Mr. President, what fucking country are you living in?

[kpete]

Mr. President, what fucking country are you living in? Because in MY America, the very thought of torturing anyone is unheard of.

Bush thinks waterboarding is a 'technique?'

Q Judge Mukasey is experienced in terrorism trials, he's been around. Why is it wrong for him -- or why will you not let him say whether he thinks that waterboarding is illegal torture?

THE PRESIDENT: He has not been read in -- first of all, let me put this in perspective. The Congress did pass a law, the Detainee Detention Act , that I signed into law. The techniques we use informed that law and members of the Senate and House -- select members of the Senate and House, both parties, have been briefed on the law.

Secondly, he doesn't know whether we use that technique or not.

..............

Q What is your own view about waterboarding?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to talk about techniques.

The fact that we're discussing these concepts so casually (that's we as in Americans in general) and at the highest levels indicates that we're lost. The "line" has been moved so far that we don't even recognize anymore that which should be automatically rejected without discussion.

...................

What might be a fun little excercise for the Senate Judiciary Committee, would be to to try and pin down this nominee on what he is willing to admit is torture. Mr. Mukasey, is gouging out someone's eyeballs with a hot poker toture? Mr. Mukasey, would cutting off the arms and legs of a detainee constitute torture? Mr. Mukasey, would staking out a prisoner on a hill of fire ants after smearing their genitals with honey be considered torture? Would his answer still be, I can't answer that because I haven't been briefed?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/11/1/131937/784

[Dhalgren]

1. Would someone please explain what these sentences mean?

"The Congress did pass a law, the Detainee Detention Act , that I signed into law. The techniques we use informed that law and members of the Senate and House -- select members of the Senate and House, both parties, have been briefed on the law."

Members of the Senate and House were "briefed on the law"? Didn't they write and read and debate the law before they voted on it? What is he actually saying here? "The techniques we use informed that law"? So the law says that whatever we are doing to detainees is, be definition, not torture, because we are doing it? What does this criminal cretin mean?

[hootinholler]

6. Why do you continue to try and make sense from the noises that come from W?

I mean really.

-Hoot

[madokie]

11. well he sure can't string enough words together to make a sentence it seems like

lots of uggs and uh's and ahh's

[Uncle Joe]

7. I'm just speculating here,

but he probably did a signing statement on it, to the effect of the "Unitary President" can do whatever he/she wants to anyway, in other words the law doesn't mean squat if the President decides otherwise.

[kas125]

2. A friend of mine asked the CIA director about this the other night

at the speech that I was banned from attending, my friend, Rachel, asked Hayden -

"After his remarks in Chicago, an audience member asked Hayden: "Is waterboarding torture and will you continue to waterboard? Yes or no."

In his answer, Hayden briefly discussed constitutional law, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Convention before ending: "Judge Mukasey cannot nor can I answer your question in the abstract. I need to understand the totality of the circumstances in which this question is being posed before I can give you an answer."

That is from this article - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/28281

Rachel said that she told him again that it was a very simple yes or no question, but he would not answer it.

[ginnyinWI]

3. maybe they should try it out and see how it feels personally

It might be a way for him to settle the question in his mind.

[bdamomma]

4. let him move to Saudi Arabia with his so called friends.

and take cheney dog with you.

[Beelzebud]

5. Soemone needs to ask Bush if it would be torture if done to an American service member.

[lazyriver]

17. Good idea.

To the best of my knowledge, I can't recall hearing anyone ask that question of any prominent government or military official.

[sakabatou]

8. He wishes this was Iran

[lpbk2713]

9. Corruptdumbfuckistan ....... n/t

[Contrary1]

10. Well, this is interesting...

I googled "Detainee Detention Act" and looked through 300+ hits. Couldn't find that law. So I donned my hip boots and waded into the Whitehouse.gov circus arena. Got 2 hits there, those being when Chucklenuts referred to it.

So, is there a different name for this "law"? One that has too many big words for him to remember? Or, is it another double super secret one?

[Disturbed]

12. The Silver Spoon Sociopath didn't mention that he did a

Signing Statement on that Detainee Detention Act, the one sponsored by McLame. Did McLame protest about that? No, he did not.

There is no doubt that Water Boarding is Torture. Anyone saying it is not, is a freakin' liar. Mukasey refusing to say that it is Torture is subtrefuge. He refuses to say so because then the people that authorized it & those that practiced it would need to be prosecuted. Busholini damn well knows that!

[superkia]

13. AmeriKa, its where you break the laws and its ok as long as you...

are wealthy and powerful.

[lonestarnot]

14. President my ASS!

[2 Much Tribulation]

15. There's no "line" on torture, it's ALL illegal under international law, even in war... nt

[Land Shark]

16. Throwing chairs isn't torture, but I sure feel like doing so! K&R nt

[Heywood J]

18. "If an enemy nation were to capture American servicemen and subject them

to waterboarding, what punishment would you as a citizen consider appropriate for the individuals involved, upon their capture and conviction?"

That would be an interesting question to ask all involved.

[AuntPatsy]

19. A good morning headliner on page one for every single us paper....