'Damn right' I personally ordered waterboarding: Bush

'Damn right' I personally ordered waterboarding: Bush

www.rawstory.com

President George W. Bush admits for the first time in his new memoir that he personally approved the use of waterboarding, a technique in which an interrogator simulates drowning on a suspect. The method, which most describe as torture, has since been banned by the Justice Department.

In his book, "Decision Points," Bush asserts that he was asked by the Central Intelligence Agency whether he would support the agency's waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 mastermind.

(visit the link for the full news article)

There we have it, a confession to war crimes, though I doubt that any justice will ever be served. We have prosecuted many war/t criminals for much less.

Sadly, he can confess to torture and be confident that nothing will come of it. I guess it just goes to show the injutices of our times. A tyrant is a tyrant is a tyrant... as is both a common and war criminal.

What makes this even more sad, is that this is hardly the worst thing that Bush and his cronies have allegedly done. I think we would be sitting pretty if this was the extent (suspected) of the Bush crimes. Unfortunately, this pales in comparison to 90% of the things that I suspect he has done.

At the very most, this is a direct slap in the face to our brave soldiers and their families, to which Bush's actions have put them in harms way... again. What more do we need?


--airspoon

www.rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

1st!


Isnt that sort of a war crime? glad he owned up to it.. but great, America even bigger a**.

I'm disgusted that he feels his most disgusting moment was Kanye, and not 9/11. Really? grotesque.

reply to post by airspoon



Hahaha...'mastermind of 9/11'...lol...

Why do I get the feeling that even his supposed memoirs are full of it?

double post

At the very least, it should be enough to file charges and do the equivalent of a full cavity search on all documents from the Bush/Cheney administration. Anyone linked to it should be waterboarded themselves.

I'll settle for the Geneva Convention getting implemented though.

Who's got the rope?

The Powers That Be are getting extremely arrogant.

David Rockerfeller's 2002 "Memoirs" ISBN 0-679-40588-7 Chapter 27 "Proud Internationalist" Page 405

"Some even believe we are a part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it.

Kaffee: Did you order the Code Red?!
Jessep: You're goddamn right I did!


This is actually interesting because it's not like GW just blurted this out while choking on a pretzel. It's in his book and therefore was proofread by a great deal of interested parties before release.

I am not familiar with the legalities involved but on the surface this seems like a sound strategic move to relieve his buddies bellow of any responsibility. War crime prosecutions were unlikely to begin with but there's little to no way anyone is going to go after an ex president. Whereas going after cabinet members like Rumsfeld and other military honchos gets progressively more realistic as rank diminishes. Thus by doing this he's basically taken it off the backs of everyone below him in addition to making look like a hard-ass to those who are easily impressed.

One thing is for sure, it is a calculated move that has implications for many folks involved and responsible for those dark days ... the trick is to find out whom it benefits most and how/why.

reply to post by airspoon


Yep how come nobody ever mentions the increased danger doing torture techniques place our troops in? Why is it only when that information is made public by someone outside the government that it puts our troops in danger.

Haha, Bush must realize that his own freedom of speech can still have him arrested.

He admits because it doesn't matter to anyone anymore. The country is so swept up in "hate Obama" fever I'm starting to think Bush is going to make a comeback. The guy still says he didn't lie about WMD's. You know how many people around these parts believe that these days?

He could say he personally killed people at this point and no one would care.

Originally posted by antonia
The guy still says he didn't lie about WMD's. You know how many people around these parts believe that these days?

I do...

He was lied to just like the world was. Go to Cheney and his gang for the real answers...

I can't wait to read this book.

reply to post by airspoon

"The method, which most describe as torture, has since been banned by the Justice Department."

"Since been" implies to me that at the time he approved it there was no Justice Department stance against the practice. hindsight is always 20/20, but I cannot affirm here that if faced with the same proposition from the CIA I wouldn't have agreed to it also.

If I were told lives could be saved by torturing a criminal, for the sake of the lives that could be saved I'd be inclined to do the same. But I admit that's conjecture at this point. I dunno, hard decision to make.

reply to post by antonia

The guy still says he didn't lie about WMD's.

You do remember there were far more intelligence agencies besides the CIA that said Saddam had WMD right?

Why does everyone forget that??

reply to post by antonia


Water boarding pales in comparison of what goes on in other countries. None of what happens in other countries matters because no one cares if it's not U.S. related.

Here's a very small example. Might be graphic for some people...
How would you all act if this was U.S. forces doing this to Iraqi/Afghan captured militants?

Russian Prison

reply to post by NOTurTypical


See? Was I wrong here?


www.salon.com...

OLD NEWS. BUSH LIED PEOPLE DIED.

Water boarding is a pretty weak torture technique if you ask me. The CIA pioneered a much more effective technique in Vietnam where they would place wet towel over the nose and mouth of subjects and force them to breathe water into their lungs. This was over 40 years ago.

reply to post by NOTurTypical

If I were told lives could be saved by torturing a criminal, for the sake of the lives that could be saved I'd be inclined to do the same. But I admit that's conjecture at this point.

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." --Thomas Paine
US patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)

Tell me this then, are the 9/11 hijackers justified in their actions, simply because they too were probably told it would save lives in the long run? There is a reason that we have moral principals and set standards based on those principals.

Furthermore, it is questionable at best, if the practice even saves lives, though there is a really good argument for the opposite, to where it will endanger American lives and it doesn't take a scientist or scholar to figure that out. No6t only does it put our own soldiers -my brothers- in harm's way, but it also strengthens "their" case against us and boosts their recruitment.

Tell me, were the Nazis justified in their torture? What about the Soviets, Iranians or North Koreans? I'm sure the citizens of those countries who also participated in torture believed that their cause was justified too.

I dunno, hard decision to make.

It's not really. You do what is right, otherwise you are no better than those you are fighting against. What would then give us the right to fight or argue against their cause or moral principals if our own are no better?


--airspoon

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by antonia

 

The guy still says he didn't lie about WMD's.

You do remember there were far more intelligence agencies besides the CIA that said Saddam had WMD right?

Why does everyone forget that??

He lied about WMD's because he is a career liar... He dismissed accurate info in favor of bullshizzle that would make more $$ for his war profiteer neo-clown cronies... all part of the PNAC plan.. can't let a "new Pearl Harbor" go to waste.

"CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail."

(edit to add link) www.salon.com...
..if anyone should be water-boarded for intel on 9/11.. and future 9/11's, I can't think of a better candidate. Then he should get a fair trail.

reply to post by Clisen33


And? I don't want to see it. I don't like to see people being hurt. I don't get off on that sort of thing. Either way, you didn't address the issue. What Russians do does not justify what Bush allowed.