Negroponte Confirms Use of Waterboarding

[deminks]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/005160.php

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2816325620080128?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

It's no secret that after 9/11, the administration authorized the use of waterboarding, and that the technique was used on a number of detainees in 2002 and reportedly stopped in 2003. But the administration has never explicitly admitted that.

In fact, when Dick Cheney, seduced into loose talk by a friendly interviewer, confirmed that "a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives," the White House furiously backpedaled, and Tony Snow did his best to proclaim that "a dunk in water" had not been a reference to waterboarding, but just "a dunk in the water."

So John Negroponte is really letting the horse out of the barn here. In an interview with National Journal, the former director of national intelligence casually mentions the use of waterboarding:

Q: When we as a nation are still debating the morality and efficacy of "harsh" interrogation techniques that much of the world consider torture, and indefinite detainment that lies outside the rule of international law, can the United States really win the "war of ideas" that President Bush insists is crucial to this conflict?

Negroponte: I get concerned that we're too retrospective and tend to look in the rearview mirror too often at things that happened four or even six years ago. We've taken steps to address the issue of interrogations, for instance, and waterboarding has not been used in years. It wasn't used when I was director of national intelligence, nor even for a few years before that. We've also taken significant steps to improve Guantanamo. People will tell you now that it is a world-class detention facility. But if you want to highlight and accent the negative, you can resurface these issues constantly to keep them alive. I would rather focus on what we need to do going forward.

(end snip)

OK, while your at it, what about those death squads? Iraq, South America, anywhere else?

[SeaClearly]

1. To Sum Up:

I believe the following sums up most areas of concern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBUIqgCybt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fZDm1nSjAM

[deminks]

2. Welcome to DU! I loved those video's, especially the second one. nt

[Solly Mack]

3. Sickening bunch of cowardly criminals

1 - there is NO - LEGAL - form of torture

"...human rights groups call an illegal form of torture"

2 - Water-boarding IS torture and it has ALWAYS been torture and in a time of war, it IS a war crime. It is at ALL times a crime against humanity.

3 - It doesn't matter IF (and that's a really big IF) the torture has been stopped - that in no way changes the guilt of those who engaged in torture or the guilt of those who implemented a torture policy. Nor does it absolve anyone of their responsibility to hold the guilty accountable.

Anyone pretending it is a case of ascertaining the "legality" of water boarding is doing nothing more than trying to provide cover for the guilty.


"... ask Mukasey whether he agrees that water-boarding is torture and illegal."

Mukasey doesn't get to make that call...it's ALREADY been made. Water-boarding IS torture and torture IS illegal. It's time for the bullshit "debate" to cease and the accountability to begin. There is nothing to debate..and the bullshit debate is just an attempt to give cover to the guilty.

"Mukasey said it would focus on the existing interrogation program and the validity of department legal opinions regarding it -- a hint that he might not review discontinued practices."

Which makes Mukasey AND ANYONE ELSE THAT GOES ALONG WITH IT - accessories after the fact....and that would be - accessory to WAR CRIMES.

[warren pease]

4. Americans are just too squeamish to appreciate Negroponte's contributions, I guess...

Do you think Torquemada would have been so spectacularly successful if he had spent time worrying about the moral niceties of waterboarding or any of the other sophisticated forms of torture at his disposal? Hell no.

That would have been time spent away from indulging his true passion: breaking heretics on the wheel, perforating them in the iron maiden, pulling them limb from limb on the rack... or just overseeing another mundane burning or drowning of a witch -- which is what smart, "uppity," independent women were called in the middle ages.

So many heretics, so little time.

It's also noteworthy that Negroponte never seemed to have any qualms about running various Central American and Middle Eastern death squads and torture chambers during his nearly 40 years in the US Foreign Service.

He and Torquemada will have much to discuss while sitting on their sulfurous benchs in the very warmest corner of hell.


wp

[L. Coyote]

6. If in Lima, don't miss the Museum of the Inquisition. Nice torture displays.

It wasn't open yet when I was returning from Chile back in '89. Augusto had decreed a big minimum wage increase on my 40th--the day I flew Santiago to La Paz, so I recall the year clearly. Anyway, I so badly wanted to see the place, I had to do the burglar visit. It was fun to sneak around the dark dungeons, so much more realistic.

Maybe someday Negroponte can be the subject of a museum mock-up for Plan Condor-esque stuff!

[L. Coyote]

5. Negroponte could face charges along with Bush Sr.

George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2459135

[bdamomma]

7. did he say it with a smile or smirk on his face.

dr. death squad himself.

[Supersedeas]

8. the occurrence of a War Crime is a stain that does not fade