WaPo: Release of torture memos political

posted at 10:11 am on April 24, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

Buried deep within the Washington Post’s front-page story on the decision to release the OLC memos, Barack Obama’s motivation gets revealed.  Former VP Dick Cheney’s criticism that Obama’s policies had made America less safe apparently stung more than the White House admitted.  Unfortunately, Obama may have gone a long way towards proving Cheney’s point in allowing himself to get baited (via Michael Goldfarb):

Several Obama aides said the president’s decision was in line with his frequent criticism during the campaign of President George W. Bush’s policies on interrogations at secret prisons. On his second day in office, Obama banned the prisons and the tactics in an executive order.

The aides also said they hope the memos’ release will focus public attention on the coldness and sterility of the legal justifications for abusive techniques, with Obama telling reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that the documents demonstrate that the nation lost its “moral bearings” in the Bush years.

A source familiar with White House views said Obama’s advisers are further convinced that letting the public know exactly what the past administration sanctioned will undermine what they see as former vice president Richard B. Cheney’s effort to “box Obama in” by claiming that the executive order heightened the risk of a terrorist attack.

Rather than doing that, though, it prompted members of his own administration to publicly corroborate Cheney.  The White House tried to suppress the key part of Dennis Blair’s memo that acknowledged the success of the interrogations in thwarting at least one major terrorist attack against the US, the “Second Wave” airliner attacks after 9/11 aimed at Los Angeles.  The CIA separately insisted that its actions protected America from attack.  Cheney himself went back on the attack, describing some of the memos that Obama didn’t declassify, and launched a high-profile campaign to get them released.

On Capitol Hill, Obama’s strategy also backfired.  Republicans balked at the limited disclosure.  Pete Hoekstra has demanded that the White House release the memos from Congressional briefings on the interrogations, which will show that Democratic leadership knew exactly what was happening and didn’t object at all to it.  Even one of Obama’s few allies in the GOP on this issue, John McCain, warned Obama that he was setting up a “witch hunt” that would turn America into a “banana republic”.

Instead of the headlines being about what the Bush administration sanctioned, they became about Nancy Pelosi’s denial and then non-denial of her knowledge on waterboarding interrogations, the success of the interrogations in preventing an attack, and Obama’s lack of testicular fortitude in sticking with his original position to let sleeping dogs lie.  Small wonder that he began backtracking in earnest yesterday when meeting with Congressional leaders.

Now we have confirmation that Obama planned this all along as a political attack against a man who hardly matters on the national political scene any longer –  or at least he didn’t until Obama decided to pick a fight with him.  Just as with his strange attack on Rush Limbaugh, all it did was elevate his opponent and diminish himself.

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No doubt it’s horrible and cruel, so it’s critical to keep a lid on how often it’s used. Fishing expeditions with waterboarding a huge number of innocent people would be a horrible policy however you term the technique.

War always leads to corrupt practices you’d never use in peacetime. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, FDR had internment, and Vietnam gave us Phoenix. But it’s WAR. If you lose a battle thousands of people can die. War against people who attack soft civilian targets with the largest weapons they can find is serious business not some legal word game.

Beagle on April 24, 2009 at 11:20 AM

True. We also haven’t used the atom bomb lately, if I recall correctly. Since it saved a couple million of Japanese and American lives in 1945 and ended the war, it’s use was well justified and certainly not worth going back to prosecute if you happened to disagree with its’ use.

Waterboarding terrorists saved non-terrorist lives. That’s a good trade.

Greg Toombs on April 24, 2009 at 11:26 AM

Cindy Munford on April 24, 2009 at 11:11 AM

(as if Hitchens has no agenda)

maverick muse on April 24, 2009 at 11:26 AM

Equality 7-2521 on April 24, 2009 at 11:21 AM

Thanks for reminding me why I tuned out Hannity’s TV show–that Great American Throw-up Panel I couldn’t endure anymore.

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 11:27 AM

Waterboarding is torture, period.

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 11:00 AM

Gee, that sounds almost as bad as being forced by intense heat to jump out of a burning skyscraper. Except for the ending of course.

DarkCurrent on April 24, 2009 at 11:27 AM

Here’s Christopher Hitchens telling about his experience of being waterboarded:

Waterboarding is torture, period.

If he VOLUNTEERED to do it, it ain’t torture.

Period.

CDeb on April 24, 2009 at 11:28 AM

Torture is the deliberate inflicting of pain and suffering, and the simulated drowning of waterboarding fits that definition to a T. It is torture.

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM

reading left-wing drivel is torture.

hope you get to live with the resutls of the ‘kinder gentler’ US…boom

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:28 AM

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 10:40 AM

You libs are all the same. Can’t see the forest for the trees.

Johan Klaus on April 24, 2009 at 11:28 AM

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM

Obama lied, libs cried.

Johan Klaus on April 24, 2009 at 11:29 AM

Torture is the deliberate inflicting of pain and suffering, and the simulated drowning of waterboarding fits that definition to a T. It is torture.

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM

Hey Dude. You win a trip to the Madras of your choice. You want to find out about torture? This is your chance to become an expert. Go forth and learn something. You CAN NOT play nice with people who would gleefully slit your throat. What you call torture is minor league to those who have vowed our destruction.

el rey on April 24, 2009 at 11:29 AM

- Thomas Jefferson

jp on April 24, 2009 at 11:02 AM

Thanks for posting that quote again. starfleetdouche needs to read and comprehend.

