Yes, We Torture

Jane Mayer's book apparently includes never-before-seen documents where the Red Cross expresses no doubts that al-Qaeda suspects are being tortured.

Comments

Your Body is a Wonderland...that I'm going to waterboard.

Posted by rickm | July 11, 2008 3:46 PM

BIG DEAL. Obama will pull a "Ford" and pardon the whole crew so the nation can move on. Gut the 4th. Pardon Bush. Flip-flop. Politics as usual.

Posted by steve duncan | July 11, 2008 3:47 PM

Of course we torture, we are led by people who think of Iraqis as less than human. That's why we see posters on this very board tell us all that it is okay to kill them and steal their oil.

Posted by Not As Stupid As Will Allen | July 11, 2008 3:51 PM

"... we are led by people who think of Iraqis as less than human."

And the Republicans want us to elect a man who thinks killing Iranians with cigarettes is a funny joke.

Posted by Scott Ferguson | July 11, 2008 4:00 PM

"BIG DEAL. Obama will pull a "Ford" and pardon the whole crew so the nation can move on. Gut the 4th. Pardon Bush. Flip-flop. Politics as usual."

I don't think so. Bush might very well, though.

Buy the book! I worked on it a little. It's really really good.

Posted by Katherine | July 11, 2008 4:14 PM

The details might be new, but the premise sure ain't. Anybody with half a brain understands that state run torture is Bush policy.

And I agree with Katherine that Bush will attempt to write "get out of jail free" cards for everybody involved in torture, murder, illegal renditions, and imprisonment without trial. Well, everybody above a certain rank, of course.

Posted by LFC | July 11, 2008 4:51 PM

Bush can issue pardons, but I wouldn't expect any of them to be vacationing in Spain or the Netherlands anytime soon...

Posted by calipygian | July 11, 2008 5:02 PM

LFC - The details might be new, but the premise sure ain't. Anybody with half a brain understands that state run torture is Bush policy.

No, interrogation of enemy is present policy, just like Lincoln and FDR did it.

Whereas, defense of enemy rights is Democrat policy.

Posted by chris ford | July 11, 2008 6:04 PM

And now Chris Ford has proved that he has something less than half a brain!

Posted by Edward, the mad shirt grinder | July 11, 2008 6:17 PM

The Atlantic tortures us with their FUCKING SERVER ERRORS!

Chris Ford tortures us with his stupid posts. Which is his purpose in making them.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 11, 2008 6:59 PM

No, interrogation of enemy is present policy, just like Lincoln and FDR did it.

Lincoln and FDR did lots of terrible things that offended civil liberties. I will not defend suspending habeas or throwing the Japanese in concentration camps.

However, the implication that they approved anything like waterboarding, slamming prisoners heads into walls, holding prisoners naked in extreme heat and cold for hours, placing prisoners in painful positions for hours on end, and long-term sleep deprivation is a false and despicable defamatory statement.

The issue isn't asking prisoners questions, it's these techniques, which are not "interrogation" but forms of physical mistreatment that are prohibited by longstanding treaties and the customary law of war crimes. And no, FDR and Lincoln never authorized anything like them.

Posted by Dilan Esper | July 12, 2008 1:57 AM