Re: What about ... ???
Hmm, before I even entertain the suggestion there were those doing it before it was authorized
Those aren't just "rumors." They are the repeatedly quoted reason
why the DoJ was consulted in the first place, because the DoJ was told to come up with such "rules" after the Executive Branch became aware of various methods of alleged ******* actually going on. That's not spin, and it's even in some of the released documentation.
How you and others can ignore that gets very old. Especially since there are plenty of commentary on how much of the "recent CIA action" dates back not only well before these DoJ "rules," not only before the
Patriot Act, but even before 9/11 and going back several administrations. Many of the current, covert and recognized action against Al Quieda goes back to 1998.
I don't know how many times people, who claim the
Patriot Act was used in post-9/11 actions in 2001, was actually authorized in Executive Orders ****** in 1998+,
before the
Patriot Act (which merely made most of those supported by the Legislative Branch).
So the question this Libertarian (myself) has is how long has this being going on, who knew what, and
what actually drove this DoJ action? While others are stopping at their political agendas, I'm asking,
why did it even come to this in the first place? I could really give a fuck about people who only want W., I want to know what the fuck my government is doing, period!
Call me a right-winger, but I've had a problem with this since 1998, and it's only getting worse every year. It didn't start with W., and it's not getting better. In fact, this often gets to be a major distraction when people want to focus on only one, political aspect, and
ignore the bigger picture! Yes, W. fucked up in so many ways, and that's why I
never voted for him. But all that screaming about him doesn't go very far, when what he started isn't being removed.
Calling for the closure of Gitmo does not remove the legacy, let alone ignores some of the real issues that Gitmo was trying to solve, even if imperfect.
(in which case that's STILL breaking the law and the previous justice department should have intervened...not try and legalize it).
The question has always been, "Who's law?" and "Under what jurisdictions and/or agreements?"
First off, there is this farce that everyone is an US citizen, a NATO citizen, or a citizen of any nation that signed the
Geneva Convention. There is this farce out there that there are UN laws covering this. There are agreements between nations. They do not automatically apply to others, let alone there is no power granted to the UN over any nation, except when explicitly agreed to by member nations.
Secondly, there is this farce that the majority at Gitmo and others that have been held were in a peaceful jobs, lives, etc... before they are captured. While I don't deny a significant percentage (10% or so) that were taken into custody outside of the battlefield, the overwhelming super-majority were captured in combat action.
NOW, can be
please focus on the realities that the DoJ issued these "rules" as the maximum, allowable methods for interrogation? I don't agree with them. But it's questionable if they were "*******" under various interpretations. I'm all for finding some areas that they were, but in the history of the United States, you can find far worse examples.
The question is what laws, agreements, etc... were ******** domestically and/or internationally, because there are continued arguments over what US jurisdictions could be involved, as well as what international agreements we may have ********. People keep brining up the
Geneva Convention, but some people have not read it.
Do you have ANY evidence this was occurring before agents were instructed to employ it??
When are you going to realize that the DoJ "rules" were
not "instructions" but "limitations" on what was allowed? Geez, are people really that thick? So politically aligned?
Honestly, this sounds like the latest strategy to spin the situation.
You're kidding me, right?
What you and those who are going to be trumpeting this theme in the coming days don't get is you can't make ******* acts legal by fiat. If someone waterboarded and if they were instructed to do so....those who instructed them to do so...are in legal jeopardy.
I never said they weren't. But you keep missing the greater realities of this. Everyone does.
People like to throw around terms like "liar," "*******" and "soverign" and other things, but they don't understand the realities of what they speak of -- let alone how far they touch not just the political entities they dislike, but even some of the ones they do. If there is a
major reason why I do
not find Obama's recent actions as a surprise, it's because they don't stop at one administration or one agency or one person.
You can't start dragging down one aspect without bringing down everything else that goes with it.
It's the same reason they won't try W. for allegedly "fabricating" the evidence on Iraq, because it would easily extend into the previous administration as well, along with UK intelligence services, etc... -- let alone the UN conceded Iraq never disclosed a damn thing, which made verification of anything impossible. That's an absolute repeat theme with Iraq for over 12 years -- especially after the '91 "epiphanies" of just how much we didn't know they already had.
Obama wants to move forward, just like Ford did. He's a leader. He's a healer. He's trying not to be a politician. I respect that.
A lot of people were calling for Nixon's head-on-a-platter for many things, blaming many aspects of Vietnam on him not realizing that you could go back beyond LBJ. And to JFK who
ordered the execution of the elected leader of South Vietnam. I honestly wish Americans knew their history. After all, Ford who was the first President who
finally made it an Executive Order that the US could not assassinate the leader of another government, regardless.
If Obama is a leader like Ford, which I believe he is, he will finally put down an Executive Order that outlaws all actions that could be considered ******* once and for all, including forbidding any Americans who are remotely a party to it.
Doesn't mean ******* will be ended any more than American allies take various moves that would be against US law. But it does mean Americans will take care to both avoid situations and council allies to not use methods and not execution actions that are in ********* of US Executive Orders. May Obama's legacy be that of Ford's.