Ashcroft Compares Waterboarding To Being ‘Interviewed By Jon Stewart’
Ashcroft Compares Waterboarding To Being ‘Interviewed By Jon Stewart’
Yesterday, former attorney general John Ashcroft spoke at St. John’s University on “Leadership in Challenging Times.” In his speech, Ashcroft aggressively defended the Bush administration’s policies on the Iraq war, wiretapping, and interrogation. At one point, he “joked” about waterboarding, comparing the torture to being interviewed by Jon Stewart:
Going to a high school dance, having to listen to loud music, to me that’s torture. I was on the Daily Show once. I was interviewed by Jon Stewart. That was torture.
Ashcroft appeared on The Daily Show on Oct. 18, 2006. Is he saying that he would rather have traded places with a detainee and been waterboarded that night? During a November 2007 speech at the University of Colorado, Ashcroft also claimed that he was willing to be waterboarded: “The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to do them to me, I would do.”
In addition to Ashcroft, conservatives have repeatedly tried to make light of waterboarding in order to downplay the severity of the tactic:
– GWEN IFILL: Do you think that waterboarding, as I described it, constitutes torture?
SEN. KIT BOND: There are different ways of doing it. It’s like swimming, freestyle, backstroke. [12/11/07]– “At one moment, bursting into laughter, he [Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)] exuberantly explains why, after ‘a short period of waterboarding to find out what they did in their absence,’ he would take back some of the staffers who fled his campaign at its low point.” [2/25/08]
“I’m finding just out how long I can go sleep deprived. You know, running for office is sort of like being waterboarded, I think.” [Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, 2/16/08]
“And I see, when the Democrats are talking about torture…they talk about sleep deprivation. I mean, on that theory, I’m getting tortured running for president of the United States. That’s plain silly. That’s silly.” [Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, 10/24/07]
“It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological.” [Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), 2/15/08]
Despite their braggadocio, it doesn’t appear that any of these conservatives have actually been waterboarded. Those who have, say it is clearly torture.
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I hang my head in shame and embarrassment at the ignorant sneers of my fellow Americans and their disregard for our Constitution, human rights, and international law.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:37 amFrom Malcolm Nance’s article, which is linked above in the last sentence:
“Waterboarding is slow-motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of blackout and expiration. Usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch. If it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia – meaning, the loss of all oxygen to the cells.
The lack of physical scarring allows the victim to recover and be threatened with its use again and again.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/10/31/2007-10-31_i_know_waterboarding_is_torture__because.html
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 amCan these asschappers at least be intellectually consistent?
In their words Al Qaeda is the worst enemy we have ever faced and therefore we must use drastic measures including “harsh interrogation tactics” that the US was unwilling to use even against Nazis, the Russians and the Viet Cong.
Yet when asked about those techniques they are compared to mundane and simple things like swimming, loud music or a little water splashed in the face?
What is is asswipes?
-GSD
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 amIt’s an indication of just how divorced from reality these people are when they can joke about torture.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 amHE’LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:41 amI have worked in a residential behavioral treatment center and, as required by the state, have had to experience the restraint and isolation techniques used for intervention with aggressive behavior. In the same way, anyone who advocates or may participate in “harsh interrogation techniques” needs to be subjected to those techniques themselves. In the case of the BushCo’s, the experience should be televised.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 amJohn Ashcroft singing “As the eagle soars” is torture to my ears
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 amI have grown weary of these “clever” people who think that joking about waterboarding represents the height of hilarity. I agree with PatrioticLiberalChristian, but with a slight addition — not only must you be waterboarded yourself if you plan to use it as an interrogation technique, but you must be waterboarded yourself if you plan to joke about it. This goes for Ashcroft, McCain, Kit Bond, Huckabee, Giuliani, and Lieberman.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 amI would agree with you, but here’s the rub: By allowing people to advocate torture, experience it, and then continue advocating it, we would legitimize it for the idiot masses who DO NOT PAY ATTENTION. That’s all we need. However, in principle, I agree with you. You want to advocate this stuff, you want to do it yourself, then have it done to YOU first. Just like cops who are required to be blasted in the eyes with pepper spray at least once before they can carry it, are required to be shocked with a taser at least once before they can carry it etc.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 amHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You are so fu(king funny, Asscroft. (Didn’t you lose to a deadman?)
Wait. Maybe there’s Middle Eastern rebels having a good laugh about American soldiers being tortured! Yeah, not so funny now, is it, you fu(ked up moron.
