Torture "should define their party"

By: Rob
Published On: 5/17/2007 2:27:08 PM

Chilling words about the modern GOP from conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan:
Americans don't want to discuss this, know about it, or think about it. But increasingly, the explicitly pro-torture position of the GOP will define their party. And it should define their party. The attempt to hide behind the ludicrously Orwellian term "enhanced interrogation techniques" won't work if it's properly challenged. The picture above is of an "enhanced interrogation technique". Romney's and Giuliani's position that they don't favor "torture" but would support any method necessary to extract information - like the above - is transparently absurd. The simple legal definition of torture must be thrown in their faces at every opportunity. These people do not get to define torture in a country under the rule of law. We are not in a Lewis Carroll novel. The law and our treaty obligations define torture.
And it's only getting worse for the Republican party, as these GOP front-runner continue to get applause lines and base points for embracing torture as a de facto party platform.

Comments



Allowing Torture Is A Bad Mistake (norman swingvoter - 5/17/2007 8:53:57 PM)
This is also an example of the short-sighted idiocy of the bush administration.  When the enemy starts torturing our troops in future wars, what possible moral argument can we make if we torture people also?  In fact people were imprisoned in War World II for what cheney claims is now legal. 


They order it because they like to talk tough (Andrea Chamblee - 5/17/2007 11:43:59 PM)
As I said earlier this week, the assumption that they can't get information any other way has been proven WRONG.  Government reports showed that two vists to a detainee from a holy man, an imam, at strategically spaced intervals convinced detainees to confess. At the first visit, a respected Imam explains why their actions did not meet the requirements for a true Jihad. That would mean eternal damnation, and that's a big deal to a fundamentalist. So the detainee is given a day or two to think about that.  At the second visit, the Imam offers to hear their conscience.  The detainees would confess.  Two days. Bingo. That's what the sites were doing successfully before thet got "Git-Mo-ized."