OBAMA'S new stance on Gitmo
nzshadow
5,518 Posts
From BBCbreaking newsObama to revive Guantanamo trialsPresident Barack Obama has announced he is to revive military trials for some detainees at Guantanamo Bay.However, he said legal rights for those facing the military commissions would be significantly improved.Mr Obama had halted the trials as one of his first acts on taking office in January, saying the US was entering a new era of respecting human rights.The decision to revive the military trials has brought harsh criticism from some US civil liberties groups.There are currently 240 detainees still at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.On the campaign trail last year, Mr Obama had branded the military commissions "an enormous failure".However, analysts say that although Mr Obama has condemned the Military Commissions Act, set up by his predecessor George W Bush, he has never ruled out revamping it.He has pledged to close the camp by January 2010.
Comments
Yes, I have to give Nancy credit for her attempts to misdirect everyone from her own culpability.
the republican administration engaged in medieval torture and much worse and now the most important question is what did she know and when. give me a break. this all needs to be fleshed out- if she has any culpability then let that come out- but let's not forget who the real criminals are here: the bush administration and their shiesty lawyers.
Yeah, I'm totally down for huge thorough investigation into the whole torture program. What about you???
This is the shit REPs want to hang on to? What she knew and when she knew it? Bush administration ordered and administered torture and they are pushing this? Seems pretty dumb to me.
The administration didn't consider it torture. Amnesty International and the International Red Cross aside, not everyone thinks that keeping someone awake for a few days, or not turning the heat amounts to torture.
This is medieval torture.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0524072torture1.html
Nancy is at the head of the pack howling for investigations into the use of these "torture" techniques, so so it shouldn't be surprising that people are curious as to the fact that she was likely complicit in it and is now accusing the CIA, directed by a Clinton Appointee, of lying. I suppose her kool-aid drinking Bay Area constitutents will believe her. And you.
Yeah. Because with unemployment creeping up to 10%, and inflation - unless the government some how runs out of ink to print money - still out there, ets make sure we waste as much time and resources on this bullshit as we can.
Yeah dude.. That's all that was going on...
wow, serious rush to judgement on your part. i am not sure what i believe about her role. it wouldn;t surprise me one iota that she was kept in the dark or misled.
the fact that they didn;t classify it as "torture" but instead called it "enhanced interrogation techniques" (Orwellian double-speak if i have ever heard it. you can try to downplay what happened at Gitmo, Guantanamo, Abu ghraib, the renditions to Egyt and so forth but they have been outraging the western world's legal community for the past 8 years for good reason.
How many people were waterboarded? Two? Three? Are you crying a lot over poor Khalid?
Get real, dude's a POLITICIAN.
And you all said that it was the last administration that couldn't deal with reality.
oh please. firstly, we don;t know how extensively it was used and the full picture is yet to emerge-that is precisely why there has to be hearings. this is surely one of america's darkst chapters and we need to fully understand this so that it will never happen again.
the idea that this is simply political retribution is a canard. anyone who was responsible for crafting or approving this horrific policy needs to be brought to justice, no matter what political stripe.
sometimes the good guys have to fight with one arm tied behind their backs.
I have no idea.
Ask the families of these guys maybe.
http://balkin.blogspot.com/2009/05/news-flash-taliban-waterboards-captured.html
Isn't tying one's arm behind their back considered torture??
FOR CARING
Is that one arm each, or one arm collectively?
Didn't the Taliban also say chopping off someone's head is not torture either because there was very little pain involved?
i actually find it really hard to joke about this kind of thing. of course, i was speaking figuratively. the full quote is "democracy has to fight with one arm tied behind its back". it expresses a very fundamental belief about the nature of democracy and the importance of due process and rule of law.
rock, saba- you guys are in complete denial about how seriously wrong from a legal, moral, and ethical standpoint this policy was.
As the world waits for Hannity to put up or shut up... He must be too busy with his recipe book for uses of dijon.
So, are you suggesting it should be alright for Americans to practice this as well?
i actually find it really hard to joke about this kind of thing. of course, i was speaking figuratively. the full quote is "democracy has to fight with one arm tied behind its back". it expresses a very fundamental belief about the nature of democracy and the importance of due process and rule of law.
rock, saba- you guys are in complete denial about how seriously wrong from a legal, moral, and ethical standpoint this policy was.
I have no legal, moral or ethical problem with it, because I knew that champions of freedom like Nancy Pelosi were aware of what was going on, so I could rest asured that all the necessary legal, moral and ethical considerations were being taken care of.
its torture to read.
^^^This made me laugh^^^
I'm going to use my time to volunteer writing amicus briefs for the upcoming Bush Administration warcrimes tribunals.
it always amazes me to meet lawyers who haven't even grasped the basics of logic. i think i'm starting to understand why it is that you're really in that holding pattern.