Saturday, April 18, 2009

PRESIDENT OBAMAS DECISION NOT TO PROSECUTE THOSE WHO TORTURED

The President’s release of memos detailing torture or what was deemed, at the time, “so-called” acceptable forms of torture, mean nothing because most of the techniques were exposed years ago. So any talk that remains, is, should those who violated U.S. statutory law be prosecuted? The President has made his decision and he is wrong.
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We must not forget that the President is a politician and an intelligence outsider. He has made his decision so as not to alienate the intelligence community and I fear, to appease those right-wingers who hold fast to some false notion that torture is lawful under certain (or any) circumstances. He also clearly doesn’t want Cheney or Mr. Bush (especially Bush) to answer for their deeds. I’m going to ask you to read the following and make an informed decision regarding prosecution of those who authorized torture and those who performed it.
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UPDATE: 6/3/2010
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The movie: “The Deer Hunter” (article 1979, edited 2003) [note objectionable language]
http://www.jackfritscher.com/Drummer/Issues/028/Deer%20Hunter.html

Does Torture Work? (June 21, 2004) [there may be a promo before article, skip promo]
http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/feature/2004/06/21/torture_algiers/index.html

Does Torture Really Work? (June 13, 2005)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7516880/

“24” Versus the Real World (9/20/2006)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/45788

Five Myths about Torture and Truth (12/16/2007)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301303.html

The Torture Garden (article 2/6/2008)
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/movies/torture_garden/Content?oid=637385

Torture & Human Rights: A Guide (6/19/2008)
http://www.uusc.org/programs/STOP/index.html
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President Obama's Statement on The Memos
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Emptywheel (April 18, 2009)
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Love what "Bono Vox" said in his comments 4/22/2009, at the above link: [READ]
"A state-sanctioned torture policy is about as un-American as you can get. Washington wouldn't torture, even though the Brits were torturing thousands (including boys) on ships docked off Brooklyn. Lincoln wouldn't torture, even though his life was endangered. FRD didn't institutionalize torture, and Ike didn't have torture as his policy in the field, even though the free world was at risk. So Chuck Todd not only has the will of the people wrong, he doesn't understand the historic magnitude of what the Bushies did under our flag. Todd's ignorance is despicable.
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After the horrors of WW II, Americans took a hard look at what made us different than the Nazis and the Russians. One of the big AUTHENTIC differences (not just lofty ideology) is that we don't torture. Thousands of German soldiers at the end of the war scrambled to surrender to us and not the Russians because the Russians would torture and kill, while we wouldn't. Torture isn't a minor issue. Frankly, I think it's a lot more important than the economy, as this defines who we are as a nation wheres the economy is cyclical in nature. Do we really want to be on the Hitler-Stalin-Pol Pot side of the torture issue?"


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Regarding SERE and eliciting “false confessions” in order to justify
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[John Yoo-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_memos#torture_memo]

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