McCain Takes Bold Stance On Torture: ‘We Cannot Ever Torture Any American’
McCain Takes Bold Stance On Torture: ‘We Cannot Ever Torture Any American’
Today, during the question-and-answer period of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) address to the Associated Press, a journalist asked McCain about torturing terrorism detainees, saying “Don’t we stand for something better?” McCain seemed to get confused, talking instead about his opposition to the torture of Americans:
I’ve made it very clear, I’ve made it very clear in my statements and in my support of the Detainee Treatment Act, the Geneva Conventions, etc., that there may be some additional techniques to be used, but none of those would violate the Geneva Conventions, the Detainee Treatment Act…And we cannot ever, in my view, torture any American, that includes waterboarding.
Watch it:
Of course, the question had nothing to do with torturing Americans, something no American would support. The question was about how Americans should treat detainees in the war on terror — an issue McCain has hardly been “very clear” on.
As he did today, McCain has condemned waterboarding in the past. He has called it a “horrible torture technique” and a “terrible and odious practice” that “should never be condoned in the U.S.” Yet in February, McCain voted against a bill banning the CIA from using torture, specifically including waterboarding.
When the bill passed, McCain encouraged Bush to veto it — effectively supporting the CIA’s use of “stress positions, hypothermia, threats to the detainee and his family, severe sleep deprivation, and severe sensory deprivation.”
The only thing McCain has been “very clear” on is his completely uncontroversial — and completely irrelevant — opposition to the torturing of Americans. Like Bush, will McCain claim that “America does not torture” and yet condone torture behind closed doors?
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McSame’s view on torture: “It’s okay if it’s not me.”
April 14th, 2008 at 1:08 pm“If it’s me, then it makes me a hero that you should vote for.”
He has said he would close Guantanamo and good for him, however by then there may be hundreds of Halliburton built prisons which could house “terrorirsts” or “immigrants.” I’d like to hear McCain make a clear stand on this and say outright that all forms of toture are and always will be illegal. And yes, simulated drowning is torture.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:11 pmAsk Jose Padilla about that…
April 14th, 2008 at 1:13 pmAnd McCain sets up a straw man to avoid answering the question actually being asked…
April 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pmI guess that means it’s perfectly peachy to torture those nasty brown Muslim people, eh, McCrazy?
April 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm“McCain Takes Bold Stance On Torture: ‘We Cannot Ever Torture Any American’”
This includes Panama born people, born in modern USA, homeland USA, or the 13 original States, or what?
April 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pmme thinks his brain is warped from being tortured.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pmTHE MEDIA: “We believe every word you say, John. The media conglomerates will pay bonuses to any employee who votes for John Sidney McCain in November, and we look forward to the promised massive tax cuts (we’re struggling!) and further deregulation.”
April 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pmMcCain: “And we cannot ever, in my view, torture any American”
PLC: “Then drop out of the presidential race, retire in Arizona, and shut up.”
April 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pmPlaying semantics and word games with such core values demonstrates how very wrong I was thinking McCain ever had any principles.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:19 pmGo spend a luxury weekend in the jails in Chicago. They have been torturing people regularly for over a century, and everyone knows about it. This is just the institutionalized torture that is “overlooked”. Wonder if McBS will mention reality even once? How dull of me to consider.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:19 pmWE can’t torture any Americans is like saying WE can’t kill any Americans. It overly obvious! But that’s not the point. The point is that we have tortured and possibly are torturing others, which means that we accept that THEY can torture Americans because WE are torturing them. That’s the point you morons out there who advocate torture.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pmwe cannot ever, in my view, torture any American, that includes waterboarding.
“Brown people, however, are fair game.”
April 14th, 2008 at 1:21 pm“McCain seemed to get confused…”
Stopping right there explains it all.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:23 pm#3. Yeah. US citizen Jose Padilla will be happy to hear the news if he is coherent enough to be able to comprehend after being tortured.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pmBrown peope are fair game..
