Bybee says “no regrets”
When Barack Obama released Jay Bybee’s 2002 memos on enhanced interrogations, the Washington Post reported that Bybee recently expressed regret for his work. The New York Times
today says that the Post……

By now anyone reading this blog has likely heard of the so-called torture memos, memoranda written by Justice Department lawyers soon after the 9/11 attacks and released several days ago by the Obama administration. They were commissioned to determine …

the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality

That’s what I’d do: jihadis on LSD.

I think the U.S. has been more than nice to these terrorists.

I’m still waiting for the Libtard logic to kick in and these guys are going to start seeing the Light and quit murdering people inspired by our example of niceness!

Uh huh…

Yeah Barack Ostumbler in chief, we need an ACLU lawyer and/or liberal pinko judge in every foxhole/operation, to read an enemy combatant his Miranda rights… /Sarcasm

BohicaTwentyTwo on April 17, 2009 at 3:51 PM

According to an article in The Guardian, the fuzzy caterpillar treatment was approved, but never used.

“Using Bybee’s reasoning, the “threat of imminent death” part of the statute would have to last for months or years in order to qualify as torture.”

……….. aren’t we all going to die?

And if you want to hang around a little longer, then I suggest not taking up arms against the United States military while wearing civilian clothes and hiding behind women and children………..

“As we understand it, you plan to inform Zubaydah that you are going to place a stinging insect into the box, but you will actually place a harmless insect in the box, such as a caterpillar,” one memo says.

Not only is waterboarding an important tool but we must also remember that when compared to what our enemies do to captured people (civilians and soldiers) the technique of waterboarding is trivial compared to the level of depravity our enemies stoop to, there is no moral equivelance to be made here…period!

Liberty or Death on April 17, 2009 at 1:45 PM

The point has never been to ask whether we are better or worse than Al Qaeda. The point is to ask whether we are acting within our own laws.

Surely you can agree that a government that acts outside of its own laws is a bad thing.

But criticizing our President is Patriotic. Hillary Clinton told us so in April of 2003.

Del Dolemonte on April 17, 2009 at 1:53 PM

It is, and you should continue criticizing him when he deserves it. But criticizing him for a lack of openness on one hand and too much openness on the other is a bit incoherent.

Coherent criticisms of the President are welcomed, and I come here to be exposed to them (as well as some incoherent ones, but nobody’s perfect).

Yeah, well I’d bet if Patrick Henry had to deal with what we are dealing with (in the here and now) when it comes to protecting the republic and its citizens from fascist Islam he would have a very different opinion, if not then with all due respect to Patrick Henry he’s a P**SY pacifist like you!

Liberty or Death on April 17, 2009 at 1:40 PM

So Patrick Henry was lying when he said that American freedoms are more important than life itself? Interesting.

Perhaps you should consider a change of username, though.

Hey, some of you have (rightly) chided Obama for not always living up to his promise of a more open government. Those of you who have done so have little reason to complain when he does live up to the promise.

orange on April 17, 2009 at 1:35 PM

But criticizing our President is Patriotic. Hillary Clinton told us so in April of 2003.

Were we stationed together in southeast Asia?

With respect to waterboarding, I have now have a great respect for it. Given what the SERE trainers found (that nearly all servicepeople became “cooperative” for a small amount of time after waterboarding), and the fact that the technique as a training method was halted because it could not be defended against, it seems like a necessary addition to our arsenal. There are no long term health effects, either mental or physical, and, in this case, the information obtained by this temporary/transitory method prevented innocent deaths.

unclesmrgol on April 17, 2009 at 1:36 PM

Exactly, well stated uncle. Not only is waterboarding an important tool but we must also remember that when compared to what our enemies do to captured people (civilians and soldiers) the technique of waterboarding is trivial compared to the level of depravity our enemies stoop to, there is no moral equivelance to be made here…period!

I suspect Patrick Henry might have disagreed with you.

orange on April 17, 2009 at 1:09 PM

Yeah, well I’d bet if Patrick Henry had to deal with what we are dealing with (in the here and now) when it comes to protecting the republic and its citizens from fascist Islam he would have a very different opinion, if not then with all due respect to Patrick Henry he’s a P**SY pacifist like you!

unclesmrgol on April 17, 2009 at 1:36 PM

Good post, and I agree with you.

Waterboarding is the least we should do for terrorists who possess vital information, IMO.

BTW, McCain said torture doesn’t work, then in his acceptance speech said he was broken. So, which is it?

Whether or not we agree with waterboarding, it’s obvious that Bybee looked at the words and intent of the law and correctly determined its meaning with respect to that act.

Bybee makes it quite clear that physical suffering (beating or wounding) is not permitted, and the one wound which Z currently has needs to be treated and cured. He then addresses the techniques from the standpoint of mental suffering.

If a police officer jammed a gun into my back and yelled “don’t move”, was I being tortured? I’d be in instant fear of losing my life if the officer were to fire his weapon; how can I know what constitutes a movement in his mind? But will prolonged mental harm come to me as a result? It didn’t, so there we are.

With respect to waterboarding, I have now have a great respect for it. Given what the SERE trainers found (that nearly all servicepeople became “cooperative” for a small amount of time after waterboarding), and the fact that the technique as a training method was halted because it could not be defended against, it seems like a necessary addition to our arsenal. There are no long term health effects, either mental or physical, and, in this case, the information obtained by this temporary/transitory method prevented innocent deaths.

Hey, some of you have (rightly) chided Obama for not always living up to his promise of a more open government. Those of you who have done so have little reason to complain when he does live up to the promise.

If I was the interrogator, I would have put about 15 caterpillars and other miscellaneous bugs in my mouth. Then sat down opposite the subject, opend my mouth and let the bugs crawl out!

Not only would that unnerve the subject (to say the least) but it would make the interrogator a legend in the Company.

To those of you who asked why Obama released these, it is because he was compelled to do so by a suit filed by the ACLU. Thursday was the final deadline for releasing them. It had nothing to do with the tea parties.

orange

Yea orange, I heard that too on NPR. But like NPR it appears you may need to broaden your information sources. From former AG Mukasey and Gen. Hayden:

Nor was there any legal reason compelling such disclosure. To be sure, the American Civil Liberties Union has sued under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain copies of these and other memoranda, but the government until now has successfully resisted such lawsuits. Even when the government disclosed that three members of al Qaeda had been subjected to waterboarding but that the technique was no longer part of the CIA interrogation program, the court sustained the government’s argument that the precise details of how it was done, including limits and safeguards, could remain classified against the possibility that some future president may authorize its use. Therefore, notwithstanding the suggestion that disclosure was somehow legally compelled, there was no legal impediment to the Justice Department making the same argument even with respect to any techniques that remained in the CIA program until last January.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123993446103128041.html

If waterboarding and other techniques saves even one American citizen, soldier, or prevents another 9-11 (or worse) then I say waterboard away because survival needs come first!

Liberty or Death on April 17, 2009 at 1:02 PM

I suspect Patrick Henry might have disagreed with you.