t

[Luminous Animal]

19. Good post and as a bonus, the lobsters who love terrorists showed up.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[Luminous Animal]

24. I don't believe you.

[leftstreet]

25. LOBSTER TERRORISTS

[Luminous Animal]

27. Hehe!

[Solly Mack]

28. Thanks! I'll get the butter.

[Luminous Animal]

33. You're a good egg, Solly Mack.

[Forkboy]

15. K&R

[Solly Mack]

29. Thanks!

(again)

lol

[Forkboy]

You're wearing out my K&R keys!!!!

Pretty soon I'll have to L%T!!! :)

[Solly Mack]

38. lol

Sorry

[Forkboy]

41. Don't be....I'm thrilled that you're always talking about this.

:hug:

[Solly Mack]

44. I'm glad. :)

'Cause I'm gonna keep doing it. :)

:hug:

[Dead_Parrot]

31. BTW, There's some lobster pizza if anyone wants some. nt

[leftstreet]

34. lol

:rofl:

[Solly Mack]

37. and the delivery time was quick too. Thanks!!!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. And now we have rejected the Fourth Amendment

as well

that whistling you hear is connected to this.

RIP US of A... 1789-2000...

Now we see what is emerging from the ashes and it is not pretty.

[Solly Mack]

40. The new normal...sadly

[spanone]

35. k&r

[Solly Mack]

39. Thanks, spanone

[marmar]

42. Damn, I miss our visitor already.......

...... He's probably alone in his room with torture tapes and a box of Kleenex.

[NuclearDem]

43. Did anyone manage to save our visitor's posts before they were deleted?

If anything, we shoulda let him stay just because he was comedic genius :rofl:

[WhiteTara]

45. makes me want to throw up

from the horror of it all.

[Senator]

46. K&+R