SO!….McNasty thinks the Constitution states that brown Merikans have a right to bribe torturers with food stamps…it’s in the ’signing statements’. lol
April 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pmMcCain Takes Bold Stance On Torture: ‘We Cannot Ever Torture Any American’
… unless, of course, they’ve been declared an “enemy combatant”… in which case they can be spied upon w/ no warrant, seized off the streets, imprisoned indefinitely w/ no charges brought, refused access to a lawyer, tortured into confessing, put on trial, convicted by using “secret evidence” too dangerous to even shown in court, and PUT TO DEATH…
Yeah, we’re a GREAT country!
April 14th, 2008 at 1:32 pmThe author is wrong, there are many americans, at least one on the supreme court who would support torturing americans. That is at the heart of the ticking timb bomb scenario.
Imagine that we could save those people in Oklahoma by torturing McVeigh.. They would say it is worth it. Imagine they could stop an alleged dirty bomber by torturing an american citizen arrested on american soil… they would say do it…
I think they did
April 14th, 2008 at 1:34 pmAbsolutely right, TRoS. Two words strip us of our American “status.” Enemy combatant. After that, all bets are off.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pmtoady,
McVeigh as caught after the fact — no go there, deary.
Padilla, the alleged dirty bomb wannabe, was tortured, driven insane, and then charged with spitting on the sidewalk, cuz they had NOTHING.
I’m not cool with that shit, and I don’t know anyone who is.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:37 pmtoady Says:
The author is wrong, there are many americans, at least one on the supreme court who would support torturing americans. That is at the heart of the ticking timb bomb scenario.
Imagine that we could save those people in Oklahoma by torturing McVeigh.. They would say it is worth it. Imagine they could stop an alleged dirty bomber by torturing an american citizen arrested on american soil… they would say do it…
You’re probably right, given that completely ludicrous “ticking time bomb” scenario. But since that scenario is impossible outside of a crappy Fox telenovela, it would be accurate to say that most Americans oppose torture of Americans.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:38 pmYou’re right, Zooey (@21),
Furthermore, I think Padilla’s trial was a complete travesty. I see red everytime I think of it.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:42 pmMcain will be against torturing americans, until a republican is caught doing that, then mcain will be against something else.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:43 pmJust one in a series of galling flip flops that the media refuses to pay any attention to.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:45 pmSo logically speaking, if you’re not an American, you may be tortured and your life is meaningless. Also, if you’re a member of the elite holier than thou crowd, you don’t necessarily have to be born in this country to be an American citizen. ZOMG!!1! This means McSenile has reverted back to the Greek City/State mentality. Dang, he is old.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:45 pmtoady, your “ticking time bomb scenario” would ask us to structure our laws around “extreme case” hypotheticals.
Should some heroic and of course devilishly handsome CIA agent be faced with such a situation in real life, most of us would expect such a dashing and photogenic figure to employs all means necessary, legal or non, to save lives.
That’s hardly a justification for making an immoral act legal.
All one would have to do to apply the same standard of permissibility to any other immoral act is to concoct a hypothetical in which the immoral act could be employed for a noble aim.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:45 pmSure, but what does Senator John Sidney McCain III say about Public Beheadings and Live Kitten Tossing?
Is he fer or agin ‘em?
April 14th, 2008 at 1:46 pmThe American government has tortured American citizens. Jose Padilla was designated an “enemy combatant” and pulled into the same legal limbo that so many POWs have found themselves in. These are not academic debates. American citizens and POWs are being held today against the principals laid out in our Constitution and in the Geneva Conventions. We should not settle for a President who lacks the moral clarity to denounce these practices without reservation.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:48 pmThe “ticking time-bomb” scenario is the sort of strawman that Republicans love. It’s the same as the “al Quada can’t be allowed to control Iraqi Oil!” b.s. – a completely fallacious argument as well as a totally invented fantasy. I wish there were a way to make it so that such arguments were universally dismissed and strongly condemned so that such manipulation was beyond the pale instead of being a staple of mainstream media consumption.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:49 pmThe “ticking time bomb” scenario drives me nuts. For it to have any legitimacy, authorities would have to know:
1. there is a bomb
2. the bomb is set to go off at a particular time
3. the person they have captured knows where the bomb is
4. there’s enough time to torture and get information
5. if the revealed location is accurate or disinformation
6. there’s enough time to get to and defuse the bomb
If they can know all that, how does it happen that they just don’t know where the bomb is?
