An impossible question for torture apologists

One of the weights dragging back the discourse on accountability in torture and whether or not the U.S. actually engaged in it with Islamist suspects (hint: yes, it did) is the idea that because the CIA’s interrogators were given acrobatically-defined legal memos making exceptions for “enhanced interrogation techniques” such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, therefore, the U.S. totally never tortured any of the “enemy combatants” in its extrajudicial prisons. Many on the Right (and a few on the Left) still hold to this brazenly illogical excuse, and Paul Waldman at The American Prospect would like these defenders of the would-be indefensible to explain their rationale for why these “techniques” don’t count as torture:

Here's the question I've never heard someone like Rodriguez answer: Can you give a definition of torture that wouldn't include waterboarding, stress positions, and sleep deprivation? I have no idea what such a definition might be, and I have to imagine that if they had any idea they would have offered one. Because here's the definition of torture you'd think everyone could agree on: Torture is the infliction of extreme suffering for the purpose of extracting information or a confession. That's not too hard to understand. The point is to create such agony that the subject will do anything, including give you information he'd prefer not to give you, to make the suffering stop. That's the purpose of waterboarding, that's the purpose of sleep deprivation (which, by the way, has been described by those subjected to it in places like the Soviet gulag to be worse than any physical pain they had ever experienced), and that's the purpose of stress positions. The "enhanced" techniques that were used weren't meant to trick detainees or win them over, they were meant to make them suffer until they begged for mercy.

So to repeat: If what the Bush administration did wasn't torture, how would its apologists define the term?

Oh, I’m sure the answer is obvious: “Torture is the infliction of extreme suffering for the purpose of extracting information or a confession – except for pseudo-drowning or pushing captives to the brink of insanity, because Washington said those are okie-dokie, so there.” See? Simple.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Daily Blend: Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Scott Van Duzer bear-hugging President Obama

Glenn Greenwald on Democrats’ Gitmo hypocrisy: “In the hierarchy of evil, consigning someone who has been convicted of nothing to a cage year after year after year, until they die, is high up on the list.”

Speaking of government evil, a new Human Rights Watch report reveals that Bush-era torture techniques were even more widespread than was thought, including in helping Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi (you know, who U.S. government all heroically helped topple only a few years later for all of its human rights abuses that the U.S. totally didn’t have any part in whatsoever).

Missouri lawmakers override Governor Nixon’s (D) veto of a bill that would allow employers to eliminate birth control coverage.

Florida Republican pizzeria owner who gave the Secret Service a collective heart attack by bear-hugging President Obama ^[pictured] is now being boycotted – an effort that’s falling hilariously flat.
(via Right Wing Watch & @KyellGold)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Glenn Greenwald • Democratic Party • Democrats • Guantánamo Bay • Gitmo • Barack Obama • Human Rights Watch • George Bush • Bush administration • enhanced interrogation techniques • Libya • Muammar Qaddafi • CIA • birth control • Missouri • Missouri General Assembly • Jan Nixon • Scott Van Duzer • Big Apple Pizza • Yelp • boycotts

Daily Blend: Thursday, June 21, 2012

John Yoo

Any particular reason why memory upgrade implants aren’t a thing yet?

John “Bush torture memos” Yoo ^[pictured]: President Obama is abusing executive power and the Constitution by ordering a more humane immigration policy!

More cops get acquitted despite video proving they lied about wrongfully arresting an innocent man.
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

They aren’t terkin’ ur jerbs: Exhaustive study finds no evidence whatsoever that decades of immigration have harmed the U.S in any way.
(via The Agitator)

Nonreligion is on the rise (and Christianity is slowly but surely falling) in Australia.
(via Pharyngula)

The five stupidest excuses ever given in a political scandal (that don’t include Larry “wide stance” Craig). I fully agree with #1.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: John Yoo • Barack Obama • Obama administration • George Bush • Bush administration • executive power • U.S. Constitution • Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department • Steven Sartori • immigrants • Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science • atheists • religious nones • non-theists • Australia • censuses • Cracked.com • Bob Allen • Eric Massa • J. Herbert Burke • Saera Khan • George Rekers

Daily Blend: Saturday, April 28, 2012

Thomas Clark

Troubling exposé on how the Bush administration torture regime began.
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Meanwhile, a U.S. Senate probe finds no evidence that torture ever helped uncover or foil terrorist plots.
(via ThinkProgress)

Police shoot man dead, then arrest man’s father ^[pictured] and brother for getting upset over it.
(via @radleybalko)

Doggycide slideshow. Alcohol probably required.