JAM on April 24, 2009 at 11:30 AM

The teenage hippies in the WH are like the kid that just got told a secret, and he can’t help himself, he just has to tell someone…they are the same kids that got picked on by bullies in the school yard, and they want America to be that way too.

kirkill on April 24, 2009 at 11:30 AM

having bambi as president is sheer torture for me. it has raised my anxiety level to almost immeasurable bar.

and trying to quit smoking in addition to having bambi as president is cruel & inhumane punishment.

i’m an American. i want dick cheney for President.

kelley in virginia on April 24, 2009 at 11:31 AM

Every other president we have ever had, right or wrong, left, right, or center…has placed the people of this country above politics…..until now.

This president is risking our lives to make political hay.

notagool on April 24, 2009 at 11:17 AM

President Bush kept his personal feelings to himself and never attacked those who criticized him. It hurt him in the long run, and maybe even his cause, but he did what he did for the safety of the citizens of America regardless the personal cost to him.

He was a real leader ready to sacrifice himself for his charge, a gentleman in the face of opposition and gracious to friend and foe.

I guarantee these words will never be written about Obama, a thin skinned, petty and childish puke who would sell his country down the river for personal glorification.

Jvette on April 24, 2009 at 11:31 AM

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM

Look on the net; and to quote Tom Cruise in “The Color of Money”, “everyone is doing it”.

Johan Klaus on April 24, 2009 at 11:32 AM

BadgerHawk on April 24, 2009 at 11:17 AM

Badger – true – Hitchens did later say it was torture, but in a tail wag the dog way. I think its odd and pointed out – he never uses the word when describing the actual waterboarding. He is a master wordsmith and uses key terms and phrases – but never says it while recounting the actual treatment. He also doesnt use words like “pain, unbearable, etc” which are indicators of torture. Though he does use “relief”.

Odie1941 on April 24, 2009 at 11:33 AM

One feature of a classic narcicist is that they cannot tolerate any slights against their self image.

What Rush said about Obama, hurt his feelings. The only response is a counter attack.

What Chenney said about Obama, hurt his feelings. The only response is a counter attack.

The self image of a narcicist is extremely fragile. They are incapable of ignoring insults, they must respond.

MarkTheGreat on April 24, 2009 at 11:33 AM

Waterboarding is torture, period.

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 11:00 AM

Gee, that sounds almost as bad as being forced by intense heat to jump out of a burning skyscraper. Except for the ending of course.

DarkCurrent on April 24, 2009 at 11:27 AM

Not to mention what it must be like to get your head cut off with a dull blade and have the video posted on Youtube.

That’s what liberals don’t get. The people getting waterboarded are not nice neighbors, they are real monsters.

kirkill on April 24, 2009 at 11:34 AM

Either we’re a nation of laws or we’re not, and you can bet Obama knows that has a deeper appeal to Americans than torture does.

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:49 AM

So, star-dude, maybe you have the balls to answer a question that no other lefty has had the courage to address.

IF YOU are against enhanced interrogation, OF ANY KIND, because you believe it is torture, or might be considered torture, what city in the US would YOU be willing to allow to suffer a terrorist attack that might have been prevented?

What city might Obama be willing to take a chance on?

My guess is that you will avoid an answer to this question based on an argument that it is a hypothetical that cannot be addressed. Please… surprise us.

(Hint: after 9-11 an attack on the Library Tower in LA WAS prevented, so not quite so hypothetical)

Yoop on April 24, 2009 at 11:34 AM

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 11:27 AM

my apologies… but atleast we know what we’re dealing with when we watch those losers…

Equality 7-2521 on April 24, 2009 at 11:35 AM

It seems to me that torture, which involves inflicting pain and damage to the body of a subject, is the same as a coercive interrogation technique. Making someone so uncomfortable as to divulge information without inflicing permanent damage seems harsh, but it’s not the kind of torture our enemies do. I agree that information offered freely is better than that extracted. But even if your subject offers it without being coerced, there’s still no guarantee that it won’t be a lie. The consequences of lying, however, may promote a more accurate telling if those consequences are unpleasant. I think in those cases where you know the recalcitrant subject has the information and you need it quickly to save lives, then not forcing the information out is more morally reprehensible than coercion.

NNtrancer on April 24, 2009 at 11:35 AM

This whole ‘enhanced interrogation’ = torture = bad thing is all a marketing/branding mistake. We just need to term it ‘late late-term abortion’ and the left should stop complaining about it.

gwelf on April 24, 2009 at 11:36 AM

I meant, “not the same” in the first sentence of my last post.

NNtrancer on April 24, 2009 at 11:36 AM

Instead of the headlines being about what the Bush administration sanctioned, they became about Nancy Pelosi’s denial and then non-denial of her knowledge on waterboarding interrogations,

We know how credible Pelosi is right?

Until Obama can rationalize his stance on extraordinary renditions he has no standing against “extraordinary interrogations”. He looses all credibility by pushing this politically charged agenda.
Obama fails miserably in the message that we are a nation of laws because he refuses to publicly acknowledge that he is kidnapping/extraditing people to dark nations that would truly torture behind closed doors in our name.

