[Vision2020] "Harsh" Interrogations -As ye sow, so shall you

bear at moscow.com bear at moscow.com
Sat Apr 25 07:56:50 PDT 2009


Tom,

A good thing to remember, is that Hitler also NEVER broke a German Law during his reign 
either, he had the laws changed, just like W. did ! Everything he did was LAWFUL under
German 
laws!



> --===============1365807271==
> 
> Haven't you heard, Paul?
> 
> Ever since January 20th the 800th MP Brigade, the FBI, and the US 
> Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel have all gone over to the 
> dark side.  They are all now liberal-socialist left-wingnuts.  They do 
> this every once in a while.
> 
> How else would J. Edgar Hoover have been able to accessorize his evening 
> gown wardrobe.  Liberals are so fashion oriented.
> 
> Yo, g!  How about Dubya hemself?
> 
> First, Bush is all over Matt Lauer -- check out the pointing and the 
> aggressiveness. Then, when it's clear that Lauer's not buying it, he 
> starts saying that he won't talk about what he's already been talking 
> about. 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp4vLBvU1bA
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> 
> > I have to admit I'm curious whether or not you'll find Andreas' sources 
> > credible: the 800th MP brigade, the FBI, and the US Department of 
> > Justice Office of Legal Counsel, among others.
> > 
> > Paul
> > 
> > g. crabtree wrote:
> > > Didn't you read the sentence? I chose to use the word "think" instead 
> > > of "know" because, unlike Mr. Schou, I realize that there's a 
> > > difference between the two. I base my opinion on reports from 
> > > accountable members of the former administration who have actual names 
> > > and faces, not anonymous sources, wack job web sites, Al Jazeera, or 
> > > the hysterical, foam flecked rants of Keith Olbermann.
> > >  
> > > g
> > >
> > >     ----- Original Message -----
> > >     *From:* Sunil Ramalingam <mailto:sunilramalingam at hotmail.com>
> > >     *Cc:* vision 2020 <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>
> > >     *Sent:* Friday, April 24, 2009 6:13 PM
> > >     *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] "Harsh" Interrogations -As ye sow, so
> > >     shall you
> > >
> > >     Gary,
> > >
> > >     You say, "What I have said and what I do think is that harsh
> > >     interrogation methods can sometimes be necessary and can produce
> > >     useful information. This does not give you license to infer
> > >     anything else."
> > >
> > >     How do you know this?  Have you participated or observed these
> > >     interrogations? Or are you relying on someone else's account? 
> > >     What makes that account so credible?
> > >
> > >     For argument's sake if your first statement is correct, what's
> > >     your point?  Are you saying such interrogations should be used? 
> > >     If they cross the line into torture, should they still be used?
> > >     How often? By whom?
> > >
> > >     Sunil
> > >
> > >     -------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > >     From: jampot at roadrunner.com
> > >     To: ophite at gmail.com; smith at turbonet.com
> > >     Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:13:38 -0700
> > >     CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
> > >     Subject: Re: [Vision2020] "Harsh" Interrogations -As ye sow, so
> > >     shall you
> > >
> > >     With your very first sentence you once again mischaracterize what
> > >     it was I said. I did not concede that the things you mention took
> > >     place. Just because you've read something in the huffington post
> > >     and/or the new york times and regurgitate it here doesn't make it
> > >     a verified fact. You don't know for certain, you were not there,
> > >     you are electing to take someone at there word. Show me evidence
> > >     and I'll concede that those events occurred and not before.
> > >      
> > >     What I did say was that I did not at any time defend or encourage
> > >     those sorts of measures. Period. Your overused technique for
> > >     taking what someone actually says and determining what they
> > >     /really /mean and what they r/eally/ think is tedious and annoying.
> > >      
> > >     What I have said and what I do think is that harsh interrogation
> > >     methods can sometimes be necessary and can produce useful
> > >     information. This does not give you license to infer anything else.
> > >      
> > >     But Lord knows you almost certainly will.
