solarbird: (Default)
solarbird ([personal profile] solarbird) wrote2006-09-23 02:53 pm
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oops

This was an accidental post. I'll leave it up, I guess, but, well, um, it wasn't done. I mean, even the idea for it wasn't done. Or, put another way, "oops."
The mainstream media continues to hail the "compromise," but anyone with half a brain recognises it for what it is: the legalisation of torture. Here are some examples.


----- 1 -----
The "scenic route" to torture
The War Room
Tim Grieve
Salon.com

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/09/22/torture_compromise/index.html

Despite all the legalistic obscurities surrounding the torture "compromise" between President Bush and Republican senators there is one critical fact of overarching significance that is now crystal clear. This entire controversy arose because the U.S. has been using "interrogation techniques" -- such as induced hypothermia, "long standing," threats directed at detainees' families and waterboarding -- that are widely considered to be torture, and therefore in violation of the Geneva Conventions. The only thing the president wanted was to ensure that the CIA could continue to use these techniques, and that, unquestionably, is precisely the outcome of this "compromise."

[...]

The president got everything he wanted. What he calls the "program" -- and which much of the world calls "torture" -- will continue unabated, arguably even stronger, as a result of this legislative "compromise." In his celebratory statement Thursday night, the president was absolutely right when he said: "I had a single test for the pending legislation, and that's this: Would the CIA operators tell me whether they could go forward with the program, that is a program to question detainees to be able to get information to protect the American people. I'm pleased to say that this agreement preserves the most single -- most potent tool we have in protecting America and foiling terrorist attacks, and that is the CIA program to question the world's most dangerous terrorists and to get their secrets."

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