Comment

'Mancow' Waterboarded - Lasts 6 Seconds Before Deciding 'It's Torture'

67
simonml5/22/2009 3:35:20 pm PDT

re: #61 J.S.

Well, fine, if someone wishes to allege, “It’s Torture!” Then, let the lawsuits begin!

this, btw, also doesn’t mean, as Dick Cheney pointed out yesterday that the U.S. will never, ever waterboard again. Cheney has noted: “This might explain why President Obama has reserved unto himself the right to order the use of enhanced interrogation should he deem it appropriate. What value remains to that authority is debatable, given that the enemy now knows exactly what interrogation methods to train against, and which ones not to worry about. Yet having reserved for himself the authority to order enhanced interrogation after an emergency, you would think that President Obama would be less disdainful of what his predecessor authorized after 9/11. It’s almost gone unnoticed that the president has retained the power to order the same methods in the same circumstances. When they talk about interrogations, he and his administration speak as if they have resolved some great moral dilemma in how to extract critical information from terrorists. Instead they have put the decision off, while assigning a presumption of moral superiority to any decision they make in the future.”

I believe the same can be said with the even morally worse and more disgusting practice of “renditions.” That is, shipping suspects off to foreign states which have zero qualms about using the most brutal methods of “interrogation” imaginable.

And as noted in the Commentary piece linked to yesterday, “waterboarding” was the ultimate tactic used; used on only three terrorists (the worse of the worst); and it set an upper limit, beyond which no one could go.

I agree with your comment. Very cogent. But I have a question: Can you “train against” waterboarding?