> > >      
> > >     g
> > >
> > >         ----- Original Message -----
> > >         *From:* Andreas Schou <mailto:ophite at gmail.com>
> > >         *To:* a <mailto:smith at turbonet.com>
> > >         *Cc:* keely emerinemix <mailto:kjajmix1 at msn.com> ;
> > >         jampot at roadrunner.com <mailto:jampot at roadrunner.com> ;
> > >         vision2020 at moscow.com <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>
> > >         *Sent:* Friday, April 24, 2009 3:17 PM
> > >         *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] "Harsh" Interrogations -As ye sow,
> > >         so shall you
> > >
> > >         Gary --
> > >
> > >         So, what you're saying is that you concede that abuses took
> > >         place; you concede that interrogation techniques like
> > >         uninsulated 30 and 100 degree temperatures; you concede that
> > >         the same guy responsible for Abu Ghraib was responsible for
> > >         GTMO; you concede that any technique that did not produce pain
> > >         "equivalent to death or organ failure" was approved for use on
> > >         our GTMO detainees. And you claim that you don't support any
> > >         of these things: that these things are torture.
> > >
> > >         And then, conceding that we did these things, you nonetheless
> > >         bang the table and insist that our approach to interrogation
> > >         didn't constitute torture. The most charitable interpretation
> > >         of this is that you are merely incapable of drawing
> > >         conclusion. However, having corresponded with you over the
> > >         years, I've found that you have a genius for drawing incorrect
> > >         and immoral conclusions.
> > >
> > >         What are the facts as you believe them to be? Did we
> > >         waterboard? Did we leave detainees shackled to the ceiling,
> > >         stewing in their own shit? How about week-long periods of
> > >         sleep deprivation over years of detention? Did we do that? Do
> > >         you think this is consistent with our values?  Do you think we
> > >         should be ordering US servicemen to do this sort of thing? Is
> > >         that consistent with a duty to protect the honor of our
> > >         servicemen and intelligenc officers?
> > >         -- ACS
> > >
> > >         On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 1:32 PM, a <smith at turbonet.com
> > >         <mailto:smith at turbonet.com>> wrote:
> > >
> > >             You're absolutely right. As a work of pulp fiction it's
> > >             right up there with the Left Behind series and any of the
> > >             vapid crap produced by Dan Brown.
> > >              
> > >             By the numbers:
> > >              
> > >             1. I have at no time tried to justify the abuses in the
> > >             FBI report to such as being chained with no access to
> > >             food, water, or toilet facilities.
> > >              
> > >             2. Exposing anyone to low temperatures to the point of
> > >             hypothermia (Although one wonders how many US soldiers
> > >             were treated for the same thing that night, no "torture"
> > >             involved)
> > >              
> > >             3. Sexual abuse of any description.
> > >              
> > >             Pretending that these are my expressed views and then
> > >             vigorously taking me to task for them is dishonest in the
> > >             extreme and is exactly the sort of thing I have come to
> > >             expect from Mr. Schou. Playing fast and loose with the
> > >             truth has allways been a hallmark of his debate style and
> > >             for him to hold himself up as a paragon of moral
> > >             righteousness is laughable. I believe that he would do
> > >             well to climb down off his rustled moral high horse and
> > >             respond to what I actually write not what he concocts in
> > >             his fevered imagination.
> > >              
> > >             g
> > >
> > >                 ----- Original Message -----
> > >                 *From:* keely emerinemix <mailto:kjajmix1 at msn.com>
> > >                 *To:* ophite at gmail.com <mailto:ophite at gmail.com> ;
> > >                 jampot at roadrunner.com <mailto:jampot at roadrunner.com>
> > >                 *Cc:* vision2020 at moscow.com
> > >                 <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>
> > >                 *Sent:* Friday, April 24, 2009 11:57 AM
> > >                 *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] "Harsh" Interrogations -As
> > >                 ye sow, so shall you
> > >
> > >                 This is probably the finest post I've ever read on
> > >                 Vision 2020. 
