K
Kitty
Guest
"ChasNemo" <chasnemo@aol.com> wrote in message
news:5a2211fb-fb64-4f78-972f-a5e404cf06d8@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> Wonder how the presiDunce would feel about waterboarding if it were
> done to his female family members and recorded for all the world to
> see...bet no one would destroy those tapes! <snicker>
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-06-waterboarding_N.htm
>
> White House defends waterboarding; CIA chief uncertain
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- CIA Director Michael Hayden cast doubt on the
> legality of waterboarding on Thursday, a day after the White House
> said the harsh interrogation tactic has saved American lives and could
> be used in the future.
>
> Hayden told the House Intelligence Committee that he officially
> prohibited CIA operatives from using waterboarding in 2006 in the wake
> of a Supreme Court decision and new laws on the treatment of U.S.
> detainees.
>
> He said the agency has not used waterboarding for "just a few weeks
> short" of five years. He officially prohibited it from CIA
> interrogations in 2006.
>
> "It is not included in the current program, and in my own view, the
> view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain
> that that technique would be considered to be lawful under current
> statute," Hayden said.
>
> Though now legally questionable, Hayden said waterboarding was legal
> in 2002 and 2003, a time period when the technique was used to
> interrogate al-Qaeda detainees.
>
> "All the techniques that we've used have been deemed to be lawful," he
> said.
>
> Hayden's comments came just hours after Attorney General Michael
> Mukasey, in a separate House hearing, said the Justice Department
> would not investigate whether U.S. interrogators broke the law when
> waterboarding accused terrorists following the Sept. 11 attacks.
>
> "Whatever was done as part of a CIA program, at the time that it was
> done, was the subject of a Department of Justice opinion through
> Office of Legal Counsel -- and was found to be permissible under the
> law as it existed then," Mukasey told the House Judiciary Committee.
>
> Calling waterboarding an "odious practice," House Judiciary Chairman
> John Conyers, D-Mich., asked Mukasey point-blank if he would "start a
> criminal investigation into whether this confirmed use of
> waterboarding by U.S. agents was illegal."
>
> "No, I am not," Mukasey answered bluntly.
>
> He said the Justice Department could not investigate or prosecute
> people for actions that it had earlier authorized.
>
> Mukasey recently finished a nearly four-month review of classified
> Justice Department memos about the CIA's interrogation program, and
> concluded the spy agency doesn't currently engage in waterboarding.
> Beyond that, he has refused to discuss the legality of the
> interrogation technique.
>
> Waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water over
> his or her cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It
> has been traced back hundreds of years, to the Spanish Inquisition,
> and is condemned by nations around the world.
>
> Critics say waterboarding violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture
> and U.S. laws outlining legal treatment of detainees. The Justice
> Department has long resisted exposing the Bush administration and its
> employees to criminal or civil charges or even international war
> crimes waterboarding is declared illegal.
>
> But the White House on Wednesday defended the use of waterboarding,
> saying it could still be legal in some situations. White House
> spokesman Tony Fratto said President Bush could authorize
> waterboarding for future terrorism suspects in certain situations,
> including "belief that an attack might be imminent."
>
> The president would first consult with the attorney general and
> intelligence officials before authorizing its use, Fratto said.
>
> For the first time, the Bush administration publicly acknowledged the
> CIA waterboarded detainees following the 9/11 terrorist attacks when
> Hayden testified the technique was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu
> Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in 2002 and 2003.
>
> The House Judiciary Committee's top Republican, Rep. Lamar Smith of
> Texas, said he hopes the "administration will not be defensive about
> using some admittedly harsh but non-lethal interrogation techniques."
>
> "Would you agree with me that 99% of the American people would
> probably endorse such techniques if they would be shown to save
> thousands of American lives and were conducted only on terrorists?"
> Smith asked Mukasey.
>
> "I can't sit here and say what I think 99% of people would do,"
> Mukasey answered.
>
> "You can't but I can," Smith said. "I understand that."
>
> Hayden said the circumstances that led to the use of harsh
> interrogation techniques five years ago were "fairly unique" and
> "historic." He said they were spurred by a belief across the
> intelligence community that further catastrophic attacks were imminent
> and an admittedly weak understanding of the workings of al-Qaeda.
