The Tortured Party
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| Fri, 12-12-2008 - 11:15pm |
Now that he's got nothing to lose by dropping the pandering, McCain issued a joint report just that found that Rumsfeld was right in the middle of authorizing the torture:
"Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Approves Aggressive Techniques (U)
(U) With respect to GTMO’s October 11, 2002 request to use aggressive interrogation
techniques, Mr. Haynes said that “there was a sense by the DoD Leadership that this decision
was taking too long” and that Secretary Rumsfeld told his senior advisors “I need a
recommendation.” On November 27, 2002, the Secretary got one. Notwithstanding the serious
legal concerns raised by the military services, Mr. Haynes sent a one page memo to the
Secretary, recommending that he approve all but three of the eighteen techniques in the GTMO
request. Techniques such as stress positions, removal of clothing, use of phobias (such as fear of
dogs), and deprivation of light and auditory stimuli were all recommended for approval.
(U) Mr. Haynes’s memo indicated that he had discussed the issue with Deputy Secretary
of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith, and General
Myers and that he believed they concurred in his recommendation. When asked what he relied
on to make his recommendation that the aggressive techniques be approved, the only written
legal opinion Mr. Haynes cited was Lieutenant Colonel Beaver’s legal analysis, which senior
military lawyers had considered “legally insufficient” and “woefully inadequate,” and which
LTC Beaver herself had expected would be supplemented with a review by persons with greater
experience than her own.
(U) On December 2, 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld signed Mr. Haynes’s recommendation,
adding a handwritten note that referred to limits proposed in the memo on the use of stress
positions: “I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?”
(U) SERE school techniques are designed to simulate abusive tactics used by our
enemies. There are fundamental differences between a SERE school exercise and a real world
interrogation. At SERE school, students are subject to an extensive medical and psychological
pre-screening prior to being subjected to physical and psychological pressures. The schools
impose strict limits on the frequency, duration, and/or intensity of certain techniques.
Psychologists are present throughout SERE training to intervene should the need arise and to
help students cope with associated stress. And SERE school is voluntary; students are even
given a special phrase they can use to immediately stop the techniques from being used against
them.
(U) Neither those differences, nor the serious legal concerns that had been registered,
stopped the Secretary of Defense from approving the use of the aggressive techniques against
detainees. Moreover, Secretary Rumsfeld authorized the techniques without apparently
providing any written guidance as to how they should be administered. "
http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2008/Detainees.121108.pdf
What a surprise! There will be a lot more on this. If we don't hold those who broke the law accountable, the rampant rate of lawbreaking in the Republican Party will not slow down in the slightest. It will also be a good message to Democrats not to make the same mistakes.

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>>> And with that statement, therein lies the reason I don't worry about being "taken over" by communists and apparently neither do you - "such an absurd, failed ideology." Indeed, my point all along, which you apparently recognize. We fought two ideologue wars spanning a total of about 13 or 14 years, with massive loss of life and resources trying to stamp out "an absurd, failed ideology." Ironic, isn't it?
No, not really. Unfortunately, the inevitable failure of the ideology doesn't prevent liberals from trying to impose it on others, often forcibly, time and time again...with Obama's policies being the most recent. So we must never underestimate the tenacity, or stupidity, of liberals with extreme ideologies...especially those with power.
>>> What about fascism? Now, I had some concerns about that myself at one time. But come Jan. 20th, that concern will be null and void.
< I don't think fascism was ever a potential threat...but as of Jan 20th, when a Marxist sits in the Oval, the rise of socialism is a very real threat.
>>> And I don't think socialism will be a threat either, other than those practices that could be called that having been put in place most recently during the abject failure of the Bush administration. We'll see how they play out.
Absolutely right...the imposition of those socialist policies were wrong and will be just as damaging, in the long term, as the socialist policies Obama and his ilk wish to impose on the American people.
Well, I think it's great that you want both.
I don't know what you're talking about with "right-to-lifers."
Can you please tell me the incident rate of innocent people being killed by interrogation/torture tactics???
"It's a matter of keeping us alive."
That, of course, is your opinion, but in the same vein of a previous post of yours about being "intelligently informed," it is not the opinion of a very great many.
"![]()
Guild Member since 2009
~But the reality is... You can't have your cake and eat it too. Nothing is guaranteed to us.
Kate
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