> > >
> > >                 Thanks, Andreas. 
> > >
> > >                 Keely
> > >                 http://keely-prevailingwinds.blogspot.com/
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >                 -------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
> 
> > >                 Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:31:27 -0700
> > >                 From: ophite at gmail.com <mailto:ophite at gmail.com>
> > >                 To: jampot at roadrunner.com 
> <mailto:jampot at roadrunner.com>
> > >                 CC: vision2020 at moscow.com 
> <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com>
> > >                 Subject: Re: [Vision2020] "Harsh" Interrogations -As
> > >                 ye sow, so shall you
> > >
> > >                 Gary --
> > >
> > >                 From the FBI report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay under
> > >                 Geoffrey Miller, the general later brought in to
> > >                 "Gitmoize" Abu Ghraib:
> > >
> > >                 "on several occasions, witness ("W") saw detainees
> > >                 ("ds") in interrogation rooms chained hand and foot in
> > >                 fetal position to floor w/no chair/ food/water; most
> > >                 urinated or defecated on selves, and were left there
> > >                 18, 24 hrs or more. Once, the air conditioning was so
> > >                 low that the barefoot d was shaking with cold. Another
> > >                 time, it was off so the unventilated room was over 100
> > >                 degrees, d was almost unconscious on floor with a pile
> > >                 of hair next to him (he had apparently been pulling it
> > >                 out throughout the night). Another time, it was
> > >                 sweltering hot and loud rap music played - d's hand
> > >                 and foot was chained and he was in a fetal position on
> > >                 the floor. Upon inquiry, W was told that interrogators
> > >                 [military contractors] ordered this treatment. Took
> > >                 place in Delta Camp"
> > >
> > >                 The report goes on to substantiate that more than one
> > >                 detainee (d) was brought into the infirmary with
> > >                 hypothermia after an interrogation session. Detainees
> > >                 pissing and shitting all over themselves. Being
> > >                 sexually assaulted by female guards. Forced to stay
> > >                 awake for longer than the human body can stand. Being
> > >                 partially drowned. Being stuck in a coffin with what
> > >                 you're told are scorpions.
> > >
> > >                 These are not conditions you will find any Hilton
> > >                 other than the Hanoi. They are not on the continuum of
> > >                 acceptable behaviors any more than a knife is on the
> > >                 continuum of 'comfortable objects' because, like a
> > >                 knife, it's also an object. These are techniques we
> > >                 reverse-engineered from North Korean torture
> > >                 techniques in order to create SERE, and then
> > >                 reverse-reverse engineered in order to create GTMO and
> > >                 the "black sites." This is despite the fact that we --
> > >                 as in, our country -- prosecuted Japanese soldiers for
> > >                 waterboarding, and even Israel, no friend of
> > >                 terrorists, has abandoned it because it produces bad
> > >                 intelligence. Indeed, if I were just a little more
> > >                 cynical than I am, I'd say that that's quite the
> > >                 point: we waterboarded KSM for information on the
> > >                 nonexistent Iraq-al-Qaida connection, and Abu Zubaydah
> > >                 for information on confabulated terrorist plots he had
> > >                 no reason to know about.
> > >
> > >                 You're wrong about the facts. You're wrong about the
> > >                 law. I could go on about that, but I'd just be arguing
> > >                 with the tinny little noises escaping from the echo
> > >                 chamber you pretend will replace journalism. I'm
> > >                 waiting with bated breath to find out why you think
> > >                 the FBI is infiltrated by ACORN or how George Soros is
> > >                 dictating the legal conclusions of Republican
> > >                 appointees at Foggy Bottom. That's just your
> > >                 intentional ignorance, plus arrogance, tribalism, and
> > >                 smug self-satisfaction at your clever turns of phrase.
> > >                 I can tolerate that.
