VirusHead

Yes, yes, and yes.

If Interrogation prevents another 911 then I am all for it, if a terrorist is Embarrassed because he was naked, or forced to believe he may be drowning and gave up information that protected American lives or our allies lives then I am 100% for it.

Recently we have viewed videos of Terrorists cutting off the heads of Civilian reporters and other hostages, People usually have a different perspective on this type of humane interrogations if they have been directly affected or been a victim of such terrorist atrocities, they seem to want justice and firmer measures when it impacts them directly.

Where is the criticism of the torture measures used by the terrorists which usually ends in the death of Americans broadcast on national television?

Hi Iceman.

If if if – it just doesn’t work that way.

Again – the people who torture are the bad guys. You seem to understand this.

The military interrogators themselves are the ones who tell us that torture doesn’t even work.

And I would think that a veteran would want to be proud of our country and our values. Torture isn’t American – it’s barbaric.

“I would think that a veteran would want to be proud of our country and our values. Torture isn’t American – it’s barbaric.”

Very proud thank you, and I fully support the humane interrogation tactics used to protect you and your family from harm, I would imagine you would have a much different view of this if one of your family members or friends were beheaded on national television.

Barbaric is a pretty strong word and not an accurate description of the interrogation tactics used by the U.S. and it’s allies which is used to gain vital information, and your information is not accurate either, stating that military interrogators are the ones who say this does not work is pure garbage and misleading to your readers here, if it was true then they would not be using it, have you taken a poll of all Military investigators to see what percentage agree with that statement?

More Home work for you?

Very good information on the Whales by the way, but as I stated you still do not have all the information on that issue, shooting in the dark and cut and paste Dem propaganda does not hold much water with me. You are a smart cookie though maybe you will offer up some information on that issue to sway me on that one. Long way to go on this one.

Now Get back to work, Love the website by the way.

More later, but just for the moment – I am pretty sure that when you think about it, you think that beheading is pretty barbaric.Why would we want to sink to the level of the bad guys? I do have some statements from interrogators for you – some interrogators that actually had success. Tell me, how much information have we gotten from torture so far? Anything? Intelligence on the ground with strategic alliances has served us better in the past… We don’t bother to learn the languages anymore…

I’ll just go ahead and do a post on that. There is actually a very strong set of military arguments that you seem to have forgotten.

Are you really arguing about torture as vengeance? Is that what human dignity has been reduced to in this country? Then America is over.

If you like, I’ll get some more for the Whales, too. Always happy to oblige. True enough that it was cut and paste – but not from the Dems. It is from NRDC Action Fund (”Mobilizing America for Our Environment”), an affiliate of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Environmental issues affect us all, republican or democrat. Stewardship is our collective responsibility.

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/campaigns/oceans/save-marine-life-from-d eadly-sonar.html
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/our-movement/victories-for-our-environme nt.html

I would ask that you also provide some information that in any way contradicts the argument being made here, though. Only fair, eh?

Torture cannot prevent another 911. The events surrounding the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were set in motion during the Reagan Administration. This shit does not happen in a vacuum. Support for hardline zealots in Afghanistan – simply because Reagan and Co. wanted to protect American oil interests – created the monster that killed 3,000 Americans on that sad day. Al Qaeda was in part funded, organized and supported by the CIA/DIA and British Intelligence to fight the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan – not out of love and concern for the oppressed Afghan population – but out of concern for oil companies. And Saddam Hussein? He was a favored son of the American political establishment from 1958 – 1990 (even when gassing the Kurds) and gained power largely through the assistance of U.S. and U.K. intelligence and military assistance.

You want to stop another 911? For real and without meaningless, feel good soundbites? Don’t elect politicians who prop up dictators. Never support politicians who pretend that crafting foreign policy on the the credo that the Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend won’t come back to bite us all in the ass later. Stop looking the other way when our government gets us mired in another mess that is none of our business. Don’t tolerate the use of American military power for the benefit of whichever economic forces wield the largest influence at a given time.

Quite a few veterans – myself included – do not support torture.

http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/06913-etn-military-let-ca3.pdf
http://jameslandrith.com/content/view/701/40/
http://jameslandrith.com/content/view/1621/79/
http://jameslandrith.com/content/view/702/40/

There is absolutely no evidence to support the assertion that, “if a terrorist is Embarrassed because he was naked, or forced to believe he may be drowning and gave up information that protected American lives or our allies lives”.

On the contrary, the vast majority of people taken into custody and tortured, humiliated and otherwise abused by U.S. Forces were later found to have not been terrorists. Not a single one of the individuals abused in the scandal at Abu Ghraib were found to be terrorists. Most of the time, they were rounded up in random grabs by U.S. forces during investigations in a particular area and later released. Of course, only after having been mistreated and denied their basic human rights and dignity.

And the end result? Anger. Resentment. Revenge. Retaliation. More roundups. More anger. More resentment. More Revenge. More retalition. More mess. More quagmire. Just innocent individuals treated like animals on the basis of geographical proximity or family ties.

And, you ask, “Where is the criticism of the torture measures used by the terrorists which usually ends in the death of Americans broadcast on national television?” Where is it?

Where it has always been. In print via newspapers and magazines. In discussions at the water cooler. The evening news. Press releases from countless organizations. In the heart of Americans of all political stripes.

The assertion that if one opposes U.S. use of torture then one is de facto supporting terrorist barbarity or turning a blind eye toward such is clumsy at best.

Sergeant James Landrith
USMC and Gulf War veteran

I like to see comments in which someone is courageous enough to use their name. It seems that most of the critical comments come from some alias…

It’s sad that most Americans don’t have a sense of context or history – it would help a lot.

Even if you lack the moral fibre to denounce torture, even if you cannot see the long-term cascading effects of torture, even if you do not know our own history regarding this issue, and don’t care how far America has fallen, there is still the bottom-line argument – It doesn’t work.

I’ll post on this tomorrow.