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You mean that some of the folks reporting 'abuse' might have another agenda, that is being ignored? Like perhaps some of those released and reporting abuse, might in fact be terrorists, reporting what they know groups like UN, Amnesty Now, etc., like to hear?Well I have read on the subject ad nauseum mostly because I was drafted to teach a class on it to some very well educated people--I didn't want to look like an idiot using flawed data. If you actually read all that stuff you Google up, you'll find the same tired stories using the same flawed reports repeated over and over and over, but trotted out each time as if they are new revelations. If you can get a few dozen active blogs to use the same phrases--and believe me this is a standard tactic--and add in sensationalist headlines from the mainstream media, you can also get those kinds of stories to rise to the surface and pretty well bury most of the more objective and honest accounts.
Meanwhile people without a political agenda have not substantiated the stories. As in any human organization, you're going to find a bad egg or two who steps over the line and commits the unacceptable. In every case this has been found, however, we have conducted a thorough investigation and have taken appropriate counter measures.
We are not torturing and/or abusing prisoners either as policy or in practice. We treat them very very well. It is fairly safe to believe that given a choice of serving time in one of our military prisons or anyplace else on Earth, most would want to be in one of our facilities.
Well I have read on the subject ad nauseum mostly because I was drafted to teach a class on it to some very well educated people--I didn't want to look like an idiot using flawed data. If you actually read all that stuff you Google up, you'll find the same tired stories using the same flawed reports repeated over and over and over, but trotted out each time as if they are new revelations. If you can get a few dozen active blogs to use the same phrases--and believe me this is a standard tactic--and add in sensationalist headlines from the mainstream media, you can also get those kinds of stories to rise to the surface and pretty well bury most of the more objective and honest accounts.
Meanwhile people without a political agenda have not substantiated the stories. As in any human organization, you're going to find a bad egg or two who steps over the line and commits the unacceptable. In every case this has been found, however, we have conducted a thorough investigation and have taken appropriate counter measures.
We are not torturing and/or abusing prisoners either as policy or in practice. We treat them very very well. It is fairly safe to believe that given a choice of serving time in one of our military prisons or anyplace else on Earth, most would want to be in one of our facilities.
You mean that some of the folks reporting 'abuse' might have another agenda, that is being ignored? Like perhaps some of those released and reporting abuse, might in fact be terrorists, reporting what they know groups like UN, Amnesty Now, etc., like to hear?
Naw. I'm sure that all good terrorists, mercenaries, and enemy combatants are all morally righteous, upstanding, salt of the earth types who would never say a mistruth or take advantage of an encouraged opportunity to tell how horrible his treatment has been. They would never have motive to try to turn public opinion against those trying to prevent terrorism. (cough)
Well, if you are satisfied that you have looked into it, I guess that is all that one can ask of oneself. I can't say that I am satisfied, but I haven't really looked into it as much as I should. I will try to do so in the near future.
I believe that you will. And you may still oppose Guantanamo or the policy of holding suspected or known terrorists rather than turn them loose to hit us again. You may honestly believe that the policies we have in place are not sufficient and/or too harsh. But I think only the most blindly partisan would look at it closely and conclude that we have any kind of policy of torture or degrading people or even making them unduly uncomfortable.
Personally, I have no problem with making their lives more difficult if they refuse to cooperate and/or become a danger to their captives. We certainly don't object to prison policies that allow more restrictions or harsher treatment for dangerous or difficult prisoners. But not fluffing their pillows is not torture or degradation either.
I personally know too many people in government and in the military to believe that we are cruel and inhumane people.
I don't know that we torture (although I am sure that it has happened on occasion). I suspect that we may degrade, but that depends on the definition of "degrade." We do make people unduly uncomfortable, but I am not sure that I have a serious problem with that. I guess it depends on one's definition of "unduly."
Cruel and inhumane are relative propositions. I don't know where I fall on the continuum of what is cruel and what is inhumane. Anyway, it was nice chatting with you. Best wishes.
there is something to be said about not becoming what we hate.
"A nearly three-year-long investigation by Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats is expected to find there is little evidence the harsh "enhanced interrogation techniques" the CIA used on high-value prisoners produced counter-terrorism breakthroughs.
People familiar with the inquiry said committee investigators, who have been poring over records from the administration of President George W. Bush, believe they do not substantiate claims by some Bush supporters that the harsh interrogations led to counter-terrorism coups.
The backers of such techniques, which include "water-boarding," sleep deprivation and other practices critics call torture, maintain they have led to the disruption of major terror plots and the capture of al Qaeda leaders.
One official said investigators found "no evidence" such enhanced interrogations played "any significant role" in the years-long intelligence operations which led to the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden last May by U.S. Navy SEALs."
Telling It Like It Is
Time for GOP Backbone and Leadership
....everyone's credentials.
"In the current climate, the extreme right wing of the party is targeting anyone who doesnt meet its strict criteria. Its new and narrow litmus test for party membership doesnt allow compromise."
