McCain defies White House in torture showdown
From Japan Today
Friday, November 11, 2005 at 07:39 JST
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator John McCain on Thursday refused to back down in his showdown with the White House over U.S. interrogation techniques for terror suspects which critics claim amount to torture.
McCain, sponsoring legislation on the issue, said torture did not work, was morally wrong, and would expose U.S. troops to reprisals in future wars...
Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials in President George W Bush's administration have argued that U.S. interrogators must be granted flexibility when questioning terrorist suspects.
Bush has pledged to veto an entire defense spending bill if it contains McCain's amendment that outlaws torture and cruel, inhumane treatment of detainees.
He rejected the idea that terrorists should not be subject to normal treatment as they do not obey normal conventions of warfare.
"I agree they are the most evil people in the world — it is not about them, it is about us," he said.
McCain warned that exempting the CIA from a torture ban would expose U.S. forces to danger in future conflicts.
"The next time we are in a war my friends, and that country we are in a war with captures an American pilot, and they believe an American pilot knows when the next bombing raid is coming, they will turn him over to the secret police."
**********
Hmmm -- Secret Police?
Well the head of OUR Secret Police (aka Director of National Intelligence) is John Negroponte, Yale/Skull & Bones frat bro of Georgie and former Ambassador to Honduras (1981 - 1985) from which position he oversaw the immense coke deal of the 80's that allowed the Contras to buy weapons and the Republican appointees to buy Rolexes.
He was once described as being, during his tenure as Ambassador, "the only man in Latin America who didn't know there were death squads and torturers being trained by the USA." It was a sarcastic comment, since most people who were familiar with the anti-Sandinista efforts considered him -- at the least -- studiously ignoring the Death Squads, and more probably, quietly financing and sharing information with them.
Before he took over the newly created cabinet-level position of head of Secret Police, he was Ambassador to Iraq (2004 - 2005). What a fucking surprise, eh?
So why would his pals allow some insignificant bunch of upstarts like the Congress of the United States to make it tougher for these people to act our their terrified fears by inflicting monstrous criminal acts on the people they have captured?
I think perhaps, to be charitable, perhaps Cheney and Bush don't really understand what is meant by that word -- "torture."
Maybe they can get Negroponte to call up some of his old pals from Honduras and fly 'em in to Washington to show them -- close up and personal -- what it feels like.
(And of course Negroponte is one more proof of the law "Presidential appointments made to such posts always involve the people who covered-up the horror stories of their party's previous administration." Whether it's Clinton or Bush I or Bush II, LBJ or Nixon or Carter or Reagan, a quick Google of the background of the new major players will show an amazingly coincidental presence around one Crime Against Humanity or another. Check it out.)
Link
Friday, November 11, 2005 at 07:39 JST
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator John McCain on Thursday refused to back down in his showdown with the White House over U.S. interrogation techniques for terror suspects which critics claim amount to torture.
McCain, sponsoring legislation on the issue, said torture did not work, was morally wrong, and would expose U.S. troops to reprisals in future wars...
Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials in President George W Bush's administration have argued that U.S. interrogators must be granted flexibility when questioning terrorist suspects.
Bush has pledged to veto an entire defense spending bill if it contains McCain's amendment that outlaws torture and cruel, inhumane treatment of detainees.
He rejected the idea that terrorists should not be subject to normal treatment as they do not obey normal conventions of warfare.
"I agree they are the most evil people in the world — it is not about them, it is about us," he said.
McCain warned that exempting the CIA from a torture ban would expose U.S. forces to danger in future conflicts.
"The next time we are in a war my friends, and that country we are in a war with captures an American pilot, and they believe an American pilot knows when the next bombing raid is coming, they will turn him over to the secret police."
**********
Hmmm -- Secret Police?
Well the head of OUR Secret Police (aka Director of National Intelligence) is John Negroponte, Yale/Skull & Bones frat bro of Georgie and former Ambassador to Honduras (1981 - 1985) from which position he oversaw the immense coke deal of the 80's that allowed the Contras to buy weapons and the Republican appointees to buy Rolexes.
He was once described as being, during his tenure as Ambassador, "the only man in Latin America who didn't know there were death squads and torturers being trained by the USA." It was a sarcastic comment, since most people who were familiar with the anti-Sandinista efforts considered him -- at the least -- studiously ignoring the Death Squads, and more probably, quietly financing and sharing information with them.
Before he took over the newly created cabinet-level position of head of Secret Police, he was Ambassador to Iraq (2004 - 2005). What a fucking surprise, eh?
So why would his pals allow some insignificant bunch of upstarts like the Congress of the United States to make it tougher for these people to act our their terrified fears by inflicting monstrous criminal acts on the people they have captured?
I think perhaps, to be charitable, perhaps Cheney and Bush don't really understand what is meant by that word -- "torture."
Maybe they can get Negroponte to call up some of his old pals from Honduras and fly 'em in to Washington to show them -- close up and personal -- what it feels like.
(And of course Negroponte is one more proof of the law "Presidential appointments made to such posts always involve the people who covered-up the horror stories of their party's previous administration." Whether it's Clinton or Bush I or Bush II, LBJ or Nixon or Carter or Reagan, a quick Google of the background of the new major players will show an amazingly coincidental presence around one Crime Against Humanity or another. Check it out.)
Link
posted by Saintperle at
3:23 PM