April 14th, 2008 at 1:52 pmjdc Says:
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There are only 2 other candidates running for President that sound more idiotic than John McCain.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Shitt Conme and Fruity Rudy Drooliani have both dropped out , shitstain……..
April 14th, 2008 at 1:56 pmGeez… jdc… if I didn’t know better, I’d say yer an uptighty rightie…
April 14th, 2008 at 1:57 pmBut those brown people that don’t speak our language, it’s fine to torture them.
This is just sickening, these repukes have the morals of….Hitler.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:58 pmThe Republic of Stupidity Says:
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Geez… jdc… if I didn’t know better, I’d say yer an uptighty rightie…
April 14th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
And surprise , surprise ; he’s a complete imbecile………..
April 14th, 2008 at 1:58 pmSounds like the internal Republican debate is over whether or not to allow torturing of Americans.
As if this election cycle isn’t torture enough.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:58 pmAwww… go easy on jdc, MC.
He’s bin in a self-induced coma fer the last six months ‘n jes’ came too.
He was actually referrin’ ta Mittens and Fred…
April 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pmjdc Says:There are only 2 other candidates running for President that sound more idiotic than John McCain.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:00 pmI didn’t know you and goon golly were running for President,jd. ;)
Nice diversion, McTorture! Not working. This has to do with the “golden rule” and how we treat others…you know how it goes, Mr. BibleThumper – treating others as we wish to be treated or more apropos to this situation: treating others as we wish them to treat our own captive soldiers.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:00 pmjdc: Sorry but there can be no other on earth more stupid and more uneducated, unprepared, and imbecilic than John McCain. Oops, I stand corrected: Chimpya already holds that title.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pmJust how am I supposed to flag ‘jdc’, TP?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pm…..add to that “more brain dead” as senile dementia is already evident in John McSame.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pmjdc Says:
——————————————————————————–
There are only 2 other candidates running for President that sound more idiotic than John McCain.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
How highly amusing
A shitstain who has backed the worst and most imbecilic president in US history these last 7 years , is laughably attempting to call the 2 Dem candidates running for president “idiotic” ; this after the wrinkled old moron who this dope supports now and is supposedly a “foreign diplomacy expert” as well as a “national security expert” , erroneously states our supposed No #1 threat’s ethnic background………….
April 14th, 2008 at 2:02 pmThere are only 2 other candidates running for President that sound more idiotic than John McCain.
How true.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pmIt’s just too bad that the other two are John Flip McCain and John Flop McCain.
American citizens that have been tortured by the U.S. include Padilla, John Walker Lindh and Hamdi. That we know of.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pmThis GD campaign is torturing all of us.
I think it’s very clear now that McMaybe will not be asked any real questions. Even if he is, the press will let him off easy without a related follow up question.
Meanwhile, Obama is under a press microscope, where every word or movement is a great ’cause for concern’. Couple that with Hillary echoing McCain’s camp with innuendo and fabricated logic, and this campaign is hardly fair & balanced.
McWarmonger has hung himself enough times now to join Saddam Hussein. That damned liberal media just can’t get enough of him, though. It’s amazing what a few burgers & hot dogs will buy one in a campaign, eh?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:04 pmSo we can`t use it on Dubya or DICK?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pmMcCain already IS condoning torture behind closed doors. I think he wants to make SOMEBODY pay for what was done to him.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pmMcMetal: Every time McSame comes out in support of any of the failed Bush policies, he shoots himself in the foot. I’d say his campaign is all but finito. Why any american would vote for someone who brags about “business as usual” in this tanking country of ours would have to translate into them being even more moronic than McSame himself.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm.
What Johnny McTorture meant was:
“When the signing statement the president placed on my Detainee Treatment Act made that law null and void, I obliged the president’s wishes and so therefor, I may think and say torture is a bad thing, I just will never EVER vote to make it illegal… A G A I N!”
