International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo War Crimes Trial) – Proceedings. p. 12,936.
At last night’s republican debate republican presidential candidates continue to try and redefine torture:
Jay Rosen @jayrosen_nyu
Seen any live fact checks on Cruz’s claim that waterboarding does not fit the legal definition of torture? 8:49 PM – 6 Feb 2016
As if old media did sufficient fact checking on the subject during dubya’s administration? Why should they start now?
digby @digby56
Cruz says the president can torture if he wants to. Not surprising. Failing to try torturers for war crimes leads to this. 8:39 PM – 6 Feb 2016
The Donald is already there:
digby @digby56
And Trump gets big applause for saying he’d do worse than waterboarding. I wonder which of the donors in the audience did that? 8:40 PM – 6 Feb 2016
Redefining exceptionalism: if they do it it’s really bad, if we do it it’s legal.
“Does torture work?” as a question needs to be put in the bin with “Is slavery commercially feasible?” & “Can genocide help overpopulation?” 7:01 AM – 10 Dec 2014
By Paul Gronke, Darius Rejali and Peter Miller December 11
[….]
What it’s called matters – a fact not lost on the Bush Administration, which coined new phrases to call practices “not-torture.” It redefined the meaning of legal words and concepts, and described specific interrogation techniques as vaguely as possible….
David Jackson, USA TODAY 9:19 p.m. EST December 10, 2014
Former Vice President Dick Cheney ripped a new Senate report on harsh interrogation techniques Wednesday as a “terrible piece of work” that throws CIA officials “under the bus” for political reasons.
“The report is full of crap, excuse me,” Cheney said during an interview on Fox News….
….Cheney, the highest-ranking official from the George W. Bush administration to comment publicly since the Senate released its report on Tuesday, also said Bush was “fully informed” about the interrogation program….
The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.
[….]
[emphasis added]
Excuse him? Never. And that’s what really chafes his ass.
“…the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us-the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil…” – Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
Torture is a war crime. There is no statute of limitations on war crimes. Those that have committed this crime should be tried and punished to set us right with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We need justice before there can be redemption. The time is now to set our moral compass in the proper direction by holding those responsible for the horrific acts done in our countries name. There needs to be accountability – there needs to be justice – there needs to be a trial for war crimes now that we know just what was done in our name.
Published Date: Dec 09, 2014
Issues: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement
Signatures needed by January 08, 2015 to reach goal of 100,000 99,404
We The People demand the immediate arrest of war criminals Dick Cheney and George Bush for committing crimes against humanity. These 2 men are an affront to American morality and values. They have been deemed war criminals across the globe yet remain free at home. America is supposed to be a nation of freedom, truth and justice. However the CIA torture report demonstrates that these 2 leaders place no value on human life and as a result we call for their arrest, a fair trial, and justice to be meted out accordingly (a luxury their victims were not permitted to receive)
Published Date: Dec 09, 2014
Issues: Foreign Policy, Government Reform, Homeland Security and Disaster Relief
Signatures needed by January 08, 2015 to reach goal of 100,000 99,800
Total signatures on this petition 200
[emphasis added]
It’s possible their travel agents will have interesting challenges routing their international travel in the future.
….I no longer take seriously anyone, in or out of government, who talks about “the debate” over whether the United States tortured people. The only debate left is the debate over whether or not it will remain the policy of this nation to torture people, or to outsource the job of torturing people, or to otherwise commit moral and national suicide by euphemism.
Anyone who still believes there’s a “debate” over whether or not the United States, using techniques previously used by the Japanese Imperial Army, the Gestapo, the North Korean People’s Army, and the KGB, tortured people is an idiot and a coward and I have no time for them. Not any more. Debate’s over. We became what they think we are. And worse. This is not debatable and, alas, it is anything but a surprise.
….This is what the Senate report really means. We lost more than our phony “innocence” in what we allowed to happen in the country in the years following the attacks on September 11, 2001. We lost more than the scales from our eyes. We gave away our right to judge, anyone, anywhere, for the crimes that we committed out of rage and fear and deception. We betrayed the principles enunciated at Nuremberg. We sold out Robert Jackson for John Yoo.
In 1948:
In the judgment of the tribunal, International Military Tribunal for the Far East – Proceedings, p. 48,442.
Changi Prison, October 1943
… The Japanese were trying to establish that there was a spy organization in Changi Prison which received and transmitted by radio telephony, which had established contacts in the town for the purpose of sabotage and [12937] stirring up of anti-Japanese feeling, and which collected money from outside for this purpose. In fact, there was no organization, no radio transmission and no attempt to promote anti-Japanese activities outside the Camp…[12939]
…Usually interrogations started quietly and would continue as long as the inquisitors got the expected answers. If, for any reason, such answers were not forthcoming, physical violence was immediately…
…[12940] employed. The methods used were:
(1) Water Torture. There were two forms of water torture. In the first, the victim was tied or held down on his back and a cloth placed over his nose and mouth. Water was then poured on the cloth…
International Military Tribunal for the Far East – Proceedings, p. 12,936.
In 2007, a letter to the editor:
Kansas City Star
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Letters
Limited use of torture
…Instead of prohibiting torture, we should regulate how and when it can be used. It should only be used on people we are sure have important information and should be restricted to methods that don’t inflict permanent damage…
We have already determined what we are, now we just need to haggle over the price.
“I’m for Mitt Romney,” Bush told ABC News this morning as the doors of an elevator closed on him, after he gave a speech on human rights a block from his old home – the White House.
….Co-moderator Major Garrett read an email from a veteran of the Vietnam War who believes “torture if always wrong in all cases,” and asked if the candidates agree. The question was first directed to Herman Cain, who said he’d do whatever military leaders said they wanted to do. Garrett pressed further, specifically noting the argument over waterboarding. Cain replied:
“I agree that it was an enhanced interrogation technique…. Yes, I would return to that policy. I don’t see it as torture. I see it as an enhanced interrogation technique.”
This generated applause from the South Carolina audience….
Presenter: Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell November 14, 2007
…Q The alert that went out reminding military personnel about the military ban on waterboarding — was that in response to any specific event or specific comments by military personnel that made you think you needed it? I mean, most notably, General Honore’s comments about waterboarding from last week — was this a response to those comments?
MR. MORRELL: Yeah, I think that went through — I think that was an Army mandate, if I’m not mistaken. But I do not know what precipitated them or prompted them to choose to remind their personnel of the fact that waterboarding is a practice that is forbidden under the Army Field Manual. But I think it is — I wouldn’t read anything into it, but I think it’s always worthwhile to remind our men and women in uniform — and all those who work for us, for that matter — what the rules are and what they aren’t. And the rules forbid such practices throughout the U.S. military…
If you think that someone who you act upon believes it’s a violation of their rights, or if you believe that the act, when applied to an American prisoner, would violate their rights, then don’t cross that line….
And the South Carolina republican debate audience applauded torture.
“…the rules forbid such practices throughout the U.S. military…”
