Torture Tit-For-Tat

Daily News :

Memo to Rudy Giuliani: Jokes about torture are not funny or wise, especially when one of your presidential rivals was a victim of torture himself.

The ex-mayor learned that the hard way Tuesday after an ally of John McCain - the Arizona senator tortured as a Vietnam War POW - demanded that Giuliani apologize for recent comments comparing his campaign schedule to "sleep deprivation."

Read the whole story: Daily News

Comments

[mellene]

I guess we know where Pat Robertson stands on torture. I think I'd be running the other way from him, given the comments he's made.

[Rubiconski]

Alan Dershowitz, published a book in 2002 entitled, Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge. In Chapter Four, he calls for the use of 'nonlethal' torture in 'ticking bomb' situations.

Unfortunately, he neither tells us how we can be sure that an event is imminent nor how we can be sure that the torture applied will not have a fatal result. On the surface, his recommendation of pushing needles under someone's fingernails appears to be a nonfatal technique."

Here's another thing Dershowitz argued for. His plan was to make a list of Palestinian villages. Anytime there was ANY terror attack in Israel, a Palestinian village would be selected at random by a computer.... and utterly destroyed.

Here is the comedy part: even today, Dershowitz bills himself as a "human rights lawyer." What a laugh.

[GhostintheMachine]

test

[GhostintheMachine]

This year on Nov. 11, our nation pauses on Veterans Day to remember those who have given so
much in the defense of our American freedoms and ideals. Members of our United States Armed
Forces have answered the call to serve and defend our great nation " and this day is the time to
thank them for their service.
Here are some Veterans Day facts:
- World War I ended on Nov. 11, 1918. On the same date three years later an unknown soldier from
that war was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. November 11 eventually became the date
America honors all who have served the United States in war
- The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings
and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11 a.m.
- This is the 54th observance of Veterans Day. In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson
proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. Armistice Day became Veterans
Day on June 28, 1968, with passage of the Uniform Holiday Bill
- Veterans Day and Memorial Day are sometimes confused. Memorial Day honors servicemembers
who died in service to our nation. The intent of Veterans Day is to thank all servicemembers who
serve, and have served, honorably in the U.S. military
This Veterans Day, let"s reflect on the foresight, courage and sacrifices of our past leaders and
heroes and remember the courage and sacrifices of today"s Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and
Coast Guardsmen, who are fighting for freedom and providing humanitarian relief at home and
overseas. We also need to remember their families and loved ones who stand by their side and
support them as they defend our country. Whether attending a parade, a memorial service or
observing the day in private, please reflect upon and mark this occasion by saying "Thank you," to our
veterans.

[helonias]

George Washington and torture

Fischer writes that leaders in both the Continental Congress and the Continental Army resolved that the War of Independence would be conducted with a respect for human rights. This was all the more extraordinary because these courtesies were not reciprocated by King George's armies. Indeed, the British conducted a deliberate campaign of atrocities against American soldiers and civilians. While Americans extended quarter to combatants as a matter of right and treated their prisoners with humanity, British regulars and German mercenaries were threatened by their own officers with severe punishment if they showed mercy to a surrendering American soldier. Captured Americans were tortured, starved and cruelly maltreated aboard prison ships.

Washington decided to behave differently. After capturing 1,000 Hessians in the Battle of Trenton, he ordered that enemy prisoners be treated with the same rights for which our young nation was fighting. In an order covering prisoners taken in the Battle of Princeton, Washington wrote: "Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren…. Provide everything necessary for them on the road."

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1217-30.htm

What would Rudy call him?

[LaFeminazi]

Productivity Surges by 4.9 Percent - Fastest Pace in 4 Years


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worker productivity surged in the summer at the fastest pace in four years while wage pressures eased.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071107/economy.html

Interesting.

I didnt know US corporations had started to hire Blackwater contractors with whips.

[EyeballKid]

Guiliani shows his ignorance and contempt when he equivocates on waterboarding. There really isn't a dispute on this torture technique. It's been used for centuries. It's well known. And it's not "simulated drowning". It's "slow drowning." And if done correctly, it takes the terrified, fully conscious victim to within an eyelash of death.

Waterboarding is an illustration of the absolute worst that human beings can do to one another. And Guiliani hems and haws about it.

Guiliani hasn't the balls, or the human dignity, to admit what waterboarding really is. Instead, he plays with words. The bastard's despicable.

[SupremeIdiot]

Waterboarding is simulated drwoning. Used by the wrong person it can definitely cause death from asphixiation and ,at minimum, can cause aspiration of water into the lungs. Aspirational pneumonia is often deadly, far more than regular pneumonia, in the elderly, children and those whose pneumonia remains untreated.

Waterboarding is TORTURE and the fact that we even have to debate this with fellow Americans shows that we have lost our moral compass and are floundering around in a wilderness along with such stalwarts as the late, great Soviet Union, China, and most Middle Eastern countries.

I weep for my country. I cry for some saving grace. I shout in anger at those who have brought us down from within.

[EyeballKid]

Guiliani is showing off his presidential side. He ridicules the suffering that soldiers underwent in defense of the country, and in doing so, he positions himself as above and beyond torture. If you get tortured, Mr. McCain, then you're a fool. What's wrong with you, Senator, weren't you smart enough to avoid torture, like me?

My God. What would Guiliani say if he were in the White House???

This is Republican politics at its best in the 21st century. When will the GOP regain its bearings and treat people with respect? Now, it's desirable to be an asshole.

If you're an asshole, you get headlines.

If you get headlines, you get air time.

If you get air time, you get ratings.

If you get ratings, you get donations.

If you get donations, you keep on being an asshole.

Run, Rudy, Run. Make us proud.

[kirkland]

Guiliani makes we want to reach for seizure meds and I don't have a seizure disorder. What is a tad un-nerving is that we , as a society, have been successfully normalized to torture. Remember when Al Garib first came to light? We all shuddered, in one way or another - finding it impossible to believe or so repugnant that
it was hard to wrap our minds around this being a strategic thing. Now...we debate whether or not somthing as heinous as waterboarding is torture, like experts. ( mebbe we are experts ...see: sonBushs' presidency) . I remember reading 1984 on a plane when I was 13. *'no way" I thought , "great book, tho" . Ha! TORTURE is RESPECT! WAR IS PEACE! So much for my naievte . I'd like to see Guiliani waterboarded with the MO of getting a real answer on his pal Bernie Kerik and what he knew when he tried to slide him into Homeland Security. "gee, Thanks, Rudy , for lookin' out for us".

[FiddleDeeDee]

Jeebus. I guess we're back to calling them French Fries...c'mon trolls, time to throw away those Freedom Fries, stock up on the dijon, champagne, and brie.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/washington/07cnd-sarkozy.html?hp

[SupremeIdiot]

Gray areas in torture? Liars say yes.


http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/69MJXC

[StillAmused]

America's perverse obsession with torture -- fucking TORTURE! -- under this toxic administration has assumed all the dignity and enlightenment of two drunks comparing the encrusted skidmarks in their shorts and arguing over which of them is cleaner than the other.

[Blutus]

Punch him Rudy.

He can't raise his arms above
his shoulders.

And John, don't let him poke you
like that.
Snap that finger off!

[Ammobob]

Now, let's talk about the 800-lb gorilla in the room - Pakistan.

If the radicals take control, an estimated 100 nuclear weapons will be in the hands of Islamofacists. Pakistan has the capability to reach most of Southeast Asia and some M.E. countries with delivery vehicles.

If this scenario developes, which country ,INDIA, CHINA, RUSSIA or the U.S., will make a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan's nuclear capability?