Another six-year-old arrested for throwing a tantrum at school.
(via @davidkozin)

Today in chutzpah: President Obama wants to sanction other nations who punish whistleblowers, shield torturers and evade accountability … because doing that is the U.S.’s job, dangit.

Catholic columnist wants Catholic protestors to be more like “da’ man” Bill Donohue.
(via Catholic League)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Larry Siems • Bush administration • United States • USA • enhanced interrogation techniques • Senate Intelligence Committee • James Clark • Jake Smith • Gwinnett County Police Department • puppycide • Radley Balko • Jessica Greene • Hendricks Elementary School • Michael Turner • Patrick Lumbley • Jessica Poe • Barack Obama • Matthew Archbold • Bill Donohue • Catholics • Catholicism • protestors

Daily Blend: Monday, April 09, 2012

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ^[pictured] (R) quietly enacts three anti-abortion, pro-abstinence-only bills and repeals the Equal Pay Enforcement Act to hold employers accountable for workplace discrimination. Has he been recalled yet?
(via @todayspolitics)

Newly released legal memo reveals how the Bush administration ignored the State Department’s legal counsel’s opposition to blatantly illegal “enhanced interrogation techniques” (aka torture).

Meanwhile, former CIA interrogator reveals the inner workings of secret prisons and the torture of detainees therein.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) presents an alternative to workplace non-discrimination rules: gays should just hide their gayness à la “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

Greta Christina destroys the claims that prostitution is always and inevitably akin to sexual slavery.

Survey: Most Canadians are nonreligious theists and religious figures are more distrusted, especially in Québec. Nothing new … though still awesome.
(via Friendly Atheist)

National Review Online fires racist asshat John Derbyshire; Vox Day instructs his fellow racists to boycott. I’m sure editor Rich Lowry weeps at the loss.

xkcd infographic on lakes and oceans. Pretty nifty. Still can’t believe how fracking deep those oil wells go.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Wisconsin • Scott Walker • abstinence-only • sex ed • sex education • Equal Pay Enforcement Act • Bush administration • U.S. State Department • Philip Zelikow • Geneva Conventions • enhanced interrogation techniques • CIA • black sites • The Interrogator • Glenn Carle • Steve King • anti-discrimination • Don't Ask, Don't Tell • DADT • gays • prostitution • sex workers • sexual slavery • Greta Christina • Taslima Nasreen • Canada • Canadians • Association for Canadian Studies • atheists • God • religious nones • National Review • National Review Online • NRO • Rich Lowry • John Derbyshire • Vox Day • Theodore Beale • racism • xkcd • oceans • oil wells

Canadian safety minister allows use of information from torture

Min. Vic Toews

Well, this is disheartening. The Canadian Public Safety Minister, Vic Toews, has directed the country’s intelligence agency to use information extracted through the use of torture, but only in cases where they can claim to do so in the name of preserving public safety:

The order represents a reversal of policy for the Conservative government, which once insisted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would discard information if there was any inkling it might be tainted.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has quietly told CSIS the government now expects the spy service to "make the protection of life and property its overriding priority."

A copy of the two-page December 2010 directive was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

It drew swift condemnation from Amnesty International Canada, which said information obtained under torture "has no place in the justice system, full stop."

The directive from Toews expands upon a May 2009 ministerial order that states CSIS must not knowingly rely upon information derived from torture, and have measures in place to identify such tainted information.

The latest directive says in "exceptional circumstances" where there is a threat to human life or public safety, urgency may require CSIS to "share the most complete information available at the time with relevant authorities, including information based on intelligence provided by foreign agencies that may have been derived from the use of torture or mistreatment."

Of course, the reasons why intelligence obtained through torture is summarily discounted – other than torture being an inhumane cancer that inherently contradicts the ideals of any purportedly civilized society – is because it is extremely unreliable, is remarkably inefficient (compared to other interrogative methods), and is far more likely to fill interrogators’ hands with false confessions than anything remotely likely to help prevent actual attacks. This is all widely accepted by every intelligence (and human rights) group worth their salt.

If Jack Bauer were real, the only thing he’d accomplish by torturing terror suspects would be to lead his team down dead end after dead end. It’s especially shameful that a number of ranking officials, namely the Public Safety Minister himself, apparently don’t recognize this simple yet obvious reality, instead encouraging intelligence organizations to rely on information known to be readily falsifiable and essentially worthless under pretense of maintaining security, especially given that it may well lead to more torture down the road.

