While the nuts on the right go on about President-elect Obama’s idiocy about being a natural born citizen the current Vice President admitted to a war crime. Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he was directly involved in approving severe interrogation methods aka TORTURE used by the CIA, and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should remain open indefinitely.
When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl whether he approved of interrogation tactics used against a so-called “high value prisoner” at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, Mr. Cheney, admitted to giving official sanctioning of torture.
“I supported it,” he said regarding the practice known as “water-boarding,” a form of simulated drowning. After World War II, Japanese soldiers were tried and convicted of war crimes in US courts for water-boarding, a practice which the outgoing Bush administration attempted to enshrine in policy. Does Mr. Cheney remember what penalty the WW II war criminals received for water-boarding? They were put to death. Hung by their neck, not unlike Sadaam Hussein was.
“I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn’t do,” Cheney said. “And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.”
He added: “It’s been a remarkably successful effort, and I think the results speak for themselves.”
ABC asked him if in hindsight he thought the tactics went too far. “I don’t,” he said.
The prisoner in question, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who the Bush administration alleges to have planned the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is one of Guantanamo’s “high value targets” thus far charged with war crimes.
Former military interrogator Travis Hall disagrees with Cheney’s position.
“Proponents of Guantanamo underestimate what a powerful a propaganda tool Guantanamo has become for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, despite several Department of Defense studies documenting the propaganda value of detention centers,” he said in a column for Opposing Views.
“For example, West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center has monitored numerous Al Qaeda references to Guantanamo in its recruitment propaganda materials,” continued Hall. “Improvements to Guantanamo’s administration of judicial mechanisms will not make its way into Al Qaeda propaganda. Nothing short of closing Guantanamo will remove this arrow from its quiver.”
President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close the prison and pull US forces out of Iraq. Cheney, however, has a different timeline for when Guantanamo Bay prison may be “responsibly” retired.
“Well, I think that that would come with the end of the war on terror,” he told ABC.
Problematic to his assertion: Mr. Bush’s “war on terror” is indefinable and unending by its very nature, and Cheney seems to recognize this as fact.
Asked when his administration’s terror war will end, he jostled, “Well, nobody knows. Nobody can specify that.”
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged crimes look like child’s play now don’t they?
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The Alligator 
While the nuts on the right go on about President-elect Obama’s idiocy about being a natural born citizen the current Vice President admitted to a war crime. Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he was directly involved in approving severe interrogation methods aka TORTURE used by the CIA, and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should remain open indefinitely.
When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl whether he approved of interrogation tactics used against a so-called “high value prisoner” at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, Mr. Cheney, admitted to giving official sanctioning of torture.
“I supported it,” he said regarding the practice known as “water-boarding,” a form of simulated drowning. After World War II, Japanese soldiers were tried and convicted of war crimes in US courts for water-boarding, a practice which the outgoing Bush administration attempted to enshrine in policy. Does Mr. Cheney remember what penalty the WW II war criminals received for water-boarding? They were put to death. Hung by their neck, not unlike Sadaam Hussein was.
“I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn’t do,” Cheney said. “And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.”
He added: “It’s been a remarkably successful effort, and I think the results speak for themselves.”
ABC asked him if in hindsight he thought the tactics went too far. “I don’t,” he said.
The prisoner in question, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who the Bush administration alleges to have planned the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is one of Guantanamo’s “high value targets” thus far charged with war crimes.
Former military interrogator Travis Hall disagrees with Cheney’s position.
“Proponents of Guantanamo underestimate what a powerful a propaganda tool Guantanamo has become for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, despite several Department of Defense studies documenting the propaganda value of detention centers,” he said in a column for Opposing Views.
“For example, West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center has monitored numerous Al Qaeda references to Guantanamo in its recruitment propaganda materials,” continued Hall. “Improvements to Guantanamo’s administration of judicial mechanisms will not make its way into Al Qaeda propaganda. Nothing short of closing Guantanamo will remove this arrow from its quiver.”
President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close the prison and pull US forces out of Iraq. Cheney, however, has a different timeline for when Guantanamo Bay prison may be “responsibly” retired.
“Well, I think that that would come with the end of the war on terror,” he told ABC.
Problematic to his assertion: Mr. Bush’s “war on terror” is indefinable and unending by its very nature, and Cheney seems to recognize this as fact.
Asked when his administration’s terror war will end, he jostled, “Well, nobody knows. Nobody can specify that.”
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged crimes look like child’s play now don’t they?
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Posted in Blogroll, Civil Liberties, Democrats, Foreign Policy, General, Liberal blogs, News, News and politics, Policy and Law, Political, Political Analysis, Politics, Republican, Social and Political Commentary, Social and Politics | Tags: Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrat, Democratic Party, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Gitmo, Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, Neo Conservative, Neo-Con, Republican, Republican Party, Terrorism, torture, US Constitution, War Crimes, War on Terror, Water-boarding