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:37 AM

Odie1941 on April 24, 2009 at 11:33 AM

Good point.

BadgerHawk on April 24, 2009 at 11:37 AM

Waterboarding is torture, period.

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 11:00 AM

I read the Chris Hitchens description you posted of his voluntary water-boarding experiment and thought: Now this is the way you handle terrorist scum–no quarter…thanks for cementing my belief on that.

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 11:38 AM

Word is its a crazy puppy too!

becki51758 on April 24, 2009 at 10:34 AM

No the word is complicated.

Just like his witch hunt.

shick on April 24, 2009 at 11:39 AM

For a man who doesn’t think twice about degrading and debasing America the world over, its astonishing how thin-skinned he is. He can dish it out but cannot take it. His narcissism is gonna kill us all.

promachus on April 24, 2009 at 11:39 AM

It’s over for the gop.

Torture was the final nail in the gop coffin.

RIP gop.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

And this was news to anyone how?

Obama can’t let go memos that either make Bush look like less of the inhuman monster the left has caricaturized him as over the years, or make Democrats look it more.

Mark my words, should this stuff be fully disclosed W’s stance on interrogations and “torture” will be vindicated.

Ryan Gandy on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM

I’ll be one voice here that will support you in claiming that we should be a nation of laws and that it’s citizens should obey those laws. Where we’ll depart in thought is whether or not ‘waterboarding’ constitutes torture (legally speaking) and whether what happened to KSM and 2 others constitutes torture (legally speaking). I imagine that we’ll also have differing opinions about what legalities are involved in Gitmo detainees as well. The ‘is/was it legal’ debate is worth having – it isn’t as settled as the left likes to pretend it is.

gwelf on April 24, 2009 at 11:42 AM

Truth & Reconcilation Tribunals, ho!

profitsbeard on April 24, 2009 at 11:42 AM

promachus on April 24, 2009 at 11:39 AM

pride before the fall–but yes, his ignorance will kill some of us.

Equality 7-2521 on April 24, 2009 at 11:42 AM

Torture is the deliberate inflicting of pain and suffering,….starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM

So, by this definition, when I took my children as infants to have their shots, is that torture? Even though it served a greater good?

Yesterday, my 17 year old daughter had three shots which she needs before going to college in the fall. Afterwards, her arms hurt. She still suffers from it. Did I torture her?

Jvette on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

It’s over for the gop.

Torture was the final nail in the gop coffin.

RIP gop.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

answer me this…you or any other left-wing wacko…

why is waterboarding TORUTRE…but cutting the hole in the head of a bab and SUCKING OUT THE BRAINS…is not???

liberals are evil as hell…scum.

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

Waterboarding is torture, period.

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 11:00 AM

I read the Chris Hitchens description you posted of his voluntary water-boarding experiment and thought: Now this is the way you handle terrorist scum–no quarter…thanks for cementing my belief on that.

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 11:38 AM

If waterboarding is really torture and illegal then the guy who waterboarded Hitchens should be arrested for assault. As well as SERE trainers.

gwelf on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

Time for you to stop doing drugs, little fellow….

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

(that is I’m saying it’s not torture because no one is calling for the guy who waterboarded Hitchens to be arrested and prosecuted).

The fact Olberman can offer money for Hannity to be waterboarded means it’s not illegal.

gwelf on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

Torture was the final nail in the gop coffin.

RIP gop.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

I know it’s not nice to pick on retards, but I’m saving this one to rub in your face some day.

BadgerHawk on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 11:38 AM

Brits taught us well. Battle of Kings Mountain-the over the mountain men-”Tarletons quarter” fueled a historical battle which turned the American Revolution into the birth of our nation.=)

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

liberals cons that support torture are evil as hell…scum.

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

Move to a country that tortures.

Leave.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

why is waterboarding TORTURE…but cutting the hole in the head of a baby and SUCKING OUT THE BRAINS…is not???

sorry about the typos…

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

Move to a country that tortures.

Leave.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

make me. can’t answer the question can ya…you piece of shit

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:45 AM

starfleet_dude on April 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM

And what do you consider “pain and suffering” to be?

Hint: Its not being grounded for a week.

Ryan Gandy on April 24, 2009 at 11:45 AM

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

What are you still doing here?

Ryan Gandy on April 24, 2009 at 11:46 AM

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Feel free to move to a country that tortures.

This is America and we are better than the gop and cons.

Get out.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:48 AM

I nominate all America-doesn’t-torture-because-we-are-a nation-of-laws-pansies for clean-up duty after the next terrorist bombing….make sure to wear biohazard gloves for the body parts…

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Leave.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

Im part Navajo. You brought your mental and physical diseases to my land. You leave!

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

maverick muse on April 24, 2009 at 11:26 AM

You get it, I get it but starfleet_dude is a little bit behind the curve. You can’t go wrong if you follow the money and that includes paid commentators and columnists.

Cindy Munford on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Feel free to move to a country that tortures.

This is America and we are better than the gop and cons.

Get out.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:48 AM

I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of baby brains being sucked out at the clinic down the street.

CDeb on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Obama can’t let go memos that either make Bush look like less of the inhuman monster the left has caricaturized him as over the years, or make Democrats look it more.