By the way, anyone, and I mean anyone, who does not think waterboarding is torture, needs to jump in cold Lake Michigan and observe first hand what it’s like to have your entire body panic, to feel the pain of the burning lungs as your body is depleted of it’s oxygen, to have those lungs rapidly fill up with water as you struggle more and more to expel the liquid, which further increases the unimaginable pain. It’s excruciating, until the carbon dioxide overrides the oxygen, which, mercifully, at last, would render you unconscious.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 amI’ve said it before, and I will say it again. If you condone this type of interrogation, one would conclude that you also condone it for our brave men and women serving overseas, correct?
Damn straight DRxJ.
If we do it to anyone else we can no longer claim any high ground and condemn it being done to our soldiers…well, we can still condemn it but it will ring extremely hollow to anyone who might be listening, which by now, with our reputation in tatters, is probably no one.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:56 amDivorced from reality?
I’d say completely and irrevocably separated.
It’s almost beyond belief at this point.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:56 amThe next time someone like Ashcroft tries to equate something trivial with their “enhanced interrogation techniques,” ask them which they would prefer to face – an interview with Stewart or Waterboarding. Running for office or spending endless hours naked in a dark cell. Make them see how absurd their comparisons really are.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 amSo basically, these guys are saying that it’s cool if you torture them because they can handle it cos they’s got theirs guns. Great, commence.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 amAshcroft also claimed that he was willing to be waterboarded: “The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to do them to me, I would do.”
To make a statement like this just demonstrates your complete ingorance.
Not even the voters of your home state of Missouri care what you think, remember in 2000 they voted for the dead guy over you. John that speaks volumns.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 amAnyone who believes it is acceptable under any circumstances to inflict physical torture on another person is a sick, sick human being. What should terrify people (more than al Qaeda ever could) is that there are a lot of these people in the Bush Administration, some of whom doubtless got their jobs precisely because of their sickness.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 am#16 ingorance should be ignorance, I’m having the same problem as Wayne S.
Sorry, I should probably get a coke also.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 amI say we drop a few hot coals down LIEberman’s knickers.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 amNobody that ever listened to Schmuckabee speech ever suffered from sleep deprivation.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:04 amSign Johnny Asscroft up for a spin on the waterboard.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 amChrist on a cracker!
At the age of 34 I went snorkeling for the first time and the idea of being face-down in water but able to breath through a tube struck me as a bit weird, but very reasonable. To my complete dismay my immediate reaction was to hyperventilate–another ‘first’ for me!
It took me three more tries to get my breathing under control with concentrated mental effort and then it was great fun, but I’ve never known such involuntary panic before or since.
These waterborading wankers are utterly sick.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:08 amNext they’ll be debating if murder . . is actually murder.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 amOr, is it just like going to visit grandma ?
Freedom Rebel Says:
#16 ingorance should be ignorance, I’m having the same problem as Wayne S.
Sorry, I should probably get a coke also.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 am
I ask you, why do we hate our kidneys? :)
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 amliberal traitor,
You raise a good point. I am assuming that these chickenhawk cowards would never actually consent to being “harshly interrogated” with any more frequency than they volunteer to serve in their idiotic wars. But then, logic is optional for these guys.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 amHar har har!! Oh, that Johnny Ashcroft, he’s such a card!
*eyeroll*
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 amDear God,
If you exist, please come and pick up all the trash you left behind. The sooner the better. The stench coming from it is overwhelming.
Thanks in advance,
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 amThe Loyal Opposition
I’d even settle for the bs Rapture scenario, Evil Poet @ 27, if it meant unloading all the above guys plus the rest of BushCo off this planet.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 amThe problem with joking about torture, right now, is that we are torturing people under the polices which John Ashcroft put in place during his tenure as Attorney General. It is really beyond the pale for somebody who has authorized waterboarding to make jokes about it. People have died in U.S. custody while being tortured. That blood is on John Ashcroft’s hands. No amount of jokes can wash away that stain.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 amI would pay for a “pay-per-view” of the waterboarding of the entire Bush administration (past and present members).
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 am#24 Wayne A. Schneider Says:
Freedom Rebel Says:
#16 ingorance should be ignorance, I’m having the same problem as Wayne S.
