Torture: Our U.S. Military Makes Me Proud
By NoQuarter on November 4, 2007 at 12:26 PM in Torture
We have many reasons to be very proud of our U.S. military. I hope you read the story that I posted yesterday of Lieutenant Colonel Steven Miska who has gone to enormous lengths to safeguard the futures of the Iraqis who worked for him as interpreters and to bring them to safety in the United States.
This morning, I got an e-mail from Brigadier General David R. Irvine, USA (Ret.):
I taught prisoner of war interrogation for 18 years to U.S. Army soldiers. Neither I nor the Army taught torture: it’s morally wrong, it endangers our own troops who may be taken prisoner, it undermines our values, and it does not produce reliable information.
I’ve listened to some of our current leaders say that we should use torture - what they call “enhanced” interrogation techniques - to combat terrorism. Abandoning our principles is never the answer. An expert interrogator needs to be clever, not inhumane.
Strong presidential leadership is needed to restore our nation’s stature in the eyes of the civilized world. Today, one year from the presidential election, I am adding my name to Human Rights First’s petition, urging all of the presidential candidates to restore our nation’s honor. You can do the same.
More about the petition:
Join thousands of other Americans for Human Rights and sign Human Rights First’s petition to the presidential candidates asking them to commit to ending policies that have led to torture and tarnished the United States:
Elect to End Torture 08 is a nonpartisan campaign to make sure that the next President puts an end to policies allowing torture and cruel treatment and adopts a strong national security policy that is consistent with the laws and values of our nation.
And here is the rest of Gen Irvine’s e-mail:
This isn’t about being tough on terrorists. It’s about what’s in the strategic interest of the United States. Torture doesn’t produce reliable information but it does harden hearts and minds against us, and torture by any agency of our government puts our own troops at greater risk. It’s time to stop playing semantic games about what torture is.
If you’re like me, you want a President who is truly devoted to this country, its longstanding laws, and its fundamental values. A President who will:
- Stop shipping prisoners to countries known to torture
- Close Guantanamo
- Restore the right of habeas corpus
- Ensure that torture is never again a part of U.S. policy
Get on board - sign TODAY. This is not a partisan endeavor.
In one year, we could be celebrating the election of a leader who understands what’s at stake. But only if we demand it today! Thank you for joining me and Human Rights First as we end torture and abuse in America’s name.
Yours sincerely,
Brigadier General David R. Irvine, USA (Ret.)
BRAVO, Gen. Irvine! BRAVO! And thank you for your commendable service and for your courage in joining Human Rights First’s campaign.
PLEASE share this petition link with your friends. Let’s make this petition one of the biggest ever!
Thank you Susan, for bringing this man’s principled stand of courage to the front. I am proud of him as well. I missed your post yesterday, but will follow up on it shortly. Glad you mentioned it…
OT, here, but I have a question. How can we make the comments section work better so we don’t ‘miss’ some, because they are hidden into the above comments on a thread? For example, how does someone know when to check an older thread, for updated content? Especially a problem on busier days, when it goes thru the recent comment feature rather quickly.
Last night I posted a comment on the Friday open thread. About the plight of our veterans, who continue to go without adequate health care. An important topic right now, with bushie boy getting out the vote for Peake’s appointment as VA Secry. He is another bush croney, and should be held in gitmo for crimes against our soldiers… IMHO… and yet, where is the outcry to oppose him??? I hope others will also weigh in on this.
One easy way, that I use is this:
Look at your above comment. Notice that the comment is date- and time-stamped.
Comment by PrchrLady | 2007-11-04 15:25:38
In a thread, you can always do a search for “11-04″ to catch all of the comments posted today. How do you do that?
Presuming you’re using Windows/PC, you’ll want to type Control-F. That brings up a search window. Then type “11-04″ or whatever date you’re searching for.
Then type Control-G to find the first comment posted for that date. Then keep typing Control-G to find all of the posts under that date.
Keyboard shortcuts are way cool. I strongly advocate learning them and using them!
Susan:
There is never a reason to torture people..
Why? It’s just not right..The administration uses the ticking time bomb scenero..
Hey like some terrorist in Iraq has a nuclear bomb hidden in Chicago we can find out about..just like 24.
So let’s just torture everybody in case somebody knows something..absurd to say the least.
who could we have waterboarded to find out about 9-11? everybody that’s an arab? Absurd.