>
> He said that situation has since changed. "We have far more knowledge
> of al-Qaeda," Hayden said. "And although the threat continues, the
> imminence of the attack is not apparent to us."
water boarding is "torture for dummies", that's the least they should do, if
the ******* is bent on destroying this country and its people, torture
away!
kitty
news:5a2211fb-fb64-4f78-972f-a5e404cf06d8@d70g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> Wonder how the presiDunce would feel about waterboarding if it were
> done to his female family members and recorded for all the world to
> see...bet no one would destroy those tapes! <snicker>
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-06-waterboarding_N.htm
>
> White House defends waterboarding; CIA chief uncertain
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- CIA Director Michael Hayden cast doubt on the
> legality of waterboarding on Thursday, a day after the White House
> said the harsh interrogation tactic has saved American lives and could
> be used in the future.
>
> Hayden told the House Intelligence Committee that he officially
> prohibited CIA operatives from using waterboarding in 2006 in the wake
> of a Supreme Court decision and new laws on the treatment of U.S.
> detainees.
>
> He said the agency has not used waterboarding for "just a few weeks
> short" of five years. He officially prohibited it from CIA
> interrogations in 2006.
>
> "It is not included in the current program, and in my own view, the
> view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain
> that that technique would be considered to be lawful under current
> statute," Hayden said.
>
> Though now legally questionable, Hayden said waterboarding was legal
> in 2002 and 2003, a time period when the technique was used to
> interrogate al-Qaeda detainees.
>
> "All the techniques that we've used have been deemed to be lawful," he
> said.
>
> Hayden's comments came just hours after Attorney General Michael
> Mukasey, in a separate House hearing, said the Justice Department
> would not investigate whether U.S. interrogators broke the law when
> waterboarding accused terrorists following the Sept. 11 attacks.
>
> "Whatever was done as part of a CIA program, at the time that it was
> done, was the subject of a Department of Justice opinion through
> Office of Legal Counsel -- and was found to be permissible under the
> law as it existed then," Mukasey told the House Judiciary Committee.
>
> Calling waterboarding an "odious practice," House Judiciary Chairman
> John Conyers, D-Mich., asked Mukasey point-blank if he would "start a
> criminal investigation into whether this confirmed use of
> waterboarding by U.S. agents was illegal."
>
> "No, I am not," Mukasey answered bluntly.
>
> He said the Justice Department could not investigate or prosecute
> people for actions that it had earlier authorized.
>
> Mukasey recently finished a nearly four-month review of classified
> Justice Department memos about the CIA's interrogation program, and
> concluded the spy agency doesn't currently engage in waterboarding.
> Beyond that, he has refused to discuss the legality of the
> interrogation technique.
>
> Waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water over
> his or her cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It
> has been traced back hundreds of years, to the Spanish Inquisition,
> and is condemned by nations around the world.
>
> Critics say waterboarding violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture
> and U.S. laws outlining legal treatment of detainees. The Justice
> Department has long resisted exposing the Bush administration and its
> employees to criminal or civil charges or even international war
> crimes waterboarding is declared illegal.
>
> But the White House on Wednesday defended the use of waterboarding,
> saying it could still be legal in some situations. White House
> spokesman Tony Fratto said President Bush could authorize
> waterboarding for future terrorism suspects in certain situations,
> including "belief that an attack might be imminent."
>
> The president would first consult with the attorney general and
> intelligence officials before authorizing its use, Fratto said.
>
> For the first time, the Bush administration publicly acknowledged the
> CIA waterboarded detainees following the 9/11 terrorist attacks when
> Hayden testified the technique was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu
> Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in 2002 and 2003.
>
> The House Judiciary Committee's top Republican, Rep. Lamar Smith of
> Texas, said he hopes the "administration will not be defensive about
> using some admittedly harsh but non-lethal interrogation techniques."
>
> "Would you agree with me that 99% of the American people would
> probably endorse such techniques if they would be shown to save
> thousands of American lives and were conducted only on terrorists?"
> Smith asked Mukasey.
>
> "I can't sit here and say what I think 99% of people would do,"
> Mukasey answered.
>
> "You can't but I can," Smith said. "I understand that."
>
> Hayden said the circumstances that led to the use of harsh
> interrogation techniques five years ago were "fairly unique" and
> "historic." He said they were spurred by a belief across the
> intelligence community that further catastrophic attacks were imminent
> and an admittedly weak understanding of the workings of al-Qaeda.
>
> He said that situation has since changed. "We have far more knowledge
> of al-Qaeda," Hayden said. "And although the threat continues, the
> imminence of the attack is not apparent to us."
water boarding is "torture for dummies", that's the least they should do, if
the ******* is bent on destroying this country and its people, torture
away!
kitty
