Comments on: “Close Enough for Government Work” Torture

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:18:48 +0000

Thanks for pointing that out.

Steven Aftergood, the guy who writes Secrecy News, does great work.

By: scooter libido

scooter libido — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:10:10 +0000

The Educing Information study has actually not been “released” — it was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News.

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:52:36 +0000

It is most exasperating how few people in Congress seem curious about the abuses they have sanctioned.

I had some fun with this in a piece in the Los Angeles Times in August, arguing that we should be allowed to torture congressmen to make them answer a few questions. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-modestproposal27aug27,1,653426.story

As far as I know, no one in Congress has yet formally proposed legislation to enact this reform.

By: Marc Swanson

Marc Swanson — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:24:02 +0000

Most people undergoing torture will confess to anything or even provide phony information they think their captors want to hear in order to avoid further pain and suffering. As Jim pointed out, “information” obtained in this manner was used, in part, to justify the Iraq invasion, a fools errand.
Cruel treatment of prisoners and the accused began to be phased out as recently as two hundred years ago as more enlightened views prevailed in Europe and America. Although the clock is being turned back to the Middle Ages in an attempt to quickly obtain intelligence that’s worse than useless, few in Congress or the news media seem to be concerned.

By: JasonB

JasonB — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 10:12:26 +0000

What is the real reason why the US government employs and flaunts the use of torture on “terrorists?” All the experts tell us that torture does not work when trying to extract accurate intelligence. The Bush Regime knows this. So what is the real reason to torture? The same reason torture has been used throughout the ages: fear. Fear not only in the hearts of our so-called enemies but also fear in the hearts of Americans. Americans will more and more have second thoughts about opposing their government for fear of being tortured. If this policy of torture is not rebelled against and stopped, then every major city in America may have their own “Room 101.”

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:51:15 +0000

I did a word search in the Pentagon-funded report and found no mention of ‘testicle.’

But I didn’t word search for the 15 most common synonyms.

By: MarkN

MarkN — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:47:13 +0000

Of course, “science” will determine the best way to “educe” information. The ISB report suggests that the Pentagon should finance university research into such methods. And, if iturns out that pulling out fingernails or crushing testicles actually work to produce reliable, actionable intelligence, well, so be it. Right? After all, if “science” says it’s the way to proceed, then that’s what we should do. Who cares about morality. It’s not scientifically defined, so why bother about it.

I imagine that universities such as, oh, the Univ. of Tennessee, which supports such “academic” activity as Instapundit, would be happy to collect taxpayers’ money for torture research.

Heh. Indeed.

By: Sunni

Sunni — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:27:29 +0000

Am I the only one suspecting that Adam S. is the reincarnation of George Orwell?

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:47:55 +0000

Ya, and Bush sort of speaks English.

Great idea about renaming Gitmo “Disneyland.” I’m not sure whether there would be a trademark dispute, but otherwise…

By: Adam S.

Adam S. — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:28:06 +0000

You have just perfectly explained why I hated public schooling: They were educating me. Notify John Taylor Gatto at once, we now know what goldbrickers mean when they say they educate people.
This is stuff right out of the history books. Many of the most despotic regimes learned to torture people without the spilling of blood: hanging, drowning, or brainwashing. These were merely “educational”. Why don’t they just rename Gitmo “Disneyland” and say that people who were arrested under suspicion of terrorism “won the Super Bowl”? So now civil libertarians everywhere “Super Bowl winners” who can “go to Disneyland” at the drop of a hat.
I swear having Bush for a President is like having Saparmurat Niyazov in charge, except Bush is funnier.