Comments on: While He’s Washing, Watch Him

By: Nell

Nell — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:34:19 +0000

Thanks, Spencer, for amplifying the point. It cannot be ignored, despite the relief many rightly feel at the overall return to the rule of law.

By: Nell

Nell — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:32:04 +0000

bmaz has been sounding the alarm that not everything in the 2006 rewrite of the Army field manual on interrogations is complaint with Geneva — in particular, a ten-page appendix known as Appendix M appears to go beyond the Geneva-based restrictions of the original field manual.

Credit where credit is due: Valtin, a psychologist / torture blogger, is the person who was first to make this call and has been tireless in spreading the word.

By: Kilo

Kilo — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:09:34 +0000

Maybe something like the revelations around the destroyed videotapes, but a notch or two up from that.

Nothing multiplied by a number is still nothing.
Remind me again what the fallout from the destroyed videotapes was ? Wasn’t it just #238,472 in the list of potential crimes discovered that were met with no consequence or accountability.

By: Cujo359

Cujo359 — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:10:21 +0000

I remember that being emphasized numerous times when I was going to school. A teacher of mine in elementary school even lectured us about the illogic of having it work the other way round – as in it’s somewhere between hard and impossible to prove you’re not guilty of something. Do people forget so easily, or is education that much worse now?

By: Valtin

Valtin — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:39:06 +0000

Well, I don’t trust McCain. He’s proven he can betray. And yet… then he turns around and signs off on explosive material in Levin’s Armed Service Committee report on SERE interrogations. When the latter is fully declassified in the next 2 or 3 weeks, stand back and watch the dominoes fall. If you don’t think they know what’s coming, then think again. It’ll be a shitstorm… maybe not a repeat of Abu Ghraib (no photos, I presume), but something approaching it, I think. Maybe something like the revelations around the destroyed videotapes, but a notch or two up from that.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:32:35 +0000

Years ago a friend told me that that Aeschylus had written: Wisdom comes alone through suffering. She said that this was backwards, that a lot of people suffer all their lives and never learn a thing, while to be wise was to suffer.

In any case, this reminded me of John McCain. Even jerks can become POWs and be tortured and afterwards they have learned nothing but are still jerks.

By: Marion in Savannah

Marion in Savannah — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:24:06 +0000

Obama’s been President for 3½ days. I’m appalled that he hasn’t fixed the economy, emptied Gitmo, indicted Bush and Cheney, and given me a puppy.

By: Kilo

Kilo — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:23:38 +0000

That’s the weird thing I don’t get about McCain. That guy went through it, up close and personal, and still, still, he is such an advocate for it. What’s up with that? I think the psychologists have a word for it. It’s almost like a Stockholm Syndrome that wants company.

What on earth are you talking about ?
Bush advocated abortion to the same degree that McCain advocated torture. Obama’s advocated segregation to the same degree.

You got anything other than being a massive liar to explain what you’ve written here ?

By: Marion in Savannah

Marion in Savannah — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:22:20 +0000

I believe you forgot to close your snark tag…!

By: Teddy Partridge

Teddy Partridge — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:09:52 +0000

I am almost always being sarcastic.