Mark my words, should this stuff be fully disclosed W’s stance on interrogations and “torture” will be vindicated.

Ryan Gandy on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

Obama has wandered into a mine field, thinking he was so great as to be immune, and he has stepped on something. He has heard the plunger go click.

Now, how does he remove his foot without it going BOOM? Or, does he get somebody else to come and stand on it for him?

Funny, but it looks as if Pelosi has done the same thing, in the same field. Maybe all the Dems are going to go for a stroll in that field.

Yoop on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Feel free to move to a country that tortures, Nancy Pelosi.

This is America and we are better than you.

Get out.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:48 AM

Wethal on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Torture was the final nail in the gop Pelosi coffin.

RIP gop Speaker Pelosi.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is just loving this. He has scores to settle with Pelosi.

Wethal on April 24, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Get out.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:48 AM

whassa matter punk, can’t answer the question…

you like it when babies get SLICED AND DICED don’t ya??

bloodthirsty bastard.

rot in hell…people like you deserve it…I’m glad there is a hell for people like you :)

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Torture” will be the moralistic silly putty that returns Obama’s cartoon face on its rubbery surface as a clown’s.

Discomfort and scaring are genteel responses to 3,000 of our countrymen and women and children set on fire, blown to shreds, or, worse, having their throats cut onboard the doomed planes jihadist maniacs.

People know the difference between pressure and torture, and when things become serious again Obama and his coterie will be reviled as preening imbeciles.

profitsbeard on April 24, 2009 at 11:52 AM

Im part Navajo. You brought your mental and physical diseases to my land. You leave!

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

yeah I’m part cherokee…getaclue doesn’t have a clue when he tells me to leave…

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:52 AM

The White House tried to suppress the key part of Dennis Blair’s memo that acknowledged the success of the interrogations in thwarting at least one major terrorist attack against the US, the “Second Wave” airliner attacks after 9/11 aimed at Los Angeles.

How is it possible that interrogating KSM thwarted the 2002 plans for attacking the Library Tower when we didnt capture KSM until 2003? Torture time travel?

orange on April 24, 2009 at 11:52 AM

~by jihadist maniacs

profitsbeard on April 24, 2009 at 11:53 AM

This little witch hunt effectively killed the Tea Party story. Thank you once again MSM for maintaining objectivity and truth!

nObama pimp daddy-O for the jou-whorn-alists of America as they line up and bent over!

dmann on April 24, 2009 at 11:53 AM

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:44 AM

Nap time, young’un.

Johan Klaus on April 24, 2009 at 11:54 AM

It’s over for the gop.

Torture was the final nail in the gop coffin.

RIP gop.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

answer me this…you or any other left-wing wacko…

why is waterboarding TORUTRE…but cutting the hole in the head of a bab and SUCKING OUT THE BRAINS…is not???

liberals are evil as hell…scum.

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

Damn it, getalife, would you at least attempt to answer this simple question.

If you can’t address that then you are nothing more than a coward that ignores the obvious.

Yoop on April 24, 2009 at 11:54 AM

Im part Navajo. You brought your mental and physical diseases to my land. You leave!

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

yeah I’m part cherokee…getaclue doesn’t have a clue when he tells me to leave…

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:52 AM

I’m Shawnee myself, my great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother was the sister of Tecumseh. Funny, the left always love to idolized the Native Americans, yet those very people thought nothing of torturing their enemies. They did what they did to try to protect their way of life and I hold no animosity towards them for it. BTW, Tecumseh led the worst massacre in Missouri Valley history.

Jvette on April 24, 2009 at 11:56 AM

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

They call that “pro choice”.

Johan Klaus on April 24, 2009 at 11:57 AM

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:52 AM

Trail of tears. Close second to this…

Warning extreme graphic video.

Getalife has no clue how much we “torture” in this country.Im betting getalife doesnt have the nuts to watch that video.

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:58 AM

But there is one inconvenient fact, and it’s stated by none other than Dennis Blair, who’s the Director of National Intelligence under Obama, not under Bush. And he said in writing that the leadership of the CIA repeatedly reported their activities to the executive and to members of congress, and received permission to continue to use the techniques.

Now, he’s a man who’s completely disinterested in this. He does not have a stake in the fight, and that’s what he says.

So among these Democrats, of course, among these members of Congress who are saying that we were not told that these techniques were used in the past, past tense.

But what she said in December ’07 in a statement in response to a “Washington Post” story which said that she had been in on the hearings and had not objected, had been in on the briefings and not objected, she issued a statement saying that she was briefed on interrogation techniques the administration was considering using in the future.

So the parsing here is positively Clintonian. But even so, it doesn’t help her, because if you’re in a briefing, and you’re a member of Congress, and you’re hearing about a technique that you now say you were scandalized and is a war crime and you opposed, what is more important to speak out about? A technique that has been used in the past, in which case the briefing is pointless, or speaking about a technique which is going to be used in the future, in which case your objection is essential, but it never happened either. It never happened, and she never objected.

So I agree with “The Wall Street Journal.” If you want to have a commission, start with her. Put her in the dock under oath. Ask what did you know? When did you know it? And if it’s a war crime, how could you possibly not have objected?

