OT: Release of the DOJ torture transcripts.

[afx114]

http://italy.usembassy.gov/viewer/article.asp?article=/file2003_06/alia/A3062613.htm

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2003

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

Today, on the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the United States declares its strong solidarity with torture victims across the world. Torture anywhere is an affront to human dignity everywhere. We are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law.

Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, ratified by the United States and more than 130 other countries since 1984, forbids governments from deliberately inflicting severe physical or mental pain or suffering on those within their custody or control. Yet torture continues to be practiced around the world by rogue regimes whose cruel methods match their determination to crush the human spirit. Beating, burning, rape, and electric shock are some of the grisly tools such regimes use to terrorize their own citizens. These despicable crimes cannot be tolerated by a world committed to justice….

The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment. I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy. I further urge governments to join America and others in supporting torture victims’ treatment centers, contributing to the UN Fund for the Victims of Torture, and supporting the efforts of non-governmental organizations to end torture and assist its victims.

No people, no matter where they reside, should have to live in fear of their own government. Nowhere should the midnight knock foreshadow a nightmare of state-commissioned crime. The suffering of torture victims must end, and the United States calls on all governments to assume this great mission.

[sdgrrl]

Last night I watched Sean Hannity and Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition chanting the need and good of “enhanced interrogation”. After 9 years of hearing these two talk about values and especially how America is a Christian nation I just asked myself ‘What would Jesus do’?

These two “Christians”…what would good ole’ Jesus do? The hypocrisy is suffocating.

[sdgrrl]

Last night I watched Sean Hannity and Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition chanting the need and good of “enhanced interrogation”. After 9 years of hearing these two talk about values and especially how America is a Christian nation I just asked myself ‘What would Jesus do’?

These two “Christians”…what would good ole’ Jesus do? The hypocrisy is suffocating.

[sdgrrl]

Last night I watched Sean Hannity and Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition chanting the need and good of “enhanced interrogation”. After 9 years of hearing these two talk about values and especially how America is a Christian nation I just asked myself ‘What would Jesus do’?

These two “Christians”…what would good ole’ Jesus do? The hypocrisy is suffocating.

[sdgrrl]

Last night I watched Sean Hannity and Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition chanting the need and good of “enhanced interrogation”. After 9 years of hearing these two talk about values and especially how America is a Christian nation I just asked myself ‘What would Jesus do’?

These two “Christians”…what would good ole’ Jesus do? The hypocrisy is suffocating.

[sdgrrl]

Last night I watched Sean Hannity and Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition chanting the need and good of “enhanced interrogation”. After 9 years of hearing these two talk about values and especially how America is a Christian nation I just asked myself ‘What would Jesus do’?

These two “Christians”…what would good ole’ Jesus do? The hypocrisy is suffocating.

[Parabolica]

KSM-
Interesting that the two cites you give are old, coming from the time Bush was still in office. If you have been reading a newspaper or watching the news on tv since Obama took office, you cannot have helped but notice that reports and memos that Bush suppressed on the subject of torture are coming to light almost daily.

I’m not detecting any awareness of current events in your posts. Can you give us some 2009 citations that back up your claims?

Also, the number of people you believe were tortured (“3”) seems acceptable to you. Is there any number of tortured prisoners that would concern you?

From your view of US conduct in our military and secret prisons (that nothing that was done constituted torture), does that mean that you would feel no outrage if captured US soldiers or civilians were subjected to the same treatment? It would be acceptable to you. That conclusion seems inescapable going by what you have written.

[Parabolica]

KSM-
Interesting that the two cites you give are old, coming from the time Bush was still in office. If you have been reading a newspaper or watching the news on tv since Obama took office, you cannot have helped but notice that reports and memos that Bush suppressed on the subject of torture are coming to light almost daily.

I’m not detecting any awareness of current events in your posts. Can you give us some 2009 citations that back up your claims?

Also, the number of people you believe were tortured (“3”) seems acceptable to you. Is there any number of tortured prisoners that would concern you?

From your view of US conduct in our military and secret prisons (that nothing that was done constituted torture), does that mean that you would feel no outrage if captured US soldiers or civilians were subjected to the same treatment? It would be acceptable to you. That conclusion seems inescapable going by what you have written.