.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:06 pmThe Republic of Stupidity
As you know, General Snark, McCain has quite the temper. Let’s say picked Mittens for Veep. Would Mitten’s snark-induced strip teases keep McCain in a good mood on the campaign trail?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pmWouldn’t you love to know where McSame was during these torture meetings which were condoned by the Chimp? We know Condi, Tenet, Ashcroft, Cheney were there plotting these crimes against humanity and against Common Clause 3, Geneva Conventions on Torture.
When the Bush cabal leaves office, I forsee this as being the “trial of the century” where our highest officials are tried here and then by The Hague and will sit in prison for the rest of their natural lives.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pmRegardless of the media’s fawning, McCain’s reprehensible positions cannot be actually condoned by the American public, can they? I mean, how difficult is it to discern what the feeble old man is saying, regardless of the spin? Even a dope can see through this…can’t they? Please God, can’t they???
April 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pmJust how am I supposed to flag ‘jdc’, TP?
When you can’t flag, flagellate.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pmCerberus – I hope you are there with your three heads snapping at them while they are in the dock.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:09 pmHey Zimzone!
Does the media lullaby McCain to sleep on the tour bus, too?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:09 pmThis from the candidate who, addressing the subprime mortgage crisis, claims American citizen’s fears of a recession are ‘psychological’.
It’s all in your head, America.
Which is more than McWarmonger has in his…
April 14th, 2008 at 2:09 pmMcCain’s “snark-ism” is quite textbook senile dementia or pre-Alzheimer symptoms. The volatile mood swings which teeter on violence are quite par for the course in this disease.
He’s “too, too” everything – too damn old, too ill-informed, too uneducated, and can’t complete a logical sentence without a teleprompter.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:09 pmVis-a-vis the media’s “coddling” of this sad sack – could it be that if they spill the beans and bring the truth to the people, their own “campaign hoopla” becomes diminished down the road? Is it all “about them” and their ratings? I fear so.
The sycophantic whoring fascist media only cares about one thing these days: Their bottom line. Truth and the american people have been jetissoned for the almighty dollar.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:11 pmYeah, but they’re brown, aren’t they? So they don’t count. And John Walker Lindh, even though he’s white, he’s a radical Stalinist jihadi. So he doesn’t count. At least that’s how Trajan explained it to me.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:11 pmMcWars Says:
Hey Zimzone!
Does the media lullaby McCain to sleep on the tour bus, too?
Yes, McWars, they do. Word is the Ramones’ ‘I want to be sedated’ is one of his favorites.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:12 pmMcWars Says:
Would Mitten’s snark-induced strip teases keep McCain in a good mood on the campaign trail?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Strip teases… strip searches… very little difference w/ that crowd. What’s not to like? Would Mittens be wearing his magic Mormon long johns?
Perhaps all the more reasons to pick Fred as his VP, as so to get Mrs Thompson back on the the campaign bus, huh?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:16 pmDoes seem like McCain is showing all of the signs of old age effecting his mental processes. Think of the decline in Regan during his second term. Think of what McCain will be like under the stress of the presidency. Look at King George and he did not even really try at the job.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:18 pmI’m guessing he wouldn’t want to suggest that what his best friends set up as ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ were actually premeditated torture.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:19 pmHey, I’m going to be calling up Michael Jackson and asking him for the name of his skin bleaching doctor. Maybe then they’ll finally stop picking me out for strip searches at airports! (Can having some butchy looking woman squeezing your boobs and molesting you to find those hidden explosives that weren’t picked up by the 5 metal detectors be construed as a form of torture?)
April 14th, 2008 at 2:23 pm#67 jdc
I would have had no problem addressing that exact post to you, jdc, but it wasn’t mine.
Shitstain.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:26 pmjdc Says:
April 14th, 2008 at 2:41 pmI assume this was a lame shot at Obamas remarks. You know what, he’s spot on 100% CORRECT. I see it every election. People vote against their financial for wedge issues like gun control and religion. I even see my fellow Union members vote for the candidate who is LEAST for there best interests.
Sorry “their financial INTEREST”.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:42 pmwell, since mcINSANE isn’t an American, (he’s Panamanian)guess that excludes him!
swimming lessons anyone?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:42 pmDoesn’t McCain realize that by torturing non-Americans, he’s pretty much allowed other countries to torture Americans? Has he no shame?