As usual, Krauthammer nails it, and particularly, Pelosi.

Wethal on April 24, 2009 at 12:00 PM

If you can’t address that then you are nothing more than a coward that ignores the obvious.

Yoop on April 24, 2009 at 11:54 AM

More like a cowardly poster that doesn’t care what the truth is because he/she can’t handle it.

Jvette on April 24, 2009 at 12:00 PM

why is waterboarding TORUTRE…but cutting the hole in the head of a bab and SUCKING OUT THE BRAINS…is not???

liberals are evil as hell…scum.

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:43 AM

A brain to getalife is like an arm to a mushroom. She won’t understand the question.

DarkCurrent on April 24, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Im part Navajo. You brought your mental and physical diseases to my land. You leave!

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM
yeah I’m part cherokee…getaclue doesn’t have a clue when he tells me to leave…

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 11:52 AM

I’ll pay for a youtube video of getalife tied to an anthill. It would not be torture, either. It would be ants just doing what ants do… :-)

Yoop on April 24, 2009 at 12:02 PM

Well, I’m out of here. Friday morning rosary at the abortion clinic. While getalife is praying for the demise of this nation, I will be praying for an end to the mass slaughter of children and the ruination of women’s lives.

People who would vilify this nation for the momentary pain and discomfort of a terrorist in an attempt to save lives, all the while defending the brutal death of an innocent in the womb deserve whatever those same terrorists have in store for them.

I’ll be checking back later as I’m still waiting for the answer to the question of whether or not I tortured my own children by having them immunized.

Jvette on April 24, 2009 at 12:06 PM

So I agree with “The Wall Street Journal.” If you want to have a commission, start with her (Pelosi). Put her in the dock under oath. Ask what did you know? When did you know it? And if it’s a war crime, how could you possibly not have objected?

As usual, Krauthammer nails it, and particularly, Pelosi.

Wethal on April 24, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Man, I can just imagine how Nancy is dealing with this…the botox must be coagulating behind her face as she wails about cursing out Obama and the WH…

RepubChica on April 24, 2009 at 12:07 PM

Funny, the left always love to idolized the Native Americans, yet those very people thought nothing of torturing their enemies. They did what they did to try to protect their way of life and I hold no animosity towards them for it.
Jvette on April 24, 2009 at 11:56 AM

They did what they had to do in order to survive…I say Thank God for the Crusades, and people like Charles Martel, who had the guts to fight. otherwise we’d all be muslim.

we NUKED Japan..thank God we did, or else the japanese might be extinct as a race.

having the liberals, who fully support TORTURING AND MURDERING BABIES, lecture us about ANY moral issue is beyond laughable. these people are evil plain and simple.

Getalife has no clue how much we “torture” in this country.Im betting getalife doesnt have the nuts to watch that video.

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 11:58 AM

these libs refuse to acknowledge the torture of unborn babies…but instead treat them as subhuman, just like slaves were treated in the past…the whole mindset is mind-boggling…

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 12:07 PM

People who would vilify this nation for the momentary pain and discomfort of a terrorist in an attempt to save lives, all the while defending the brutal death of an innocent in the womb deserve whatever those same terrorists have in store for them.

Jvette on April 24, 2009 at 12:06 PM

good point!!

I’ll be checking back later as I’m still waiting for the answer to the question of whether or not I tortured my own children by having them immunized.

I torture mine by making them clean their rooms and bathroom (especially) ;-)

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 12:08 PM

Yoop on April 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM

Maybe they were holding hands?

Ryan Gandy on April 24, 2009 at 12:11 PM

The White House tried to suppress the key part of Dennis Blair’s memo that acknowledged the success of the interrogations in thwarting at least one major terrorist attack against the US, the “Second Wave” airliner attacks after 9/11 aimed at Los Angeles.

Ed, how can you so blatantly misrepresent facts (I’m being kind) like this?

Blair does not acknowledge that waterboarding thwarted the “Library Tower” plot:

“High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country,”

He said they yielded information that provided a “deeper understanding” of al qaida. He also went on to say he can’t say whether they would have got that same information through conventional interrogation techniques.

If you listen to this guy, you would think they would have.

Now, back to the claim that waterboarding “foiled” the “Library Tower” plot. I love the fact that CSN quotes “The Central Intelligence Agency” as the source for their story. I’ll just repost what I posted the other day on here:

I think the fact that they threw out the Library Tower plot as an example of a plot that was “foiled” because of waterboarding shows how little actionable intelligence they did get from the practice.

http://slate.com/id/2216601

Tom_Shipley on April 22, 2009 at 1:11 PM

LOL, written by a guy named Tim Noah-who was originally against the Iraq War, then claimed to have been converted to a pro-war stance by Colin Powell’s speech at the UN. He then changed his mind again when it became politically expedient to do so.