Tags: Vic Toews • Canadian Security Intelligence Service • CSIS • intelligence agencies • false confessions

Investigators: Illegal detention & torture continues under Obama

U.S. soldiers at Bagram Detention Center

Debunking the myth that President Obama has stopped (or even opposes) torture and indefinite detention in obscure U.S.-operated prisons, take #62442:

Only one in 10 of the prisoners held at the US prison camp at Bagram airbase have been charged and many are being abused and tortured, Afghan investigators revealed on Saturday.

Gul Rahman Qazi of the government's constitution watchdog said that just 300 of the 3,000 detainees had legal cases against them and Nato forces don't have enough evidence against the rest.

Inmates say they are kept in dark, freezing cells and humiliated with body cavity searches.

Mr Qazi said one elderly man had been locked in a pitch-black room and lost a tooth when punched by a guard.

Fellow investigator Sayed Noorullah said: "If there is no evidence they have the right to be freed," and the Afghan government should take control of the prisoners "as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald writes about the evil of indefinite detention and those who want the public to forget all about it as if it were naught but a bad dream.

It’s hard to tell if President Obama is really any better at all than his disastrous predecessor, at least on the more crucial issues of human rights and executive power safeguards. Ed Brayton’s accusation of him being a liar, fraud and a total disaster in these areas only grows more substantiated as time passes.

Tags: Bagram Detention Center • Bagram • Barack Obama • Obama administration • indefinite detention

Bradley Manning gets court date – 1½ years after imprisonment

Pfc. Bradley Manning

This lede tells you all you need to know:

One year, six months, and three weeks after he was first jailed in a military brig in Kuwait, alleged WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning will have his day in court: According to a blog post Monday from his lawyer David Coombs, the Army private first class will have a pre-trial hearing in Fort Meade, Maryland on December 16th, a day before his 24th birthday, to examine the government’s charges and evidence and determine whether to proceed with the case against him.

So, after being left to rot in a military brig for more than a year-and-a-half without ever being formally accused by any court – and during which time he’s undergone prolonged isolation and other sorts of punitive measures that have been called nothing less than psychological torture by human rights groups and legal experts – Pfc. Manning will finally get to appear in court so the prosecution can decide “whether to proceed with the case”.

I sorely wish you just couldn’t make this shit up.

(via @ggreenwald)

Tags: Bradley Manning • WikiLeaks

Fail Quote: Rep. West defends waterboarding because it was done to Demi Moore in ‘G.I. Jane’

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

In which Rep. Allen West (R-FL) invites us all to play Find the Silly Non-Sequitur Amongst the Tripe:

WEST: The President is the benefactor of a lot of information that came from waterboarding, and the most important thing is when you look at the precedent: Non-state, non-uniformed belligerents captured on the battlefield, under the Geneva Convention, are not afforded the same type of rights. We can make that determination. And as the President, you need to make those things which are necessary to make sure that the American people is kept safe. I see that when we continue to read Miranda Rights to people such as the Underwear Bomber, we’re using an advantage and a leverage that we have. And, furthermore, in the movie G.I. Jane, Demi Moore was waterboarded, and we do use that in military training, in survival, escape, resistance and evasion training.

Oh, an actress was fake-waterboarded in a movie? Well, that settles it, then.

Tags: Allen West • waterboarding • Demi Moore • G.I. Jane

Daily Blend: Thursday, September 15, 2011

Bradley Johnson & banner [full size (266×230)]

• Insane court ruling allowing high school teacher to hang preachy Christian banners in classroom is finally overturned.

• Another interrogator speaks out against torture and how it blocks any attempt at gaining useful information. (Interesting note: This the same person who alleged a link between porn and terrorism. Weird.)

• Right-wingers (mis)read Michelle Obama’s lips to fabricate flag-bashing scandal. I don’t know what to say anymore.

• 16 things Christians need to know about atheists. I’m sure they’ll learn.
  (via Pharyngula)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Bradley Johnson • Westview High School • Jennifer Bryson • interrogators • interrogation • Michelle Obama • US flag • The Washington Times • James Robbins • Debbie Schlussel • Deborah Markus • atheists • Christians

Daily Blend: Friday, August 26, 2011

Ali Soufan

• CIA trying to censor interrogator-turned-critic ^[pictured] from revealing information that’s already in the public domain.

• Shift happens: Phil Plait lays out the data behind all these earthquakes of late. (Shockingly, Jen McCreight is not to blame.)

