tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214720874193394920.post2911060385784159357..comments2023-10-31T11:54:43.310-04:00Comments on The Purple Center: Survey: 58% of Americans think Obama's release of CIA "torture" memos endangers U.S. securityJ. E. Burkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08682657792334163396noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214720874193394920.post-61695184738233443032009-04-26T18:51:00.000-04:002009-04-26T18:51:00.000-04:00I think it is interesting that Obama only released...I think it is interesting that Obama only released redacted versions of the memos. Coincidentally, all the information that we were able to glean (not classified now) was left out. In other words, Obama, whose stated purpose was to revive the US world image?, released portions of memos that described the enhanced measures and the legal opinions about their legitimacy but left out all of the information about whether these measures aided our intelligence gathering. Hmm.<br /><br />Further, and more importantly, Congress was regularly briefed on all of this. Absolutely all of it. And they all voted to allow it to continue. For the same people to now grandstand and call for show trials is so preposterous.<br /><br />The lawyers who opined on the legality of waterboarding and other enhanced measures did so in good faith. Yoo, a professor at Berkley, researched the issue and informed his boss, the President, that so long as interrogation measures did not threaten serious bodily injury or permanent harm, it does not constitute torture. There were than many levels of safeguards implemented to ensure that only high-ranking officials who had clearance from the highest levels of government could employ such tactics. Is that so preposterous as to rise to the level of a war crime? Then Congress should not have passed on it, too.<br /><br />One final piece of information: the US military waterboards its own men and women as part of routine training. <br /><br />Obama's wishy-washing on this is despicable. If he doesn't want to prosecute, then he needs to make a firm stand.alexandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15170652655203156977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214720874193394920.post-498645345984670492009-04-24T15:53:00.000-04:002009-04-24T15:53:00.000-04:002 words; Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We as US citizens...2 words; Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We as US citizens DEMAND results, not 10 years of gobbledygook if this version of torture is OK or not.Devrimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08165021665570636765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4214720874193394920.post-53499135736601324282009-04-23T14:12:00.000-04:002009-04-23T14:12:00.000-04:00We are a nation that tortures.
No moral highgroun...We are a nation that tortures.<br /><br />No moral highground.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com