approved of the U.S. use of torture. So this cartoon may be closer to the literal truth than might appear at first glance.

means.

We all assume that our guys, our team is "OK" and on our side.

It takes thought and more information before we can reconsider that assumption and judge fairly.

And that takes time.

A court case would help people understand the evidence about this.

the earth to justify this and make it ok to have done it, and would do it again in a heartbeat. I think instead you will see more horrific behavior since this has been justified by so many, and, frankly, we don't seem to care to do anything much about it. After having lived this many years, I have faith in my fellow human's ability to make excuses for ignorant and hurtful behavior 'till the cows come home. They keep proving it.

This country is getting meaner and angrier, (endless war may do that) which I just don't see as an atmosphere in which we become smarter. If that were true people would remember back to Jimmy Carter and how he told us we would be here one day if we didn't back off and start taking care of ourselves, get smarter about economics. We threw his ass to the curb and went on a debt spree, until the banks realized they could steal the proceeds with the government's help. The banks are still running it, and the people are no smarter, and more in servitude, than ever. (Saw a survey the other day in which conservatives are increasing among people who live in poverty, perhaps with good reason). Heck, the people can't even get smart enough to demand justice for themselves from the banks - I doubt they will do it for this.

But perhaps.

USA!USA!USA!

The results might have been somewhat different if the poll had actually used the word "torture." Though even if it had, I suspect a majority of Republicans would still approve.

been a euphemism like 'harsh interrogation techniques' or some such). I saw another poll by Pew in 2011 discussed on fivethirtyeight.com that got similar results and actually used the word 'torture'. (Entire article is worth the read, imo):

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/senate-torture-report-public-opinion/

The questions didn't even use the terms "harsh" or "enhanced."

Pew Center poll (which, as you note, uses only 'interrogation methods') with its 2011 predecessor (which used the word 'torture').

Apologize for any confusion occasioned by my sloppiness. And thanks for sticking with it until I could get off my duff!

No shock. People can rationalize many things depending on who's doing it. That's why the world is such a messy place.

Seems that rationalizing such disgusting tactics away has boiled down to tit for tat, echoing that insane religious meme of an eye for an eye.

Luke 6:31

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A31&version=NIV

A Christian message to a nation that calls itself "Christian."

(Reuters) - At least 132 students and nine staff members were killed on Tuesday after Taliban gunmen broke into a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and opened fire, witnesses said, in the bloodiest massacre the country has seen for years.

More than eight hours after militants slipped into the heavily guarded compound through a back entrance, the army declared the operation to flush them out over, and said that all nine insurgents had been killed.

The attack on a military-run high school attended by more than 1,100 people, many of them children of army personnel, struck at the heart of Pakistan's military establishment, an assault certain to enrage the country's powerful army.

Wounded children taken to nearby hospitals told Reuters most victims died when gunmen, suicide vests strapped to their bodies, entered the compound and opened fire indiscriminately on boys, girls and their teachers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/16/us-pakistan-school-idUSKBN0JU0JO20141216

that we helped create.

The War on Communism was so urgent that we had to create religious fundamentalists to fight them. Communism's gone and now we're fighting the fundamentalists. When they're gone I'm sure we'll find something else to fight.

Because that's what the headline would be if the US did this with a drone.

I remember reading quite a while ago a quote about war but I can't remember who said it. But I believe it to be 100% accurate.

It went something like this: "The rules of war are written by the winners." We better hope we never lose.

OK I used the Google to check on the quote, it seems there are lots of different people given credit, some real and some fictional, for many variations of the quote. The quotes also use the word history and/or rules interchangeably.

This school was picked NOT because it was a School, but for one of two reasons:

1, and the one a favor, the officers leading the Pakistan Military had their children in that school. OR

2. The students in this school were to become officers in the future, they were the military elite being given military training.

I lead to #1 given the statement by the Taliban Spokesman, it was an Army School where the children of Army Officers went and the Taliban are feed up with their children being killed by US Drones strikes. This was a demand for the Pakistan Army to do something, either go to the Taliban and fight them OR stop the US drone strikes. Either would please the Taliban. The Pakistan army going after the Taliban means the Taliban will be on the defensive, but in the defense they can cause more injuries to any attack force.

Please note it is December, which means winter in Afghanistan. Snow covers the mountain passes but as a whole Pakistan has cool dry Winters and Springs.

The Monsoon ended in September but closer to the end then the norm which is September 1 for Pakistan:



http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/monsoon-begins-withdraw-india

On the other hand the Mountains of Pakistan follows Afghanistan Weather patterns:



You have to also realized the Winter Wheat crop is in, and thus the Afghans and Taliban in Pakistan can go out and fight right now, till harvest time



Winter Wheat is planted between September and November and left over winter. It is harvested from July to September. It needs at least 30 days of temperatures below 5 Degree Celsius, 41 degrees Fahrenheit to germinate in the spring, thus little fighting in Afghanistan between August and November. You can NOT Farm and Fight at the same time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_wheat

Thus from now till August fighting will increase in Afghanistan for the Taliban has planted it crops and called back its soldiers.

Yes, the Taliban are at their maximum Strength right now, the US has officially withdrawn from Afghanistan, thus this attack is an attempt to provoke a Pakistan response. If Pakistan is smart, they do nothing and wait till Summer when Taliban soldiers have to go home and harvest their wheat crop. On the other hand, politics do come into play even in the Military and internal military politics may force a military response that the Taliban are set for. Lets see what happens.

military personnel--from the very young to high school. We have the same sorts of schools on military bases ourselves, both in USA (at large enough bases) and overseas.

It wasn't just for "officers' children" it was for anyone living/working on the base.

In 1939, just after Britain and France declared war on Germany, the NYT cited a report by British counsul at Dresden detailing the camp conditions at Buchenwald.

Among other things, that report revealed that one of the means of torture used was to lock prisoners in coffin-like boxes called "sweat boxes."

nt

And, in fact, not even comprehensible to fascists.

The idea that their own actions can ever, in any possible way, be analogized to the actions of anyone else is beyond their ability to understand. They are inherently superior to all other life.

Rules do not apply to them, and do apply to others. Period.

...that when there's an incident in the future involving the "enhanced interrogation" of Americans, people in this country will be no less outraged. Ultimately, the argument is "It's a crime when they do that to us because we're us. It's not a crime when we do it to them because they're them."