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So I guess torture and murder have become “American values.”

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Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 10:52 AM
Original message
So I guess torture and murder have become “American values.”
Oh, damn. I used the word “murder.” How thoughtless of me. American presidents (and vice presidents) don’t torture or commit “murder.” They merely declare countries and individuals “enemies” of America. Then they get a bunch of memos to say that torture is okay. And if people die as a result of it, well, that’s just the way it is.

So if I go out and torture and kill someone for the “right” reasons, I guess that I won’t be prosecuted. After all, the same laws apply to you and me as apply to the president and VP, right?

Sorry for the sarcasm, but I really don’t want to be a citizen of a country that thinks this way. I’ve given some serious thought to moving to one of the more sane European countries, but the Bush/Cheney economic disaster has made that impossible.

So what’s the alternative? I guess I’m just going to have faith that Obama will find a way to bring to justice the despicable creatures that virtually destroyed our country over the past eight years.

I know there are political reasons holding him back. But Mr. President, understand this: At some point, I will become weary of justifications for torture and murder. And at some point, you will become an accessory after the fact.
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Buzz Clik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 11:01 AM
Response to Original message
1. Have you heard the psychologists who guided the torture justify their actions?
It's enough to make you puke.

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Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 11:06 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Now, now. They were only "following orders."
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Buzz Clik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 11:19 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Actually not.
These guys violated their own ethical standards despite cries of protest from within their profession.

John Yoo is on track to be disbarred. I hope these bastards will be stripped as well.
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sattahipdeep Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #1
6. evil
Edited on Mon May-11-09 12:03 PM by sattahipdeep
They used their talents and arts, which are cultivated over years solely to HELP people and they turn it on its head and they hurt people, cause and magnify suffering and torment, and they made up deceitful stories, which, in this case, are worse than just lies, to justify it and to encourage others to break the law.

Their names are among the few details censored in the long-concealed Bush administration memos released Thursday, but the documents show a steady stream of psychologists, physicians and other health officials who both kept detainees alive and actively participated in designing the interrogation program and monitoring its implementation. Their presence also enabled the government to argue that the interrogations did not include torture.

"The health professionals involved in the CIA program broke the law and shame the bedrock ethical traditions of medicine and psychology," said Frank Donaghue, chief executive of Physicians for Human Rights, an international advocacy group made up of physicians opposed to torture. "All psychologists and physicians found to be involved in the torture of detainees must lose their license and never be allowed to practice again."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/19/709379/--Healthcare-Professionals-who-aided-torture-must-lose-their-licenses.

I Have a Dream
"Justice is not done yet," Asst. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told jurors. "Each of you will be convinced in the end that the only just punishment that does justice for the victims is the death penalty."

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Buzz Clik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Great quote in your post:
"The health professionals involved in the CIA program broke the law and shame the bedrock ethical traditions of medicine and psychology," said Frank Donaghue, chief executive of Physicians for Human Rights, an international advocacy group made up of physicians opposed to torture. "All psychologists and physicians found to be involved in the torture of detainees must lose their license and never be allowed to practice again."


:thumbsup:
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Grey Donating Member (933 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 11:46 AM
Response to Original message
4. I don't see any "sarcasm"
If you read history they always have been "American Values".
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dgibby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 11:54 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. True. Just ask the Native Americans and descendents of slaves.
Howard Zinn's book on American History should be required reading in every school in the nation.
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Buzz Clik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-11-09 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. It's never too late to change.
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