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American torture

(55 Posts)
MiceElf Wed 10-Dec-14 19:23:48

Appalling thought this report is, am I alone in finding the response of many American commentators just as bad. They seem to find no problem with any of the dreadful practices which were described and those who are prepared to condemn the practices only do so because it didn't work.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 11-Dec-14 12:06:24

Mentioning the nazis is wrong. The people they treated so cruelly were quite definitely innocents.

GillT57 Thu 11-Dec-14 11:52:37

Yes Riverwalk perhaps people could do with being reminded of that. Many people aren't aware of how it used to be. I have told mine about it , the changing sides and alliances that went on, and also that bombing of civilians is nothing new, and actually 9/11 although truly atrocious, wasn't the first time it had happened. If you listened to some US politicians you would think it was. Some of these same politicians were active supporters of the IRA and funded campaigns which bombed mainland Britain and killed many innocent people. I wonder how many of them stopped funding the glorious freedom fighting IRA when someone else's freedom fighters bombed the World Trade Centre?

Riverwalk Thu 11-Dec-14 11:36:48

And let's not forget who nurtured and financed the Mujahideen (originators of the Taliban) in the first place, when they were fighting the Russians in Afghanistan.

soontobe Thu 11-Dec-14 11:30:18

Agreed Nonnie.

Nonnie Thu 11-Dec-14 11:28:01

If they didn't know it was wrong why did they cover it up?

There is so often smoke without fire, some people deliberately throw dirt in the hope that some of it will stick. That saying is about as stupid as the one about sticks and stones.

whitewave Thu 11-Dec-14 11:28:00

If you consider yourself a civilized human being than there should be nothing in your moral code which allows for such behaviour regardless of what the person has done.

No one can claim to be anything other than a brute and on the same level as those they have tortured.

I am sure that the Nazi's used the same argument.

petallus Thu 11-Dec-14 10:56:25

According to the Guardian some of the people tortured to death were actually innocent and arrested in error.

There used to a code of ethics in war.

soontobe Thu 11-Dec-14 10:52:49

Torture breeds terror.

You wouldnt torture your own kids if they did something terribly wrong would you?

Riverwalk Thu 11-Dec-14 10:52:12

The Americans knew it was morally wrong and illegal, that's why they did it offshore.

If it was justified why not take the prisoners to the US?

soontobe Thu 11-Dec-14 10:50:53

There is often smoke without fire.

GillT57 Thu 11-Dec-14 10:48:31

You might care if it was your son or brother who was locked up and tortured jings. If you consider being worried about brutality being done in my name being high minded., then I am guilty. I am no apologist for the dreadful ISIS and their ilk and consider that people who have put themselves out of society do not then deserve the protection of said society, but America's use of torture has proved to be futile and probably more harmful as it is an excellent recruitment tool for the monstrous jihadists.

Marty Thu 11-Dec-14 10:43:32

I agree jinglbellsfrocks. I don't care either.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 11-Dec-14 10:22:13

'No smoke without fire' and 'if you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen' are two well proven old adages that spring to mind.

Now I will leave you to your oh-so-high minded arguments.

Because - as I said, I simply don't care.

annodomini Thu 11-Dec-14 10:02:32

"Some people are so brutal as to put them outside normal human consideration."
Yes, jingl that applies to the torturer more than to the tortured because there is often no proof that the latter are guilty and 'proof' extracted under duress is no proof at all.

GillT57 Thu 11-Dec-14 09:57:32

well said absent . it has been acknowledged that these techniques didnt work and it worries me that America still doesn't get it....the postings on Facebook would indicate that Joe America thinks that his country is entitled to do what it likes to Muslims as surely they are all guilty for 9/11. About as logical as torturing and sticking all Germans in Guantanemo Bay because of WW2 and the holocaust. Torturing innocent people surely recruits for the fanatics such as ISIS. George Bush should be questioned about this and I am disappointed that Obama, after the fanfair of his election, has failed to stop these atrocities.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 11-Dec-14 09:53:59

That's why the report should not have been issued nonnie

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 11-Dec-14 09:53:10

No. I can't. Some people are so brutal as to put them outside normal human consideration.

And this form of interrogation may well have saved innocent lives.

Nonnie Thu 11-Dec-14 09:50:58

I care jingle because it gives those people an 'excuse' to continue murder.

GrannyTwice Thu 11-Dec-14 09:50:13

Jingle - it's not an either/or. You can care about the fact that 3000 innocent people were killed and at the same time, without any complicated mental gymnastics, care about the use of torture.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 11-Dec-14 09:42:26

On the radio this morning they said that 5000 people were killed by so-called "jihadists" in one month. Don't expect me to care.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 11-Dec-14 09:40:08

Did they care about all those innocent people who went off to do an honest day's work that day? And the sadness and terror they must have encountered.

Stupid time to bring out such a report. Why?!

absent Thu 11-Dec-14 01:17:34

It has been known for a long time that torture is a desperately inefficient way of obtaining information as eventually the one being tortured will say whatever the torturer wants to hear, with no regard for the truth, just to make the suffering stop. It is, of course, a highly efficient method of eliciting confession to any crime under the sun. That's why it remains popular in China and Egypt, among many other places.

Torture is barbaric and has no place in a civilised society. America is signed up to the Geneva Conventions and other international laws repudiating torture. (Note, however, that America is not signed up to the International Court of Justice.) Calling torture "stress techniques of interrogation" or any other mealy mouthed weaselly term doesn't change the nature of it. "You can put a cat in the oven, but it still don't make a biscuit".

vampirequeen Wed 10-Dec-14 22:59:39

How does 9/11 justify torture? Two wrongs don't make a right.

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 10-Dec-14 22:43:21

I don't care.

#9/11

Mishap Wed 10-Dec-14 22:20:53

Is anyone surprised by the findings?