Quote Originally Posted by Bullmoose Bailey View Post
True points that our eastern establishment media will not address. Perhaps a pure example of western arrogancy, not being able to see past our own collective nose as relates to being offended by the realities of war.
Something to think about:
This country (the US) has a long history of torture. In fact, we torture each and every day. Just ask any inmate sitting on death row if they are under “severe mental pain or suffering”. In order to establish a gauge in this discussion, while you are talking with that death row inmate, ask which event they would prefer to occur to them today; a waterboarding or an execution. The only reason we don’t call that torture is because it is sanctioned by our Rule of Law. I think a lot of folks commenting on this thread have jumped up on their high horses and are confusing dogma vs doctrine. For example, dogma is an opinion and doctrine is a written instruction.

The debate over torture since 9/11 has been centered on its definition and what “severe physical and mental pain and suffering” really means. The definition of torture in the Geneva Conventions is very nebulous. One reason it is nebulous is because whenever we sit down with those folks to discuss the definition of torture, for example, we are usually sitting across the table from a set of international reps from states that not only have a nebulous definition of torture but also employ that definition more as general guidelines vs laws. Of course, these general guideline folks are there to ensure we don’t put their state on report with the international court of public opinion.

After 9/11, the then elected administration had to make a fundamental decision on how they were going to set the strategic tapestry to fight international terrorist. They could use the US Constitutional Rule of Law or they use the Laws of War. Neither is a really good fit, US Constitutional Law stops at the boundaries of the US and affords a set of rights to the accused that can easily be used to make a mockery of the legal process. The Laws of War are not a good fit either because, comparatively speaking, they are general, vague and open for wide interpretations. Of course, the advantage of the Laws of War is they do have a certain amount of global acceptance. In any event, the 9/11 administration decided to set the strategic tapestry with the Laws of War and hence, the call for a “Global War on Terrorism”.

The other issue when defining torture is the legal issue of “intent”. I feel that because the current administration could not prove intent is the primary reason a certain X-VP is not cooling his heels in a Federal prison. Is the intent of waterboarding really to inflict severe pain and suffering, especially when it is used as a military training technique on our own pilots?

In 2007, or so, the national media starts to report that the CIA is using waterboarding (enhanced interrogation techniques) and the Department of Justice authorized it. This is interesting since it seems the presidential administration seems to not only define the legal definition of torture but also place in under Title 50 …covert ops? What else was happening in 2007? You had a majority opposition congress pushing to get there political party elected to the White House and the more issues the better. Consequently, the definition of torture has nothing to do with what is legal or what is right or wrong, it is just another example of strategic legalism used as a political tool that plays nicely into our enemy’s hands.