Del Dolemonte on April 22, 2009 at 1:19 PM

Del,

Attack the writer if you like, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Bush administration said that plot had been foiled in 2002:

The White House said Thursday that U.S. authorities disrupted the so-called “West Coast Airliner Plot” in mid-2002, stopping terrorists from attacking “targets on the West Coast of the United States using hijacked airplanes. The plotters included at least one major operational planner involved in planning the events of 9/11.”
http://articles.latimes.com/p/2005/oct/08/nation/na-terror8

Sheikh Mohammed was captured in 2003.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on March 1, 2003 by the Pakistani ISI, possibly in a joint action with agents of the American Diplomatic Security Service, and has been in U.S. custody since that time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_Shaikh_Mohammed

So, maybe he did admit to that plot, but the plot was dead in the water at that point. To me, that bolsters the argument of opponents of waterboarding who claim that the information you get from people who have the technique applied to them is just not reliable.

Tom_Shipley on April 22, 2009 at 1:28 PM

Now, Ed, you’re either lying or grossly misinformed when you claim Blair claimed waterboarding helped foil the Library Tower plot.

First of all, he didn’t claim that. Not even close.

Second of all, the Bush administration claims that plot was thwarted mid-2002 according to the Bush administration — months before Sheik Mohommad was captured. Sorry, but I’m not buying the sketchy CSN story.

Tom_Shipley on April 24, 2009 at 12:14 PM

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 12:08 PM

I torture my 4 kids by making them work for their spending money. The emotional,physical, and mental distress they must be under is torture(they are all teenagers).=)

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Good God. How can these people go home to their own children at night?

Bishop on April 24, 2009 at 10:49 AM

They don’t have to. They interact with Congress and the Administration all day… they have enough interaction with children.

dominigan on April 24, 2009 at 12:17 PM

I torture my 4 kids by making them work for their spending money. The emotional,physical, and mental distress they must be under is torture(they are all teenagers).=)

canditaylor68 on April 24, 2009 at 12:16 PM

I look at it this way, at my age, its about the only fun I have!!

right4life on April 24, 2009 at 12:19 PM

all it did was elevate his opponent and diminish himself

Not much there to diminish to begin with. A hack politician is a hack politician.

GarandFan on April 24, 2009 at 12:22 PM

Ignore all posts by the skull-full-of-scum phony known as getalife. His only purpose is to derail serious discussion. Don’t waste your time reading posts thrown up by this lefty lackey, a pathetic piece of human debris.

RandyChandler on April 24, 2009 at 12:22 PM

Because of the release of the memos, Al Queda can now make informed decisions. Isn’t that a good thing?

I’d bet these trolls here would consider Navy boot camp to be torture. But of course they’d never volunteer.

Dhuka on April 24, 2009 at 12:25 PM

I think this is a sociological issue working here. The reasoning whether to torture or not to torture should be driven by this question : if we torture enemy soldier A, will we want to be tortured by the exact same methods if we are in A’s shoes?

This can be better discussed in the context of the prisoner’s dilemma in game theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_Dilemma). Not trusting the enemy and torturing is an excellent strategy when there is a *finite* number of rounds. On the other hand, *evolutionarily* (where number of rounds is infinite), it is better to adopt a “tit-for-tat” policy where, we torture soldiers captured in enemy camp A, only when we know for a fact that A has tortured soldiers in our camp.

This is not to support or denounce torture, I just wanted to add some perspective to the argument.

peter_griffin on April 24, 2009 at 12:34 PM

It’s over for the gop.

Torture was the final nail in the gop coffin.

RIP gop.

getalife on April 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM

first of all,liberals need to back up their “hope and change” rhetoric of “total transparency” and “accountability” by releasing all of the interrogation memos
and transcripts showing the 100% support democrats gave for the interrogation policies.
Over and over liberals keep whining about “justice” and “not supporting torture”.
Yet their support through voting for Obama and other democratic leadership does just that.

liberals like getalife and starfleet state that ‘enhanced interrogations” and “renditions” are torture.

These are practices that democrats like Bill Clinton and his administration did in the past and practices that the Obama administration is conducting now:


Here are some of the democrats that approved of these methods:


What Congress Knew About ‘Torture’

Beginning in 2002, Nancy Pelosi and other key Democrats (as well as Republicans) on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees were thoroughly, and repeatedly, briefed on the CIA’s covert antiterror interrogation programs. They did nothing to stop such activities, when they weren’t fully sanctioning them. If they now decide the tactics they heard about then amount to abuse, then by their own logic they themselves are complicit. Let’s review the history the political class would prefer to forget.

Along with:
(D) Sen. John D. Rockefeller
(D) Bob Graham
(D) Jane Harmen
(D) Nancey Pelosi

democrats support “enhanced interrogation techniques” and liberals like getalife/stardude support them as well.
If you voted for and support the Obama administration you voted and support the use of these practices.

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002
In Meetings, Spy Panels’ Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say

By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 9, 2007; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/08/AR2007120801664_pf.html

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.


democrats and Obama’s own intelligence officials support these methods:

The Obama administration’s top intelligence official privately told employees last week that “high value information” was obtained in interrogations that included harsh techniques approved by former President George W. Bush.

“A deeper understanding of the al-Qaida network” resulted, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said in the memo, in which he added, “I like to think I would not have approved those methods in the past.” The Associated Press obtained a copy.


Hayden: Chain of Interrogations Yielded Bulk of Intelligence Knowledge

The former head of the CIA told FOX News last year that five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, 60 percent of the knowledge of the U.S. intelligence community about Al Qaeda came from enhanced interrogation techniques.