[Parabolica]

KSM-
Interesting that the two cites you give are old, coming from the time Bush was still in office. If you have been reading a newspaper or watching the news on tv since Obama took office, you cannot have helped but notice that reports and memos that Bush suppressed on the subject of torture are coming to light almost daily.

I’m not detecting any awareness of current events in your posts. Can you give us some 2009 citations that back up your claims?

Also, the number of people you believe were tortured (“3”) seems acceptable to you. Is there any number of tortured prisoners that would concern you?

From your view of US conduct in our military and secret prisons (that nothing that was done constituted torture), does that mean that you would feel no outrage if captured US soldiers or civilians were subjected to the same treatment? It would be acceptable to you. That conclusion seems inescapable going by what you have written.

[Parabolica]

KSM-
Interesting that the two cites you give are old, coming from the time Bush was still in office. If you have been reading a newspaper or watching the news on tv since Obama took office, you cannot have helped but notice that reports and memos that Bush suppressed on the subject of torture are coming to light almost daily.

I’m not detecting any awareness of current events in your posts. Can you give us some 2009 citations that back up your claims?

Also, the number of people you believe were tortured (“3”) seems acceptable to you. Is there any number of tortured prisoners that would concern you?

From your view of US conduct in our military and secret prisons (that nothing that was done constituted torture), does that mean that you would feel no outrage if captured US soldiers or civilians were subjected to the same treatment? It would be acceptable to you. That conclusion seems inescapable going by what you have written.

[Parabolica]

KSM-
Interesting that the two cites you give are old, coming from the time Bush was still in office. If you have been reading a newspaper or watching the news on tv since Obama took office, you cannot have helped but notice that reports and memos that Bush suppressed on the subject of torture are coming to light almost daily.

I’m not detecting any awareness of current events in your posts. Can you give us some 2009 citations that back up your claims?

Also, the number of people you believe were tortured (“3”) seems acceptable to you. Is there any number of tortured prisoners that would concern you?

From your view of US conduct in our military and secret prisons (that nothing that was done constituted torture), does that mean that you would feel no outrage if captured US soldiers or civilians were subjected to the same treatment? It would be acceptable to you. That conclusion seems inescapable going by what you have written.

[felix]

[quote=afx114]I wonder if asking whether or not torture works is even relevant to the issue at hand. It seems to me that if we signed a treaty against the use of torture, we are bound by that treaty to not torture. [/quote]

That is why I have written, at least twice, it is important and a starting point to any discussion to define torture.

Legal opinion given to the Bush Administration indicated that the techniques sanctioned for use by US interrogators were not torture. So, assuming one accepts those opinions, that would render the discussion of treaties moot.

[felix]

[quote=afx114]I wonder if asking whether or not torture works is even relevant to the issue at hand. It seems to me that if we signed a treaty against the use of torture, we are bound by that treaty to not torture. [/quote]

That is why I have written, at least twice, it is important and a starting point to any discussion to define torture.

Legal opinion given to the Bush Administration indicated that the techniques sanctioned for use by US interrogators were not torture. So, assuming one accepts those opinions, that would render the discussion of treaties moot.

[felix]

[quote=afx114]I wonder if asking whether or not torture works is even relevant to the issue at hand. It seems to me that if we signed a treaty against the use of torture, we are bound by that treaty to not torture. [/quote]

That is why I have written, at least twice, it is important and a starting point to any discussion to define torture.

Legal opinion given to the Bush Administration indicated that the techniques sanctioned for use by US interrogators were not torture. So, assuming one accepts those opinions, that would render the discussion of treaties moot.

[felix]

[quote=afx114]I wonder if asking whether or not torture works is even relevant to the issue at hand. It seems to me that if we signed a treaty against the use of torture, we are bound by that treaty to not torture. [/quote]

That is why I have written, at least twice, it is important and a starting point to any discussion to define torture.

Legal opinion given to the Bush Administration indicated that the techniques sanctioned for use by US interrogators were not torture. So, assuming one accepts those opinions, that would render the discussion of treaties moot.

[Author]

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