Cheney defends CIA methods in American Legion speech

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

INDIANAPOLIS — Vice President Dick Cheney defended the CIA’s interrogation practices against suspected terrorists Thursday, telling Indiana soldiers and veterans that the agency’s program has yielded intelligence that’s averted deadly terrorist attacks.


Cheney spoke at the Indiana War Memorial to about 350 people, including American Legion members and about 150 Indiana National Guardsmen. He told them there’s recently been a “good deal of misinformation” spread about the CIA’s interrogation of terrorist suspects.

The vice president said those methods are classified but said none of them involve torture. He said the CIA’s interrogation program has produced valuable intelligence on terrorist groups.

“The program has uncovered a wealth of information that has foiled attacks on the United States — information that on numerous occasions has made all the difference between life and death,” he said.



Read more: http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/statenews/local_story_305143107.html

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Senator Whitehouse is Right: A Vote For Mukasey is a Vote for Torture

Posted November 1, 2007 | 02:05 PM (EST)


Any Senator who votes to confirm Michael Mukasey as George Bush's new Attorney General is voting in favor of torture.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a former federal prosecutor and one of the best of the class elected to the Senate in 2006, eloquently asked the simple question on the Senate floor yesterday: "Whence cometh our strength as a nation?"

"Our strength comes from the fact that we stand for something. Our strength comes from the aspirations of millions around the globe who want to be like us, who want their country to be like ours. Our strength comes when we embody the hopes and dreams of mankind."

Senator Whitehouse then went on to ask: "Will we trust our ideals?" Or "will we join that gloomy historical line leading from the Inquisition, through the prisons of tyrant regimes, through the gulags and dark cells, and through Saddam Hussein's torture chambers? Will that be the path we choose?"

Unfortunately, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have already chosen the path through the darkness of which Senator Whitehouse speaks.


more:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/senator-whitehouse-is-rig_b_70777.html?view=print

and from the wayback machine:

CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described
Sources Say Agency's Tactics Lead to Questionable Confessions, Sometimes to Death
By BRIAN ROSS and RICHARD ESPOSITO
Nov. 18, 2005
Harsh interrogation techniques authorized by top officials of the CIA have led to questionable confessions and the death of a detainee since the techniques were first authorized in mid-March 2002, ABC News has been told by former and current intelligence officers and supervisors.

~snip~

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

more:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1322866

[BOSSHOG]

1. bush says we don't torture, cheney says torture works

I guess ambiguity and obfuscation and mendacity are three solid conservative values. In front of the American Legion? It must really suck being a "national" leader and you can't speak before anything but a hand-picked malleable audience. That kinda discounts the whole leadership thing doesn't it?

[Massachusetts]

2. How many deferments did Chicken Dick have?

Say goodnight Dick.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. cheney also was standing tall & knew it all as the WTC was destroyed.

cheney is an idiot & a know-nothing.

[tridim]

4. Did he defend CIA NOC agents and their cover operations in his American Legion speech?

I thought not. Evil m'fucker.

[daleo]

5. How many of these Legion veterans fought Hitler, to stop torture?

It is very sad.

[eagler]

6. Hitler used many of the same reasons for going to war as Bush uses

and Hitler also made the whole world his enemy by his actions - just as Bush is doing.

[sakabatou]

7. Torture is kindness!

Freedom is slavery! 2+2=5!

[OneBlueSky]

8. "has uncovered a wealth of information that has foiled attacks on the United States " . . .

I call bullshit . . . he can say whatever he wants, and then never have to prove it because of "national security" concerns . . . he's flat-out lying -- again . . .

[mlevans]

9. That's just the thing...

...he can say whatever he wants. And he does...repeatedly. Somewhere along the line he discovered the truth in the old saw that if you repeat a lie often enough people will eventually come to believe it. So we still have a segment of the population that believes that WMD were found in Iraq, that Hussein conspired with bin Laden to destroy the World Trade Center, and so forth and so on ad nauseum. Lying again? I say, lying still. When has he done anything else?

[kimmylavin]

10. I know!

And then he can't tell them about any of that information, because its "classified."

Well, isn't that a nice and neat little straw man?

[LiberalFighter]

11. Why does the American Legion support the weasel?

If they support the weasel then they are not worthy of support by Americans.