The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) — including the use of waterboarding — caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

Clinton endorses the use of these tactics and EXPANDED their use under his leadership.
Obama’s CIA chief Panetta also approved of these methods and was involved in having them carried out.
getalife/starfleet support these methods with their support of the Obama administration and the lack of any calls for prosecuting the Clinton administration.


Audio: Clinton endorses “torture” in special cases;

posted at 12:30 am on October 19, 2006 by Allahpundit
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/10/19/audio-clinton-endorses-torture-in-special-cases/

Bill Clinton’s party screamed loud and long about how the [detainee] bill enabled torture and departed from the Geneva Conventions. Russ Feingold described this legislation as “a stain” on our history, one we would regret, and soon. Yet none of these Democrats had anything to say when their last occupant of the White House not only endorsed torture but also a protocol for covering one’s butt after the fact

.

The best part is at the very end, where Billy Jeff chuckles at the notion that anyone would oppose torture in a true ticking bomb situation.


Here are procedures approved by Bill Clinton and Obamas CIA chief Leon Panetta:


Officials call operation one of the agency’s great successes

By Andrew Higgins and Christopher Cooper
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg80840.html

Interrogation of terrorist suspect Shawki Salama Attiya

Several days later, he was taken, handcuffed and blindfolded, to the
abandoned air base, north of Tirana. “There, a private plane was waiting
for me,” he said in his confession. Once in Cairo, he was blindfolded again
and driven to Egypt’s state security offices on July 2, 1998.

“Since then,
the interrogations have not stopped,” he said.
Attiya later told his lawyer, Hafez Abu-Saada, that while being questioned,
he was subjected to electrical shocks to his genitals, suspended by his
limbs, dragged on his face, and made to stand for hours in a cell, with
filthy water up to his knees. Abu-Saada, who represented all five members
of the Tirana cell, subsequently recorded their complaints in a published
report.


Actions signed,supported,and carried out by democrats and supported by their activists like getalife and starfleet.


CIA states emphatically that these techniques worked and under the democratic leadership of the Obama administration,still support having a loop hole of using these methods when needed.

Justice Dept.

Consider the Justice Department memo of May 30, 2005. It notes that “the CIA believes ‘the intelligence acquired from these interrogations has been a key reason why al Qaeda has failed to launch a spectacular attack in the West since 11 September 2001.’ . . . In particular, the CIA believes that it would have been unable to obtain critical information from numerous detainees, including [Khalid Sheik Mohammed] and Abu Zubaydah, without these enhanced techniques.” The memo continues: “Before the CIA used enhanced techniques

. . .

KSM resisted giving any answers to questions about future attacks, simply noting, ‘Soon you will find out.’ ” Once the techniques were applied, “interrogations have led to specific, actionable intelligence, as well as a general increase in the amount of intelligence regarding al Qaeda and its affiliates.”

Hillary Clinton leaves open the use for these measures

On an earlier occasion, she had held that there were “very rare” instances in which severe interrogation methods might be necessary and that the United States needs “lawful authority” to engage in them in cases involving an “imminent threat to millions of Americans.”

Obama leaves open the use for these measures

Barack Obama responded by declaring that we cannot “have the president of the United States state as a matter of policy that there is a loophole or an exception where we would sanction torture.” He then shifted, in the very same breath, to state that “there are going to be all sorts of hypotheticals, an emergency situation, and I will make that judgment at that time.” In other words, he wants to preserve the very same loophole for which he lambastes President Bush.


Panetta: Rendition Will Continue, Would Ask Obama to Authorize Harsher Interrogation Methods “If Necessary”

Panetta also says that rendition will continue under the Obama administration

Panetta said he would if necessary ask Obama to allow harsher interrogations than those covered by the Army Field Manual, which the president last month set as the government standard. The manual bans techniques such as waterboarding.

“I would not hesitate,” to seek broader interrogation authority, Panetta said, adding “I think that this president would do nothing that would violate the laws that are in place.”

In direct accordance with what liberals like getalife/starfleet consider “torture”,the Obama administration beyond a shadow of a doubt is a supporter of torture and liberals like getalife/starfleet are right there with their unbending support of it also.

Look in the mirror liberal,you are a supporter of torture.

Baxter Greene on April 24, 2009 at 12:40 PM

Those pigs needed a good bath anyway…

D2Boston on April 24, 2009 at 12:42 PM

I posted the law on torture at the other thread, yet starsheet dude and whatislife have yet to respond except “it’s torture, it’s torture”. Yada, yada, yada. Idiots.

Tom

marinetbryant on April 24, 2009 at 12:42 PM

Rezko and Rahm “The F-Word Emmanuel” just called me on my 3-way. The were mad because I do not think the Messiah is worth an ant’s spit as far as protecting America. I asked them a simple question: “If The One’s daughters were kidnapped by terrorists, and one of the terrorists (who knew where the young girls were being held) was captured, would it be OK to put pink panties on his foul Islamic head; or maybe play loud Rap non-music that whose lyrics were, “I’d rather date a camel, than a Mullah’s daughter”? Or how about putting a caterpillar in the terrorist’s cell? Or leaving the lights on all night? Or pouring water on his foul head? What’s the bottom line in saving the One’s daughter’s? Believe me, everything hanging on that terrorist’s body would be cut off faster than you can spell Hypocrite. This whole argument is moot – and it has backfired on The Messiah.