Sorry, I should probably get a coke also.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 am
I ask you, why do we hate our kidneys? :)
Good Question!!! In my case I’m addicted to the stuff :)
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 amI say, just do it. Get it over with. Waterboard his ass ON the Daily Show.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 amIt’s the ‘liberal’ regimes, the civilized people, who have perfected the means of physical intimidfation and abuse that don’t leave marks.
Totalitarians don’t care if their victims bear the scars. In fact, it is better that way. But ‘civilized,’ authoritarian regimes, like the Busheviks–but notably the French and the Brits, during colonial periods–which scrupled at the residual display of the brutality of the State, believe (correctly?, who knows) that such evidences of the mortal, lethal, deadly power of the state were better hinted at than explicitly demonstrated.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:27 amThe thing is that they seem to be operating under the assumption that THEY will be included in said Rapture.
A caveat to them: Be careful what you ask for . . . you MAY not like the result.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 amGOP CLUB (no Gurrls allowed !) DUBBIL TOP SECRET ENTRANCE EXAM–Question 3:
Water-boarding is to freedom as:
a) endangered animals are to “delicious”
b) lapel flag-pins are to the purple heart, combat service crosses with oak leaves and the loss of a limb
c)Jesus is to the accumulation of wealth by protecting America’s corporate interests through the deployment of US military forces to countries most Americans haven’t heard-of and will never visit
d)Jack Bauer is to long-term diplomacy
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:32 am#29 fletc3her Says:
——————————————————————————–
The problem with joking about torture, right now, is that we are torturing people under the polices which John Ashcroft put in place during his tenure as Attorney General. It is really beyond the pale for somebody who has authorized waterboarding to make jokes about it. People have died in U.S. custody while being tortured. That blood is on John Ashcroft’s hands. No amount of jokes can wash away that stain.
You are absolutely right. In John’s case, you can’t fix stupid. The complete lack of compassion or shame is monumental. This coming from a man that was never in a war zone, never been captured by the enemy, and during the vietnam war was going to College.
My question is: Why did St. John’s University have him speak about “Leadership in Challenging Times? They gave him a forum to endorse Bush’s propaganda. St. John’s should be receiving emails and letters condemning his speech. That would most definitely get their attention.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 amMe, too, Freedom Rebel. Lifelong addiction to Coca-Cola. What always surprised me is that people accept that someone would stand around work with a cup of coffee in the morning, but couldn’t understand why someone would drink Coke in the morning. My response was, typically, to throw my ice cold Coke in their face and say, “You can’t do that with a hot cup of coffee and not hurt someone, that’s why!”
I’m just kidding, of course. That was not a typical response.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 amThe people who support WATER TORTURE are WAR CRIMINALS also.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:45 amNote to Lieberman: “The psychological impact” is real torture. It even says so in the UN Convention against Torture to which the US is a signatory. How can a US senator be this stupid?
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:50 amWant to know what water torture is like?
Fill your tub full. Relax, lay back, submerge your head.
Then have someone hold you there and not let you up till you almost pass out. After you cough the water out of your lungs, they hold you under again. Rinse, repeat.
Enjoy….
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 amgalmud, “psychological impact” can’t be considered a problem. Otherwise, U.S. troops returning from Iraq with PTSD would have to be acknowledged to have suffered and require aid from the country that put them in the adverse situation that caused the disorder.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 amAshcroft, GWB and all the others are nothing more than mean, selfish, power hungry goons who wrap themselves in the flag and yell about how they love God and are doing God’s will while abusing anyone and everyone they can to get rich and impose their view of the world on everyone else. There is no reason to attempt to be logical with them, they aren’t about logic or reason.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:55 amThe Democrats refuse to impeach, deny funding or otherwise fight the Bush administration fearing a constitutional crisis and damaging the government. The Democrats will not call these people the inhuman war criminals that they are. Debate is civil and polite as Aschcroft and other Republicans put forth justification for that which cannot be justified. The very process legitimizes that which is wholly illegitimate.
There can be no civil debate. Those who support torture must be shouted down at every opportunity. Those who supported this policy must be arrested, prosecuted and punished as war criminals. Nothing else will ever remove the stain of dishonor that marks the United States. NOTHING ELSE WILL SAVE THIS REPUBLIC FROM ITS DESCENT INTO LAWLESSNESS AND TYRANNY.
