Let's Talk About Waterboarding

by Joanne Mariner

"Last week saw a few more steps toward the banalization of torture. On Monday night, it was former President George W. Bush on television, acknowledging his personal responsibility for ordering the waterboarding of Al Qaeda suspects in CIA custody.

On Tuesday, it was the Department of Justice, announcing that Acting US Attorney John Durham would not pursue criminal charges for the CIA's destruction of videotapes showing the abusive interrogation of terrorism suspects.

And on Wednesday, it was the op-ed page of the New York Times , with an apparently unrelated item: an opinion piece about an arms control treaty currently awaiting ratification by the Senate. A co-author of the piece was John Yoo, who, during his tenure with the Bush administration at the Justice Department, was the author of legal memos purporting to justify torture.

Taken together, these episodes send an ugly but resounding message: Senior U.S. officials face no real consequences for the crime of torture. Not only do they seem immune from prosecution in a court of law, they are even welcome on the op-ed pages of elite publications."

Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am5

No person . . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself . . .

I suppose they avoid the bar by claiming that people not yet charged have no Fifth Amendment rights. But we all know that was not the intent of the authors of the Constitution who abhorred the Star Chambers of Britain.

The historical abuses of the Star Chamber are considered a primary motivating force behind the protections against compelled self-incrimination embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.<8> The meaning of "compelled testimony" under the Fifth Amendment—i.e., the conditions under which a defendant is allowed to "take the Fifth"—is thus often interpreted via reference to the inquisitorial methods of the Star Chamber.<9>

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

Okay, I'm done.

Indeed

K&R

And they've investigated themselves and determined they're doing nothing wrong.

Do I need the sarcasm emoticon? Or the weeping at the state of things emoticon?

For me, anyway :)

..... and sadly, most Americans are no longer outraged by it.

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And it seems you even misspelled "libs".

:rofl:

...... I'll offer you this:

:-)

according to Oscar Wilde :D

*go go gadget movie references!*

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It is torture whatever your silly justification for inhumanity.

Ronald fucking Reagan prosecuted waterboarding.

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nt

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(again)

lol

Pretty soon I'll have to L%T!!! :)

Sorry

:hug:

'Cause I'm gonna keep doing it. :)

:hug:

:rofl:

as well

that whistling you hear is connected to this.

RIP US of A... 1789-2000...

Now we see what is emerging from the ashes and it is not pretty.

...... He's probably alone in his room with torture tapes and a box of Kleenex.

If anything, we shoulda let him stay just because he was comedic genius :rofl:

from the horror of it all.