Cinday Blackburn on April 24, 2009 at 12:42 PM

Barry’s attempt to make combat-wounded veterans pay for their own healthcare was Strike One.

Barry’s DHS Napolitano report slurring the military as right-wing extremists and potential terrorists was Strike Two.

This is Strike Three.

He’s out.

Put him on waivers and then send him back to the minor league, where he belongs.

Christien on April 24, 2009 at 12:43 PM

if we torture enemy soldier A

If we waterboard soldier terrorist C and as a result gain information to save your child’s life, should we also waterboard terrorist D to save your neighbor’s?

DarkCurrent on April 24, 2009 at 12:43 PM

We have never had a president who only acts for political reasons….until now.

Every other president we have ever had, right or wrong, left, right, or center…has placed the people of this country above politics…..until now.

This president is risking our lives to make political hay.

notagool on April 24, 2009 at 11:17 AM
In all honesty I can’t let that pass.I’ll give you two,one from each side.
Nixon,Johnson

oldernwiser on April 24, 2009 at 11:23 AM

I have no particular love for Nixon or Johnson, who were both despicably political, but they both served their country in WWII.

The snake in the White House now has never served his country in ANY way.

His goal, as Rush says, is revenge. He wants to settle the score with America.

notagool on April 24, 2009 at 12:45 PM

Just as with his strange attack on Rush Limbaugh, all it did was elevate his opponent and diminish himself.

Obama, the mental midget, is working hard at becoming a political midget, too.

Daggett on April 24, 2009 at 12:47 PM

There is no joy in Libville–mighty Barry has struck out.

Christien on April 24, 2009 at 12:47 PM

Obama, the mental midget, is working hard at becoming a political midget, too.

Daggett on April 24, 2009 at 12:47 PM

I won’t be happy until The Precedent is a defendant.

progressoverpeace on April 24, 2009 at 12:51 PM

DarkCurrent on April 24, 2009 at 12:43 PM

Have you read through my complete comment? I was commenting on long term strategy, not on the *morality* aspect…

peter_griffin on April 24, 2009 at 12:52 PM

His goal, as Rush says, is revenge. He wants to settle the score with America.

notagool on April 24, 2009 at 12:45 PM

I can’t get Rush’s show where I now live,tried doing the 24/7 on line thing but couldn’t maintain the connection.
It’s nice to know he agrees with me. :-)

oldernwiser on April 24, 2009 at 12:52 PM

Also, this is just ridiculous:

Now we have confirmation that Obama planned this all along as a political attack against a man who hardly matters on the national political scene any longer – or at least he didn’t until Obama decided to pick a fight with him.

Again, here is your evidence of this:

A source familiar with White House views said Obama’s advisers are further convinced that letting the public know exactly what the past administration sanctioned will undermine what they see as former vice president Richard B. Cheney’s effort to “box Obama in” by claiming that the executive order heightened the risk of a terrorist attack.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that this is WHY they released the memos. It just what the believe one result of releasing the memos could be. Keep in mind, the release was prompted by an ACLU FOIA lawsuit.

Again, nothing that Blair said suggests anything more than that we got background information on al qaeda, not actionable intelligence that thwarted any plots. And Blair was not convinced we couldn’t have gotten that information through traditional interrogation.

Tom_Shipley on April 24, 2009 at 1:01 PM

So, when are we going to prosecute FDR for the Japanese internment camps during WWII and Lincoln for getting rid of habeas corpus during the Civil War?

76United on April 24, 2009 at 1:04 PM

When, oh when, are people that voted for President Obama going to acknowledge that he is an idiot? I know that I am living in lala land, but come on at some point some people have to say enough is enough with this stuff?

I had a conversation with a friend who is liberal, and he was going off about our moral high ground and I asked him point blank if he had a threat against one of his kids and he knew where the threat came from, what would he do? As with 99.9% of parents his answer was find them and beat it out of them. Although, obviously this is different that that, in a simplistic way it is not. They had increased chatter the same as before 9/11 and they felt the same way a parent does when it knows it child is in danger.

I actually find the level of safety they took into consideration unbeleivable rather than a problem.

God bless our military for this, show me the pictures and put them next to the people jumping out of the windows on 9/11.

momof2 on April 24, 2009 at 1:07 PM

OK Libs, I have but one question:

Let’s imagine that your son or daughter worked in that tall blding in LA that was part of the second wave. By waterboarding KSM, we prevented that attack.

So….would you rather that your son or daughter live or would you rather that KSM was spared the 30 second experience of waterboarding?

If you are truly willing to sacrifice your child to an abstract moral principle, then I will listen to you on this issue. However, if — as I suspect — that this feigned outrage is just abstract moral preening, then there is no credibility in the argument.

Another question — how many Americans need to die to spare these darlings? Bush’s answer was “none.” What is your answer lefties?

johnboy on April 24, 2009 at 1:07 PM

Have you read through my complete comment? I was commenting on long term strategy, not on the *morality* aspect…

peter_griffin on April 24, 2009 at 12:52 PM

Yes. One way or another the ‘game’ will be concluded in a finite number of rounds. Now, how about my question?

DarkCurrent on April 24, 2009 at 1:09 PM

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