Nixon was not impeached nor tried for the crimes that he committed as president. He was not tried for the illegal wiretaps, searches and targeting of dissident groups. He was not tried for politicizing the IRS to go after enemies. Look at what that failure has wrought. We see those like Liddy as entertainment figures. We see those who supported Nixon’s imperial presidency in positions of power with this administration and supporting the same imperial powers for the executive.
We saw the Iran Contra affair. We mollycoddled, we failed to impeach, we failed to shun those who participated. We saw the defiance of those (who like Ollie North) defended their law breaking as a mark of true patriotism. They became public heroes.
Why do we now question how the United States came to this low? The answer is simple. WE NO LONGER CONDEMN THE IMMORAL. Torture is immoral. Lying and quibbling to the public is immoral. Politicization of government agencies is and the justice system is immoral. Vote suppression is immoral. Publishing government propaganda through secretive media commentators who are on the payroll of the government, secretly surrogates for the government and actively conniving with the government is immoral. The Democrats must understand this and must treat this with the same gravity that the Republicans treat the failure of a candidate to wear a flag pin. These are really the issues the define a party based on values and establish true patriotism.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:55 amIn development (a new game show): “Name that Torture”
Using present and past Bush administration officials, citizens get to turn the tables.
(I can name that torture in 3 notes…)
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:56 amI wonder what’s the basis for his comparison and I wonder Larry Craig might compare it to?
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 amPatrioticLiberalChristian:
The psychological impact of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” causes and is designed to cause severe mental pain and suffering, in order to gain information or force confessions. Also the surrounding circumnstances under which “suspected terrorists” are captured and locked up, denying them their basic human rights, kidnapping them, blindfolding them chaining them to the floor of cargoplanes, sending them to secret CIA-prisons, locking them up for years without charges or trials, denying all contact with their families, etc etc. All this inhumane treatment in and of itself is psychological torture, maybe not by any legal definition but surely defined as torture by common sense.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:27 pmgalmud,
FYI, you’re preaching to the choir (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing!).
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 pmPerhaps most sad is that, for the foreseeable future, the U.S. is in no position to admonish others about human rights issues. Bushco has pissed away our credibility.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 pmAshcroft had fooled me with the ABC News quote of him saying, “History will not judge this kindly.” I guess he is still a Bushie through and through. Somebody should finally take him up on his offer. Maybe Jon Stewart could waterboard him on the Daily Show.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:54 pmHaving to put up with the criminals in this administration feels like receiving eletrical shock being administrated by Pinochet! Having to listen to Asscrofft, who were present in the special meeting regarding USA’s TORTURE PROGRAM, mocking the very torture technique they helped to include in the USA’s TORTURE program, feels like sleeping with Saddam Hussein!
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pmApril 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Amnesty Unveils Shock ‘Waterboarding’ Film
By Nigel Morris
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/22/8445/
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 pmSomething tells me he wouldn’t want to get captured by enemies at this point.
“Well, Ashcroft, since waterboarding is a piece of cake we’ll move on to acid.”
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:30 pmThe problem with waterboarding the Bush regime is that they would at least have some idea that they weren’t going to be killed.
Unless folks wearing ninja suits and shouting in Arabic descend on their homes at midnight, blindfold them, move them to an abandoned factory, and hold them incommunicado for a month, they will never know the fear of what our folks are experiencing.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 pmThere is no statute of limitations on war crimes.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pmIf getting waterboarded is “no big deal” how could it be
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 pmusefull in getting someone (the hardened terrorist) to talk?
For John, driving his own car or working an 8 hr shift of work 5 days a week is torture.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:08 amdo not forget this person had any area he was to speak from had to be cleared of calico cats. this nut case said they were messengers of the devil.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:14 amWait. Maybe there’s Middle Eastern rebels having a good laugh about American soldiers being tortured! Yeah, not so funny now, is it, you fu(ked up moron.
By the way, anyone, and I mean anyone, who does not think waterboarding is torture, needs to jump in cold Lake Michigan and observe first hand what it’s like to have your entire body panic, to feel the pain of the burning lungs as your body is depleted of it’s oxygen, to have those lungs rapidly fill up with water as you struggle more and more to expel the liquid, which further increases the unimaginable pain. It’s excruciating, until the carbon dioxide overrides the oxygen, which, mercifully, at last, would render you unconscious.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:42 amI’ve said it before, and I will say it again. If you condone this type of interrogation, one would sony pcg-gr150 battery,sony pcg-gr250 battery conclude that you also condone it for our brave men and women serving overseas, correct?