“The United States does not torture”
President-elect Barak Obama made a heartening promise today on the occasion of the nomination of his choices for CIA Director and National Intelligence Director. MSNBC has the AP story:
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama said Friday his administration would not compromise its ideals to fight terrorism, adding at a press conference to announce his CIA and national intelligence nominees that he has told them to honor the Geneva Conventions.
“I was clear throughout this campaign and was clear throughout this transition that under my administration the United States does not torture,” Obama said, when asked at the news conference whether he would continue the Bush administration’s policy of harsh interrogation. “We will abide by the Geneva Conventions. We will uphold our highest ideals.”
Obama announced his choice for CIA director, former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, and director of national intelligence, retired Adm. Dennis Blair.
Obama has criticized interrogation practices he says amount to torture and also has promised to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The president-elect, who takes office Jan. 20, said he has given the men the clear charge to restore the United States’ record on human rights.
“We must adhere to our values as diligently as we protect our safety with no exceptions,” Obama said.
During the presidential campaign, Obama ha rshly criticized the Bush administration’s policy on interrogation practices.
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Good news
I think Bush said the same thing :P Of course, Obama may -may- be more aware of the real world.
What is “heartening” about the promise? Perhaps that the statement comes from someone who is not George W. Bush?
The only change I see is in the promise to “honor the Geneva conventions”, where the Bush administration did not strictly apply them to, e.g. those being held at Gitmo. If we had, then the prisoners being held there would never actually have gotten there, since they would have been treated as spies (since they were taken while bearing arms in a war theatre without clear marks identifying them as soldiers, the GC definition of a spy), and summarily executed.
Given the situation, perhaps the Bush policy did more to honor the spirit of the Conventions, than a strict application of them would have.
Echoing Bush is a “heartening promise”?
“Given the situation, perhaps the Bush policy did more to honor the spirit of the Conventions, than a strict application of them would have.”
It that like our twisting of the U.S. constitution, in which we can honor the spirit of the constitution more than a strict application of it would have?
So if we can get unborns to be classified as “enemy combatants”, then he will protect them….or am I missing something. Is torture still on for them?
If I were a betting man, I’d bet that whatever rhetoric Obama uses, if an important al Qaeda operative is captured, Obama’s administration will either 1) use enhanced interrogation techniques themselves, or 2) use extraordinary rendition (just like Clinton/Gore did) to have him tortured in another country.
Given the situation, perhaps the Bush policy did more to honor the spirit of the Conventions, than a strict application of them would have.
War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.
Re-visiting the accounts of torture, and especially humiliation, is highly disturbing. Maybe the “non-violent”sick things they did are, in a way, worse than inflicting pain. You have to go the “extra mile” to smear people with (what they believe to be) menstrual blood, to have people walk on a leash, have them form pyramids naked or in their underwear, to take photos with thumbs up next to rotting corpses and so forth. (Not that terrorists should be handled with kid gloves (what are kid gloves anyway?) http://augustphotos.com/?page_id=33
Much like slavery, the Bush administration will be a stain that won’t wash out. The good will that Obama is receiving from all over the world is, in essence, based on a) that Bush is such a *#$! and b) that people believe it can only get better now.
….
David Nickol, that’s the motto of today’s Republican Party. It’s at least on par with “Duty. Honor. Country.” In Austria, you’ll find that only in exhibitions. German soldiers had “God with us” on their belt buckles. “My honor is fidelity” (to “the country”) was another. There is no duty, there is no honor in “serving” a country as a soldier in today’s wars.
War is Peace: Perpetual war for peace. “They” hate us for our freedom and want to take it away from us. The American system (people opposed to it have little chance of doing anything but protest) produces its own enemies and re-fills their ranks. Regurgitating. It doesn’t just “return to its own vomit”, it feeds on it. Murderous lunatics turn toward the USA first. (this doesn’t take away from their murderous lunatic status). There is a reason Toronto didn’t have jets flown into it. “America” didn’t “deserve” it, since it’s a concept, not a reality. People cannot be surmised or identified with a geographic area that resulted, as any other, from shedding the blood of others. Karma ? Yes. There is no “good” or “bad” Karma. Karma contains both action and result ab initio.
Freedom is Slavery: (and vice versa). Better circumstances in other countries are actually worse. Government protection of workers is actually oppression.
Ignorance is Strength: Sarah Palin. George Bush. The best and the brightest. Arugula = evil. Twinkies = good. Other than Ann Coulter’s, who needs books ? Commies is who. Creationism – who needs science ? Foreign policy ? Based on the Book of Revelations. Societal mores ? Who needs research, who needs progress or justice ? We got the “Old Testament”. Evangelicals are the main suppliers of soldiers. And Jesus spoke unto them, ” Blessed are the warmongers. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Kill ‘em all.” And Jesus went on to say, “Cursed are the lesbians and feminazis. If ye do not banish them, I shall send jets into the Sears Tower.”
Obama’s administration will either 1) use enhanced interrogation techniques themselves, or 2) use extraordinary rendition (just like Clinton/Gore did) to have him tortured in another country.
S.B.,
I have heard any number of people in the field of interrogation say that torture doesn’t work. Perhaps Obama believes torture is not merely evil, but ineffective.
I don’t pretend to be an expert, but perhaps our ideas about torture, which we get from movies and television, are about as accurate as the ideas we get about trials — where people break down on the witness stand and confess, or even better, as on the old Perry Mason show, people in the courtroom audience stand up and shout, “I did it!”
Perhaps Bush and Cheney were too influenced by 24.
Dear Jesse,
It is most emphatically not a matter of twisting anything.
There was, and is, however, a certain amount of confusion regarding what the conventions are, and what keeps the US from torturing prisoners in Gitmo. The former, i.e. the Geneva Conventions, are international agreements regulating battlefield behavior, i.e. treatment of non-combatants, the taking and treatment of prisoners. Signatories to the Conventions are bound to abide by them in conflicts with other signatories, and with all Powers that accept and actually abide by the Conventions.
The Conventions do not apply to al Qaeda, and no country on the planet is bound to treat al Qaeda prisoners according to the Conventions, because al Qaeda is 1) not a Power signatory and 2) has a m.o. that automatically absolves signatories from their Conventional obligations in treating al Qaeda operatives.
The thing keeping the US from torturing prisoners is US law.
To David Nickol: that would be insulting, if it were not utterly ridiculous.
Well, Jack Bauer didn’t smear anyone with menstrual blood :-P
While I’m a little more disposed to take Obama on his word on this matter, McCain said the same thing and for the both of them I’m taking a wait and see approach. I will not applaud Obama until I see these things stopped, which will be very difficult to determine with a lapdog media not performing its watchdog function.
At this point, I’m not sure the law is enough to keep the U.S. from torturing prisoners. We largely hold the view that safety is more important than justice, that protecting Americans trumps treating terrorists in ways respectful of their dignity as human persons.