I love everything Larry posts, but one of my all-time favs is his quoting of Antonin Scalia extolling “24″ and Jack Bauer as examples of how U.S. policy should be. What a hoot! “24″ is one of the most absurd, fictional shows on television! I actually love to watch it for big laughs, and then I rush over to Dave Barry’s blog about “24″ because Barry makes the most hysterically funny comments ridiculing the show, as do his regular group of commenters who join in the fun.
I can’t wait for the new season of “24″ just so I can watch it and make fun ot it, and then run over to Barry’s blog for lots of good belly-laughs!
OF NOTE: It’s astonishing how all the Republican candidates, except McCain, are soft on torture just because — it’s so baldly apparent — they think it makes them look more manly and tough on terrorism.
The fact that water-boarding is even being debated is a sad measure of how far this administration and their Congressional partners have sunk.
They are narcissists, as I pointed out in a post below — and they have no conscience. Further, they’re sadists who get a near-sexual rush out of cruelty. They are very, very sick people.
What a hoot! “24″ is one of the most absurd, fictional shows on television! I actually love to watch it for big laughs, and then I rush over to Dave Barry’s blog about “24″ because Barry makes the most hysterically funny comments ridiculing the show, as do his regular group of commenters who join in the fun.
actually….I referenced the show ‘24′. The Hoopster as never seen 24..but from the clips i’ve seen i’ve got to agree with you 100%…
There’s a true story about a U.S. Army battalion in Vietnam that would leave cloth unit patches in the mouths of dead enemy soldiers to let them know who had done it. One day they got the bright idea of making a friggin’ BRANDING IRON to actually brand their unit insignia into the enemy corpses. Their commander got a big laugh out of that. He pointed out that the iron was too heavy to lug around with them–was anyone going to volunteer to carry it all day? And when they wanted to use it they’d have to start a fire to heat it up, which would reveal their position, not to mention the time spent making the fire. The commander took it home a put it over his fireplace as a war souvenier–never used. Of course his real objection was that it was a pretty SICK thing to come up with, but he chose to argue them out of it using practical arguments.
great story, montag. also, I love your writing on your website. I stop by at least once a day, just to see what’s going on your way. thanks.
I read several other articles today and yesterday on this torture insanity. Many, many people throughout the military, are speaking out. It is so sad that it has even come to this… It comes from the top… bush and cheney, and all their minions condone it. As a people, we must speak out and demand better for our country. It seems that since the men and women of our Congress are unwilling to step up to the plate and DO the RIGHT THING, then the time has come for some form of civil disobedience to prevent a greater calamity.
I cannot get the picture of Desiree puutting her red tinged hands up in Condi’s face. I watched the video several times as well. It shocked, and opened a greater awareness. This is the kind of thing we need more of today.
A couple of links on torture issue I found interesting:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/03/jag-leahy-waterboarding/
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/227
And as a possible explanation, I offer Bob Burnett, on Depressed America. At first, when I read it, I found myself saying, yeah, right… a couple of days later, it still lingers in my thots. Maybe he is onto something??
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10732
Coming from South America, I always thought that the US accepted torure, if not directly committing torture, then by teaching it, or by witnessing it. For example, the case of Charlie Horman who was beaten to a pulp and then his death, while (suposedly) 3 CIA agents witnessed it. More recently, the case of Michael Townsley and two Cubans went to the “Automotores Orletti” where they detained and torture foreigners, to “interrogte two Cuban diplomats (and later murdered and dissapeared)while two FBI agents were witnesses. And then there is the infamous School of America, were foreign officers are trained (supposedly also taught torture techniques)
Even in the post larry wrote regarding waterboarding, Malcolm Nance admitted watching tapes of people being subjected to waterboarding in Argentina.
The point is, it really blows my mind how many intel and sodiers are so opposed to it. It is these people, that me me proud of my American heritage.
How far divorced from our Republican ideals do you reckon the people of this nation are today, that such a petition should be applauded? Applauded, not (even) so much as an act of common decency, but as an act of courage?
Which is to say: what kind of people do you think we are?
Susan,
Welcome back and I hope you are doing well and are now pain free.
I signed the petition and then learned I had already signed it a month ago through my email. You are defintely right that this should become the largest petition ever - Can anyone here cross post this across the blogosphere so that a couple of million signatures can be gotten quickly?