April 14th, 2008 at 2:47 pmjdc Says:
ThinkOutsideTheBush Says:
(Can having some butchy looking woman squeezing your boobs and molesting you to find those hidden explosives that weren’t picked up by the 5 metal detectors be construed as a form of torture?)
Post your picture and I’ll tell you if the butchy looking woman squeezing your boobs was tortured or not.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
That is offensive to me on so many levels, and shows what kind of racist and sexist you are. I don’t know what I ever did to you, but if you think this type of attitude is Christian, you are certainly not one.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:52 pmTheToonGuy Says:
Doesn’t McCain realize that by torturing non-Americans, he’s pretty much allowed other countries to torture Americans? Has he no shame?
____________
I’m not sure it’s a case of no shame, ToonGuy.
More likely a lack of healthy, functioning neurons and synapses.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:56 pmWhy don’t you post your email address and I’ll send you my picture.
Racist sexist mo*therF*ing pig.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:05 pmYes, racists like you who think it’s okay to harrass brown people in the name of “just doing their job” are who make me angry!
Why don’t you get lost and go post on a Fox News forum or something?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:13 pmWell of course, racial profiling DOESN’t EXIST because you’ve NEVER seen it! WOW! It’s been a lie this entire time!!!!
Yes, for the record, I’m on the terror watch list and it has nothing to do with my not smiling. Again, you are making assumptions based on how I appear. I do not wear a head scarf, but my name identifies me as a Muslim. I get flagged for security even before I show up at the airport and before they look at me or any facial expression I might have. And I fly quite frequently too, at least once a month.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:23 pmAnyway, I am going to apologize to you for the name calling. I usually do not get that angry, and I hope that you will accept my apology. And may God forgive me for my sins.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:25 pmFor the record, it was not my intention to make any derogatory remarks about gays. I did not even realize it could have been interpreted that way, and am embarrased by my choice of wording there. (Some of those TSAs can be rough in handling people, is what I meant.) I apologize to those I might have offended.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:36 pmjdc Says:
Did you ever consider you get checked all the time because you look as angry and mean as you sound. It’s probably not a skin color thing at all.
Try smiling next time.
I fly all the time and don’t see the BS you are trying sell.
__________________________________________________
In that case, you’re probably white. White people tend to take for granted that they can drive around town and not get pulled over, unless they are flagrantly breaking some law. That they can shop without being followed around the store by the store detective. That they can eat a meal in a restaurant without being ignored by their waiter. And that they can fly without being treated like a terrorist.
Because we white people have lived with these perks our whole lives, we don’t see racism from where we stand — as typified by your remark “I fly all the time and don’t see the BS you are trying to sell.”
However, non-whites have always had to put up with this, and middle-easterners and south asians have had it racheted up several notches since 9/11. And to pile insult onto injury, if they complain about it, white people will just tell them that A) it’s not a racial thing, B) they should “try smiling”, or C) it’s all just their imagination.
Because you are a rather narrow-minded soul whose only purpose for being here is to derail threads and drop troll turds, I don’t expect you to try to see anything from another point of view.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:36 pmjdc Says:
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McWars Says:
A shitstain who has backed the worst and most imbecilic president in US history these last 7 years , is laughably attempting to call the 2 Dem candidates running for president “idiotic” ; this after the wrinkled old moron who this dope supports now and is supposedly a “foreign diplomacy expert” as well as a “national security expert” , erroneously states our supposed No #1 threat’s ethnic background………….
Give McCain a break Mr. Wars.
He made his verbal gaffs under stress while taking sniper fire from bitter, angry, typical white people clinging to their guns and religion.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Really ?
Al 7 times he said it he was under that type of duress , skid mark ?
April 14th, 2008 at 3:47 pmjdc Says:
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ThinkOutsideTheBush Says:
Anyway, I am going to apologize to you for the name calling. I usually do not get that angry, and I hope that you will accept my apology. And may God forgive me for my sins.
You have nothing to apologize for, at least to me.
This is a political debate website and we know what happens here.
Peace out.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Yes , we do
You and the rest of the GOP/Chimpy leg humping d-bags say stupid things on top of repeating White House lies and rhetoric……..