• Wow: Christianist busybodies take over Iowa daycare center and royally fuck every employee over.

• Friend’s reaction: “Humans, this is why aliens are shunning us.” (#1 seriously makes me wanna rage.)

• Comment of the day (and part two). Premium example(s) of “name the fallacies”.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: CIA • Ali Soufan • interrogation • earthquakes • Phil Plait • Happy Time Daycare • Point of Grace Children's Academy • Christians • Christianists • pets • plastic surgery • make-up • spas • tattoos • perfume • body piercings • Missrs50 • logical fallacies • God

Daily Blend: Monday, May 09, 2011 [updated]

Chris Wallace

• Glenn Greenwald: Al-Qaeda breathes the word “trains”, US Government immediately jumps in with proposed “No-Ride” list.

• Seven days and seventeen examples of why priests should be held to a higher standard.

• Fox News’s Chris Wallace [pictured] doesn’t understand why killing bin Laden is okay but torturing detainees is wrong.
  (via @ggreenwald)

• Man gets life in prison for fourth marijuana conviction.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper allegedly edits out two top-ranking women from now-famous Situation Room bin-Laden-raid-viewing photo. (Daily Mail warning) | UPDATE: (05/09/11 4:05 PM) – Newspaper apologizes, assures us removing the women “in no way relegates them to a lower status”. Uh-huh.

• WND freaks out over nomination of a lesbian judge to the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Supplemental tags: Bigotry • LGBT • Courts/Lawsuits

Daily Blend: Saturday, May 07, 2011

Claude Choules (110)

• Note to “Deathers”: Al-Qaeda confirms Osama bin Laden’s death in Internet statement at jihadist forums.
  (via Joe. My. God.)

• Pseudonymous US Military interrogator asserts that torture only harms anti-terrorism efforts.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Florida Legislature passes bills banning bestiality and baggy pants, proves they have absolutely nothing better to do.
  (via The Agitator)

• Professional bluenosing group American Family Association throws a fit over Sears selling porn DVDs “to children” – because the site lacked age verification, so obviously, they’re pro-porn-for-kids – and then gloats as their pearl-clutching followers force Sears to pull the “extremely offensive!” listings.

• It’s getting increasingly difficult to tell whenever Vox Day is trying to be either serious or sarcastic with his lame anti-atheistic arguments.

• Last surviving WWI veteran [pictured] dies at 110.

• FCKH8: You can fucking say ‘gay’.

• This anti-evolution church sign does have a point.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Supplemental tags: Churches • Humor • Evolution • Claude Choules

Daily Blend: Thursday, May 05, 2011

Pat Trueman

• Texas high school teacher suspended for telling American Muslim girl “I bet that you’re grieving” over her “uncle’s death”, then sniggering when she cries. Fire the bastard.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Research with transgender workers once again proves gender-wage gap is a thing of the present. Clincher: The closing lines.
  (via @PersonalFailure)

• City of Manhattan, Kansas votes to repeal recently incorporated LGBT inclusion in anti-discrimination policy.
  (via Joe. My. God.)

• Morality in Media’s Pat Trueman [pictured]: Legalizing adult porn leads to child porn. Seriously.

• Fox News’s Eric Bolling has apparently not yet learned the art of hole-digging course reversal.

• Cute.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Greenwald: bin Laden’s capture does not prove torture advocates right

Osama bin Laden

Glenn Greenwald has a typically great piece up where he notes the predictable clamor from conservatives claiming that Osama bin Laden’s capture (and death) was only made possible thanks to the Bush-era torture techniques, a notion that’s not only been debunked my multiple sources, but that manages to miss the point as pro-torture advocates usually do: It wouldn’t matter if torture had worked in this specific instance, or any other, because A) it’s inhumane, B) it’s illegal, and C) it’s much less effective and reliable than other, non-invasive interrogation methods, as multitudes of trained interrogators have concluded.

Here’s the opening quote, if only to entice you to read further:

The killing of Osama bin Laden has, as The New York Times notes, reignited the debate over "brutal interrogations" -- by which it's meant that Republicans are now attempting to exploit the emotions generated by the killing to retroactively justify the torture regime they implemented. The factual assertions on which this attempt is based -- that waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation methods" produced evidence crucial to locating bin Laden -- are dubious in the extreme, for reasons Andrew Sullivan and Marcy Wheeler document. So fictitious are these claims that even Donald Rumsfeld has repudiated them.

Be sure to read the rest.

