If Only We Were Nazis

[leftchick]

by Allison Kilkenny | February 21, 2008 - 1:16pm

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/12992

America, the world's beacon of democracy - that shiny righteous city on the hill - has always claimed moral superiority to the war criminals of the past. America got this title because of two claims: we don't torture people and we give everyone the right of Habeas Corpus.

Well, toss #1 out the window. We do torture people. Of course, the CIA claims they only water boarded people when the country was in total chaos and everyone was absolutely terrified of another 9/11. Skeptics might say that's exactly when the CIA should have shown the MOST restraint - when the American citizenry was in a state of shock and needed to be calmed rather than prodded - but then that would hardly follow the government's systematic pattern of exploitation and fear-mongering.

So because we torture people, all confessions (of any kind) are immediately called into question, even the confession of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former senior aide to Osama bin Laden, who has said he was the principal planner of the plot and who is one of the Gitmo Six. No video tapes of his interrogation were ever shown to the public, so we have no idea if he was forced into giving false information through torture.

The CIA were desperate to find someone - anyone - on which to pin the blame for 9/11. Perhaps in their desperate quest, they overzealously interrogated terrified men, who in turn regurgitated false confessions in hopes of calming their crazed captors.

And #2 (the right of Habeas Corpus) flew out the window, too. The government can lock you up, and they don't need to tell you why, or even present evidence to a court. Just ask the six men awaiting their "trial" in Guantanamo. These guys aren't going to get a fair trial, and some people might say that's a good thing.

After all, why should we give terrorists a fair trial?

[truedelphi]

1. We torture people to prevent our citizens from experiencing first hand

The work of terrorists.

Of course, at this point the average person sees Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Banking etc as far more awesome in terms of keeping them up late at night, sleepless and confounded by worry over foreclosure, medical bankruptcies etc. than any other Thing that Might go BOOM! in the dark.

But, hey! at least we know the taxi cab driver in Kabal was not heading up AL Queada!

[zonmoy]

2. we torture people to make them into patsys for the cabal that runs

both major parties. the real ones behind every evil we have done and all the false flag attacks that they claim was done to us.

[ProgressiveFool]

3. K & R, I wonder if someone from those distant times would even recognize us now. /nt