Video: Obama acknowledges Defense Secretary “William” Gates

Me too – I think Nan will look better in an orange jumpsuit.

Vashta.Nerada on May 21, 2009 at 12:32 PM

Agree totally!
Orange would look great on Bush and Cheney too.
I bet there are a whole lot of ppl that sanctioned torture in congress.
Expose them all!!
I want an auto da fe!
Can we have an auto da fe?

strangelet on May 21, 2009 at 12:38 PM

So do we. The only one who’s been caught lying so far has been Pelosi.

BadgerHawk on May 21, 2009 at 12:37 PM

so far……
;)

strangelet on May 21, 2009 at 12:41 PM

BadgerHawk on May 21, 2009 at 12:41 PM

Waterboarding in history.

Waterboarding (as it is now called) is one of the oldest known forms of torture. In the 1500s it was used in the Spanish Inquisition.
In 1898, an American soldier (Captain Edwin F. Glenn) used the technique (then called the “water cure”) on a prisoner captured in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. When reported, Americans were shocked and protests led to Elihu Root, U.S. Secretary of War (now called Secretary of Defense) ordered Glenn court-martialed in 1902 and imprisoned. A general under whose command this and other tortures occurred was court-martialed and removed from the army.
During WWII, both the Gestapo and some Japanese soldiers used waterboarding as a form of torture. The Japanese were tried after the war and at least one hung by U.S. forces for waterboarding U.S. Airman Chase J. Nielsen.
Waterboarding was declared illegal by U.S. generals during the Vietnam War. When a journalist photgraphed an American soldier helping two South Vietnamese soldiers waterboard a captured North Vietnames soldier, and published in the Washington Post in 1968, it caused outrage across the United States. The soldier was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. army.
In 1983, Texas sheriff James Parker was sentenced to ten years in prison and his deputies to four years apiece for waterboarding prisoners. When his case came up for clemency years later, then Gov. George W. Bush refused to pardon Sheriff Parker, specifically stating that no one is above the law.
In 1988, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment, or Punishment of 1984. It was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1994. Since the U.S. Constitution classifies all treaties that the U.S. signs and ratifies as sharing the Constitution’s status as “highest law of the land,” then the U.S. must follow the Convention Against Torture’s provisions, including those which demand prosecution of those who authorize and those who implement torture. It also forbids the U.S. to ship people to other countries that practice torture (”rendition”) and the Bush administration was guilty of that, also.

strangelet on May 21, 2009 at 12:46 PM

Obama, like Noonan, wants to keep on walking.
Dick Cheney, genius, is going to force a truth commission by lobbying for the release of the memos he described as justifying toture.
What is Cheney’s goal?
Keeping Gitmo open? The judiciary has declared it illegal and the executive has ordered it closed.
Perhaps….he’s trying to save his legacy?
hahaha

TRUTH COMMISSION FTW!!!!!!

strangelet on May 21, 2009 at 12:50 PM

Not French; they don’t say “you know”. She’s worse than French.

Schadenfreude on May 21, 2009 at 12:53 PM

tu sais….

;)

strangelet on May 21, 2009 at 12:56 PM

ClassicCon on May 21, 2009 at 12:56 PM

Yup, and every blown up dirt-farmer likely had 6 or 8 male relatives instantly converted to jihaadism, given the islamic proclivity to extreme reproduction and tribal affiliation.
Not relly cost-viable if you axe meh.

strangelet on May 21, 2009 at 1:00 PM