Torture memos

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I didn't say you would have been tortured, i said you wouold probably have been tortured. There is no evidence to say that every prisoner was tortured, hence the lack of an absolute in my post. There is plenty of evidence to suggest it was widely used, however, which is why i believe you 'probably' would have been.

And I say that is completely and utterly false and there is no way you can support that premise. Period.

There is equally no evidence to suggest that those inmates who claim to have been tortured were lying.

But you choose to believe whatever they say about the subject is true because you want to believe it.

Especially given they were not contained within due process.

Yea, it was not a police process it was a combat process.

So, why assume that an accusation from them is just a lie?

My assumption is that there is no way to really prove every accusation without a complete evaluation based on subject matter experts who deal with people like this. I am not saying they have lied only that until they are examined by said experts that we will never know.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

My assumption is that there is no way to really prove every accusation without a complete evaluation based on subject matter experts who deal with people like this. I am not saying they have lied only that until they are examined by said experts that we will never know.

It is not really an issue of proving anything.

These are the accepted legal approaches to interrogation by US personnel..and they involve little, if any, subjective analysis of whether they inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell...4-52/app-h.htm


added:

And one of Obama's first Executive Orders was to put an end to the previous administration's approval of "enhanced interrogation techniques" that go above and beyond these procedures.

Period.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Y'know, thids is bizarre to me. If someone had said to me when i was younger, that in a decade or so, I would be having a conversation in which Americans were attempting to justify the use of torture on detainees, I'd never have believed it. I'd have believed it of my own country before I'd have believed it of yours.

C'mon, do you think Americans (or anyone else) don't abuse spouses, beat children, or kick puppies? People is people, but I digress.

Except for Dick Cheney and UG, I think most Americans don't approve of torturing detainees, foreign or domestic. But the wrinkle is, what constitutes torture? The Department of Justice, Army Field Manual and Geneva Convention, outlines are open to interpretation, especially when it applies to mental torture.

For example;

(1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;

Certainly the threat of rooming with Horny Bubba would cause me mental anguish, but it's not torture because it's "incidental to lawful sanctions".

Except where the interrogator,(or just a guard), is following a script, it remains up to the individuals sense of right/wrong. That becomes pretty subjective, especially in retrospect.

Some people would say puting milk in their tea, is torture.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Except for Dick Cheney and UG, I think most Americans don't approve of torturing detainees, foreign or domestic. But the wrinkle is, what constitutes torture? The Department of Justice, Army Field Manual and Geneva Convention, outlines are open to interpretation, especially when it applies to mental torture.

And back to the beginning we go. This was exactly my point. Its all up to interpretation.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Except where the interrogator,(or just a guard), is following a script, it remains up to the individuals sense of right/wrong. That becomes pretty subjective, especially in retrospect.

That is the point exactly. And all of these recently posted "new" definitions have come about after the fact after a specific event was uncovered.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

That is the point exactly. And all of these recently posted "new" definitions have come about after the fact after a specific event was uncovered.

But I think everyone is real clear about waterboarding, especially after we convicted our enemies for it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, physical torture is more easily defined, although people will still be split on it, than mental torture.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by richlevy

But I think everyone is real clear about waterboarding, especially after we convicted our enemies for it.

Do you mean the Japanese version, where part of the procedure is getting kicked in the stomach during it?

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Do you mean the Japanese version, where part of the procedure is getting kicked in the stomach during it?

So the choking is ok, just not the kicking?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by richlevy

But I think everyone is real clear about waterboarding, especially after we convicted our enemies for it.

I don't disagree with that fact.