Comments on: Confessions provoked by torture are OK, as long as the US is doing the torturing http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/05/confessions-provoked-by-torture-are-ok-as-long-as-the-us-is-doing-the-torturing/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:26:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Ben http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/05/confessions-provoked-by-torture-are-ok-as-long-as-the-us-is-doing-the-torturing/#comment-20520 Ben Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:12:31 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1195#comment-20520 Christopher Hitchens Experiences Waterboarding. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/hitchens_under_torture.php" rel="nofollow">Here's the link. </a> Christopher Hitchens Experiences Waterboarding. Here’s the link.

]]> By: Jason Rayl http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/05/confessions-provoked-by-torture-are-ok-as-long-as-the-us-is-doing-the-torturing/#comment-11565 Jason Rayl Sun, 08 Apr 2007 00:49:52 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1195#comment-11565 I would venture to say that most people in other countries don't really kow why they want to kill us, either. They have an image fed them--through their media, whatever it may be--of us as The Enemy and know no more about us as people than we do of them. In contests of governments and ideology, it is always "the people" who end up doing the dying. I would venture to say that most people in other countries don’t really kow why they want to kill us, either. They have an image fed them–through their media, whatever it may be–of us as The Enemy and know no more about us as people than we do of them. In contests of governments and ideology, it is always “the people” who end up doing the dying.

]]> By: grumpypilgrim http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/05/confessions-provoked-by-torture-are-ok-as-long-as-the-us-is-doing-the-torturing/#comment-11550 grumpypilgrim Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:59:43 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1195#comment-11550 I just don't get it. I don't understand why so many Americans just can't fathom why people in other countries want us dead, when there are such compelling reasons staring us in the face. This is not to justify terrorist acts, but the Bush Administration is clearly in no position to take the moral high ground on human rights matters. Torturing criminal suspects is just one example. The Bush Administration has also killed far more innocent people than did the 9/11 hijackers -- the only difference is that, for the hijackers, the killing was an end in itself, whereas, for the Bush Administration, it was a means to an end. In both cases the deaths were foreseeable, yet both groups were equally indifferent to this fact. When terrorists do the killing, Bush declares it to be "pure evil;" when Bush does the killing, he declares himself to be "protecting the American people." Neither assertion is true; merely self-serving hyperbole. I just don’t get it. I don’t understand why so many Americans just can’t fathom why people in other countries want us dead, when there are such compelling reasons staring us in the face. This is not to justify terrorist acts, but the Bush Administration is clearly in no position to take the moral high ground on human rights matters. Torturing criminal suspects is just one example. The Bush Administration has also killed far more innocent people than did the 9/11 hijackers — the only difference is that, for the hijackers, the killing was an end in itself, whereas, for the Bush Administration, it was a means to an end. In both cases the deaths were foreseeable, yet both groups were equally indifferent to this fact. When terrorists do the killing, Bush declares it to be “pure evil;” when Bush does the killing, he declares himself to be “protecting the American people.” Neither assertion is true; merely self-serving hyperbole.

]]> By: Erich Vieth http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/05/confessions-provoked-by-torture-are-ok-as-long-as-the-us-is-doing-the-torturing/#comment-11548 Erich Vieth Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:27:21 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1195#comment-11548 Further details are now coming in. Some of the sailors were blindfolded and threatened with going to prison. It is under that "psychological pressure" that they confessed that they had trespassed into Iranian waters. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL0652405420070406 The point of this post is still strongly demonstrated. If even the threat of putting people in prison is enough to make a confession untrustworthy, then how trustworthy are confessions obtained by the U.S., especially when the captives WERE in prison (for months and years), were being mauled by dogs, were threatened with electrocution, were half-drowned, were dangled out of high windows, and were beaten, dehydrated, sleep-deprived and made witness to the trashing of their holy books? Further details are now coming in. Some of the sailors were blindfolded and threatened with going to prison. It is under that “psychological pressure” that they confessed that they had trespassed into Iranian waters. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL0652405420070406

The point of this post is still strongly demonstrated. If even the threat of putting people in prison is enough to make a confession untrustworthy, then how trustworthy are confessions obtained by the U.S., especially when the captives WERE in prison (for months and years), were being mauled by dogs, were threatened with electrocution, were half-drowned, were dangled out of high windows, and were beaten, dehydrated, sleep-deprived and made witness to the trashing of their holy books?

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