> > >
> > >                 What gets to me -- why I'm provoked to respond -- is
> > >                 that you're willing, even eager, to sell out our
> > >                 country's honor in order to soothe your rank
> > >                 cowardice. Or maybe it makes you feel like a real man
> > >                 to hear that some punk Afghan teenager with an AK-47
> > >                 was awake for a week, stewing in his own shit,
> > >                 shackled to the floor. Whatever the impulse is --
> > >                 tribalism? sadism? fear? -- it's not anything I
> > >                 recognize as American. What third-world tinpot
> > >                 dictatorship did you grow up in that you think this is
> > >                 acceptable?
> > >
> > >                 We consent to abide by certain principles. It's that
> > >                 common consent that keeps our country from being a
> > >                 collection of miscellaneous foreigners on someone
> > >                 else's land. I have disagreements with conservatives
> > >                 about the metes and bounds of those principles, sure.
> > >                 But here you are, disputing whether America should
> > >                 have principles at all.
> > >
> > >                 Americans, by which I mean FDR and Eisenhower, Reagan
> > >                 and JFK, held off the Soviets and Nazi Germany,
> > >                 nations that both posed a dire existential threat to
> > >                 our country, while banning torture, expanding the
> > >                 protections of the Geneva Convention, and abandoning
> > >                 the pretense that it's okay to attack civilian
> > >                 populations. These are tempting tactics. Some of them
> > >                 work. Torture produces words rather than silence. The
> > >                 Geneva Convention bans effective tactics for making
> > >                 war. Killing civilians forces submission. We stepped
> > >                 away from these things. We won. Twice. Over the two
> > >                 most belligerent, technologically advanced, and
> > >                 staggeringly immoral nations ever to exist, one armed
> > >                 with enough weapons to destroy the world several times
> > >                 over.
> > >
> > >                 But then 9/11 made you wet yourself. A crime of
> > >                 unimaginable scale happened to people in New York
> > >                 City; people whom you don't even accord the privilege
> > >                 of being called Americans. The crime was carried out
> > >                 by guys carrying weapons you can buy at Home Depot.
> > >                 Somehow, that uprooted your sense that America stands
> > >                 for anything. But how deep were those roots, Gary,
> > >                 that fewer deaths than those caused by the flu could
> > >                 pull them up?
> > >
> > >                 Our soldiers make a commitment. They tell us they'll
> > >                 uphold the Constitution. But there's a reciprocal side
> > >                 to that commtiment: we tell them that they're the good
> > >                 guys; that they're not just protecting American lives,
> > >                 but American values. That they're fighting for
> > >                 liberty, mom, and apple pie. Because 9/11 made you wet
> > >                 yourself, you're asking those soldiers to sit and play
> > >                 Minesweeper while some dumb Afghan redneck shits his
> > >                 pants in Arctic cold, chained to the ceiling of a
> > >                 lightless cell. If you tell his President to tell our
> > >                 soldiers to do that, you've reneged on our commitment
> > >                 to make our soldiers the good guys. Our moral purpose
> > >                 doesn't come from who we are; it comes from what we do.
> > >
> > >                 I don't know whether there's going to be a reckoning
> > >                 for the people that authorized this. But you're the
> > >                 reason there should be: to put the rudder straight and
> > >                 make people like you -- who actively argues for
> > >                 torture -- too ashamed to speak up in public. Anything
> > >                 you just said should be enough to make any decent
> > >                 person drop their beer, walk out of the room, and go
> > >                 find another locksmith. I'm looking forward to the day
> > >                 when it is.
> > >
> > >                 -------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
> 
> > >                 Rediscover Hotmail®: Get e-mail storage that grows
> > >                 with you. Check it out.
> > >                
> <http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?
> ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Storage2_042009>
> 
> > >
> > >
> > >                 -------------------------------------------------------
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> 
> 
> "So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to 
> have fun doin' it.  Lord, let your laughter ring forth.  Be outrageous, 
> ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can 
> produce.  And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer 
> joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it 
> was."
> 
> - Molly
> Ivins
> 
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