Frank Rich, the always hyperventilating liberal, is at it again today in this column inside the New York Times. As usual with most of the far left he calls Bush another Hitler, and the CIA his Gestapo. This time he also calls those Americans who do nothing about the Bush Administration’s use of interrogation techniques “good Germans.” The whole article really isn’t worth citing from except this part:
Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those “good Germans” who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo.
Typical baloney.
These are the same kind of liberals who believe putting panties on one head is “torture”, and Mr. Rich also obviously believes sleep deprivation is “torture” because he can cite cases where the Germans used that technique also. Well whoopdidoo…..Do these liberals really believe that a hard core al-Qaeda agent is just going to sit down and tell us everything because we were super nice to them? Gave them some cookies and warm milk? It appears they do.
These are the same people who actually DO torture:
I’m sorry, slapping one’s head or depriving them of some sleep, or turning the thermostat down, is NOT torture. What these guy do above IS torture. But people like Frank Rich and Andrew Sullivan ignore that. They ignore that causing someone a bit of discomfort because they are denied a pillow and blanket to get some shuteye just may get information on the next terrorist cell. The next planned terrorist operation planned for inside the United States. The next IED factory inside Iraq.
The best example of coerced interrogation, or torture, depending on
your sensitivity level, is what happened to al-Qaeda big shot Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed. Captured in Pakistan in 2003, U.S. authorities used
tough methods, including “water boarding,” to break Mohammed. And break
him they did. According to a multitude of reports, Mohammed gave up
scores of al-Qaeda operatives and detailed a number of potential terror
attacks.Both former CIA chief George Tenet and former CIA
official Michael Scheuer, once the head of the bin Laden unit, told me
that coerced interrogation methods often provided accurate intelligence
that potentially saved thousands of lives.So what, then, are we to make of a recent New York Times
editorial that says, “Truly banning the use of torture would not
jeopardize American lives; experts in these matters generally agree
that torture produces false confessions.”But that is simply not true, and the Times knows it.
Even Hillary Clinton cannot be counted as one who opposes torture in all circumstances:
Even Clinton’s response to a debate question on torture – “As a matter of policy it cannot be American policy, period” – is elegantly phrased to imply an implacable opposition to torture, and yet leave open the possibility that in extreme circumstances a president would do what she had to do, i.e. authorize torture, regardless of the express policy.
Of course the Frank Rich’s of the world are probably Dennis Kucinich fans.
The fact of the matter is that we are waging this war as humanely as possible, often to our own detriment. Our troops are put into situations that are more risky then they need to be because we do not want to kill civilians. Those al-Qaeda agents we do capture could very well be executed on the spot if we follow the rules of war, but we don’t. We instead feed them and clothe them, and then interrogate them, as any responsible nation would that wanted to protect its soldiers and citizens. And interrogation via the use of sleep deprivation, or head slapping, or girls panties being placed on one’s head is not inhumane.
The torture chambers Saddam used was inhumane. The rape rooms that Saddam used was inhumane.
You know, those same chambers we put into mothballs because we invaded.
The left conveniently forgets that fact, to no ones surprise. In the end you cannot get over the simple fact that conservatives have been condemning large scale murder and torture by nation states such as Saddams for years, while liberals excuse it.
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Strange. I’ve had a tough time finding pics of Arabs torturing captured Americans. Guess that kinda thing never happens. That must be because the enemy holds themselves to the higher standard.
Starting to sound like people have more sympathy for the enemy than the American soldiers.
Well I have two comments. Let me first say I’m certainly against torture.
1st, your comment that captured agents could be executed under the rules of war, and somehow we’re doing them a favour by feeding them and clothing them, that’s typical American ignorance of the world outside them. Have you actually heard of the Geneva Convention? Or read up on any rules of war? PoWs are not elligible for execution.
2nd, sleep deprivation is one of the worst tortures, I would actually prefer water boarding. You would die quicker not sleeping than not eating.
Chris,
Yes actually I HAVE read the Geneva Convention and the US Law of Land Warfare. These thugs are NOT POWs and are Mercenaries at best, Spies at worse (under GC articles). I suggest you read up on it instead of accusing other of not reading it. I listed out the regulations in another post.
Here is the link to the post, Comment #12:
well
im an independent
and i think that torture in some means is neccesary , but we should torture the bad guys not innocent men
Recently the supreme court ruled in favor of allowing GITMO inmates or captives should i say the right to trial
if proven guilty i say we do whatever it takes to get information that we have proven by knowledge of the court is there out of the captive
ive read all of your comments
and it seems to me
that you all worry to much about what the other thinks or believes than the actuall issue at hand
take that into consideration before you critize someone for their opion
=)
You’re missing the point. Terrorist and their supporters ARE and SHOULD be tortured the good old way. By claiming they aren’t you’re taking the weak position that they wouldn’t deserve it and that we’re too weak to defend ourselves from their attacks. Maybe leftards are too naive to admit this but don’t play their game.