Daily Blend: Thursday, April 14, 2011

Pfc. Bradley Manning

• Alleged WikiLeaks whistle-blower Pfc. Bradley Manning [pictured] now illegally denied official visits from torture investigators.

• Veritas has an excellent little “primer” on Canadian politics, which was uncomfortably educational to me (what with being a Canuck an’ all).

• Atheist billboards: now in Orlando, Florida.

• I’ll be damned – this almost makes me wanna get one.
  (via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Thursday, January 06, 2011

Dr. Andrew Wakefield [source]

That’s the last time I’m going to bed at 8 AM … Or probably not.

• About time: Antivaccination movement icon Andrew Wakefield [pictured] accused of fraudulent behavior by online medical journal BMJ for his (retracted) study supposedly linking vaccines and autism.

• American teenager imprisoned in Kuwait without charges, tortured and barred from returning to the US.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Miracle: White House and Pentagon reportedly seeking the biggest military spending cuts since before 9/11.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Least shocking news of the year (so far): New House-controlling Republicans already breaking their promises.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Friday, December 24, 2010 – T’is the season …

Bradley Manning

… to be waking up at the crack of dawn, apparently. Oh, cats. At least I get a head-start for being bored all day …

• Forget that stupid “War on Christmas” you hear about on Fox News. Here’s what a real attack on Christmas looks like.
  (via @religionnews)

• UN top official on torture to conduct a formal investigation into the inhumane conditions of alleged WikiLeaks source US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s [pictured] detainment.

• Christian mental health worker asserts she will continue sharing anti-abortionist materials at health center even if it costs her her job. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
  (via @religionnews)

• Ricky Gervais answers some questions following his pro-atheist Wall Street Journal article. Includes a heartfelt Christmas message.
  (via Friendly Atheist)

• Are Homeland Security employees trolling the anti-TSA We Won’t Fly blog?
  (via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Saturday, November 13, 2010

Alvin Greene [source]

• Torture at Abu Ghraib = sickening. Torture at Guantanamo Bay = patriotic. My decoder ring is no match for this.

• Alvin Greene [pictured] for President? Seriously, someone show him to a TV set or something.

• Ray Comfort seems a bit peeved at whoever PZ Meyers is. PZ responds.

• And my hope for humanity just keeps waning.

• Yep, some scientists apparently thought it was time to huddle down and study how cats drink water without getting their chins wet.

• Cracked sez women are just as shallow and vain as men. … Well, some women. … In generally different ways. … Don’t hit me.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• A Jim Crow museum?
  (via The Agitator)

• Insta-nerdgasm: Detailed blueprints for the Millennium Falcon. Han Solo lied – those hidden smuggler compartments ARE in there!
  (via The Daily Grail)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Bush reaffirms his status as a war criminal

Former President George W. Bush

Last June, ex-President Bush officially became a war criminal of his own admission when he candidly declared during a CNN interview that, yes, his administration did waterboard 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. As you might know, waterboarding fits under virtually every legal (and moral) definition of “torture”, and is thus explicitly prohibited under the UN Convention Against Torture, which demands that any parties found guilty of allowing or participating in the torture of detainees, directly or indirectly, be prosecuted immediately.

However, it still wasn’t clear just how involved he was in the affair, as his admission, glaring as it may be, was limited to saying that his administration took part in torture. (Not that this really matters in the eyes of the law, where he is most definitely guilty nonetheless.) But now, ever the type to apparently think (or hope) that being honest about it will place him back in people’s good graces or allow him to escape accountability, Bush has come out in his new memoir and openly states that he, himself, personally authorized waterboarding KSM when the option was brought up:

In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.

In his book, titled "Decision Points," Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the United States. Bush writes that his reply was "Damn right" and states that he would make the same decision again to save lives, according to a someone close to Bush who has read the book.

Bush previously had acknowledged endorsing what he described as the CIA's "enhanced" interrogation techniques - a term meant to encompass irregular, coercive methods - after Justice Department officials and other top aides assured him they were legal. "I was a big supporter of waterboarding," Vice President Richard B. Cheney acknowledged in a television interview in February.

Of course, we can safely surmise two facts from this revelation. (That is, other than Cheney also being involved, which should come as a surprise to exactly no-one.) First, Bush really doesn’t give a damn about such things as justice, international law and upholding human rights, just so long as he’s able to have his cronies inflict some hurt on those people he holds responsible for attacking his country (whether they actually are guilty or not). But then, this isn’t exactly news to anyone who’s been paying attention to such matters.