April 14th, 2008 at 3:48 pm>most of us would expect such a dashing and photogenic figure >to employs all means necessary, legal or non, to save lives.
right, and thank god we have the wonderful phenomena of jury nullifaction to keep the dashing lawbreaker from jail. i get sick of people acting like making something illlegal means that if you do it, you automatically explode or get aids or something. if someone really saved the world by torturing someone, A) no prosector would prosecute, and even if they did, B) no jury of 12 people would unanimously vote to find them guilty, and in the near improbable likelyhood they could find 12 people to vote guilty, C) no president would miss a chance to pardon anyone who may have commited such noble legal violations.
ticking timebomb scenarious are red herrings that try to lead us down a path that common sense never would.
theres one reason why people in power want torture to be legal.. so they can order it anytime they want, or allow others to do it at thier discretion, and not face criminal conspiracy charges from some later administration with more morals. a guy who saves the world with his torturing has nothing to fear from a jury…. but a man who tortures the children of a taxicab driver who just happened to give the wrong person a ride has MUCH to fear from an idential jury.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:34 pmCampaign promises are soon forgotten.
April 14th, 2008 at 4:45 pmWhat about the “ticking time bomb” scenario? Torture a foreigner (because torture might work) but not an American? Either torture works or it doesn’t, or it makes things worse. Why distinguish between foreigner or American, unless torture is really for other reasons than finding the truth?
April 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pmI would direct everyone to this article:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1729891,00.html
I have no doubt that as president, McCain would interpret his own legislation as it was intended. It’s the Bush admin. that has perverted the meaning of anti-torture legislation.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:34 pmMcMarxist must know that when we torture, we expose our American soldiers to the same methods of treatment.
He is far more dangerous than Bush. That this mole hid in our democracy for so many years only to express absolute unAmericanism should disturb even many true Conservatives. Its amazing that someone with an apparent Republican background would now serve Marxist-Straussian Neo Con masters.
http://www.light-to-dark.com/McBush.html
April 14th, 2008 at 7:11 pmFunny…I seem to remember that Jose Padilla is an American citizen, but that didn’t stop our government from stripping him of his constitutional rights and subjecting him at the very least to prolonged isolation and sensory deprivation (which any psychology student will tell you could be considered a form of torture, since it doesn’t take very long for people to start showing symptoms of psychosis such as hallucinations when they’re subjected to this).
Oh, wait…silly me, I remember now. That’s right — they classified Padilla as an “enemy combatant” which meant that they no longer considered him to be an American citizen and therefore did not have to honor his constitutional rights. I’ve always considered that to be a remarkably convenient and self-serving justification on their part. Perhaps that’s what McCain really means, hmmmm? “We cannot torture Americans” — we’ll simply strip them of their constitutional rights and have them classified as “enemy combatants”, and then it will be perfectly all right to torture them. After all, strictly speaking, we won’t be lying when we say that we don’t torture Americans because these people technically won’t be Americans any more once we’ve decided that they’re “enemy combatants”…right?
April 14th, 2008 at 7:45 pm“we cannot ever, in my view, torture any American”
Absolutely right. We are protected from cruel and unusual punishments, which is a synonym for torture, by the 8th amendment to the US Constitution.
Just like the 4th amendment protects us from unreasonable searches.
With the Bill of Rights and a government built around checks and balances, what could possibly go wrong?
April 14th, 2008 at 8:06 pm“we cannot ever, in my view, torture any American”
However, we can transfer a prisoner to the “care” of a foreign country which has no qualms about torture ????
April 15th, 2008 at 12:28 amSenator John Sydney McCain III gives a lot of un-responsive responses.
This is like his 100 years in Iraq thing.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:14 amShould some heroic and of course devilishly handsome CIA agent be faced with such a situation in real life, most of us would expect such a dashing and photogenic figure to employs all means necessary, legal or non, to save lives.
That’s hardly a justification for making an immoral act legal.
All one would have to do to apply the same standard of permissibility to any other immoral samsung p10 battery,samsung p20 battery act is to concoct a hypothetical in which the immoral act could be employed for a noble aim.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:55 am