Comments on: Obama And Top Advisers Scale Back Use Of Word “Torture”

By: Barry

Barry — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:26:39 +0000

I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.:)

By: Barbara Villemez

Barbara Villemez — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:40:02 +0000

Hi, I think that Jane Harman ought to move over to the conservative Republican side. She seems to fit there better than with the Democrats. BG Villemez, las cruces, NM

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:26:56 +0000

“Enhanced interrogation” — wouldn’t that be questioning with aromatherapy, Enya, and a pedicure? Ah, the audacity of weasel-speak.

By: Douglas McClean

Douglas McClean — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:09:13 +0000

It’s not “Obama” who has “vowed to uphold” those international treaties, it’s the United States of America. Treaties signed by the President and ratified by the Senate are the law of the land. The UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment is the law of the land.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:29:35 +0000

Not that this is excusable or anything, but I am beginning to think that the Obama administration is attempting to “de-politicize” the stage for future torture investigations. I think they are trying to make it look as if they are being “forced” into action rather than doing so on their own accord (again, this is not excusable). Many have pointed out already that it is not up to the President to decide how the judicial branch is to perform its duties (well, not since the Bush administration, anyway and let’s hope that Mr. Holder performs does just that!

By: mrgumby2u

mrgumby2u — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:03:52 +0000

And so we see Obama’s administration start to sink into the torture tar pit. He’s been backing away from prosecution or any meaningful accountability for those who committed and authorized these acts, now he’s backing away from calling these acts what they are; torture. it’s like watching somebody’s soul dry up, crumble, and blow away in the wind.

By: Annie

Annie — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:16:34 +0000

They’re doing this so the word torture still packs a legal punch. If they basically tell everyone it’s torture, then people won’t understand the value of investigating to make sure those who committed the international crime of Torture (think of it as big-T torture). I think it’s smart, and anti-torture advocates should appreciate it.

By: nicteis

nicteis — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:12:48 +0000

The release of the torture memos has led to a much louder drumbeat of calls for accountability. Even the Grey Lady got excited about it.

So, one possibility is that, anticipating the opening of real investigations, the Administration is toning down the rhetoric to make it clear it is not them pushing the hue and cry – it is the honorable Justice Bybee pushing it with his own words.

It’s just as possible they’re stepping back to keep from queering the pitch as that they’re stepping back in order to tamp down the demands for investigation. (Rahm, of course, is the weasel he always was, and the chances that he’s privy to Obama’s inmost thoughts are slim.)

By: prosecuting success?

prosecuting success? — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:34:28 +0000

Maybe the DOJ and admin don’t want to prosecute because the court case would be a PR debacle. The enhanced interrogations resulted in valuable information:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042002818.html

By: sgwhiteinfla

sgwhiteinfla — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:24:17 +0000

Its amazing how fickle some people are. The decision not to prosecuted pissed me off but now people are saying that makes him Bush or worse. Oh well guess they won’t want to know that he just opened the door to prosecuting Bush officials by saying he is leaving it up to Eric Holder to decide. The same Eric Holder who pushed for the OLC memos to be published.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:23:00 +0000

Immunity? Huh? Did I miss the story about the issuance of pardons? Was there some (highly illegal) executive order to Holder ordering Justice not to investigate issued that I missed? Or did someone grant testimonial immunity?

I’m asking because if none of those things happened, nothing is off the table, no matter how hard the left or the the blogs hyperventillate about it. And if you parse the statements of Obama, Emmanual, Holder and anyone else in the administration with as much care as you’re devoting to the frequency of their use of the word “tortue,” you’ll see a fascinating pattern of options, caveats and outs.

By: oleeb

oleeb — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:53:33 +0000

What a tangled web we weave eh?

Once you start down the road of protecting criminal activity and you try and pretend that that is not what yuo’re doing, you start to look pretty hypocritical. Obama’s decision to defend torturers is indefensible and utterly immoral. He is obstructing justice by doing this and failing to carry out the duties of his office. I am enjoying how they are now trying to convince people there is evena hint of a chance that there will even be any investigation of the scumbags such as Bybee and Yoo. LMFAO!!!!! What a joke! They are lying! Change my ***! Obama is just another water carrier for the status quo. It is sickening.

By: sgwhiteinfla

sgwhiteinfla — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:51:41 +0000

Jill
.
You nor I really know if any action has been taken or not so please don’t intersperse hyperbole with real facts. The prisoner didn’t say he had been tortured, he said he had been abused. While this might not seem like a big difference it truly is. I am sure there are prisoners in GITMO who are being abused by the guards there but that is more than likely something the guards are doing of their own volition to “punish” the detainees and for all we know the guards doing it have been disciplined. But there aren’t any new allegations of systematic torture that is approved from on high in an attempt to get intelligence. One is rogue activity by individuals, the other is an institutional norm.

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:30:33 +0000

The truth is Obama is tolerating torture at Guantanamo right now, no wonder he doesn’t want to use the word or authorize investigations. Al Jazeera has two well documented reports of torture from just last week. They have notified the DOD. The detainee’s lawyers have notified the proper authorities–absolutely no action has been taken.

“More claims of mistreatment of detainees at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay have emerged after Al Jazeera obtained a letter from an inmate saying he had been abused since the Obama administration came to power.

Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a Yemeni national held since 2001, said in a letter to his lawyer dated April that “oppression has increased, torture has increased and insults have increased”.

“I have seen death so many times,” he wrote. “Everything is over, life is going to hell in my situation. America, what has happened to you?””

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/04/2009416174526284984.html

By: Didi/Gogo

Didi/Gogo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:16:28 +0000

Somebody needs to put Obama’s campaign quotes about torture and juxtapose them with the “enhanced interrogation technique” mentions by his top staff now.