McCain on Cheney’s torture speech: ‘I just don’t see where it helps.’
McCain on Cheney’s torture speech: ‘I just don’t see where it helps.’
Vice President Cheney’s speech on national security yesterday has been received positively by several Republican senators. In an interview with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg yesterday, however, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that Cheney’s full-throated defense of torture isn’t helpful:
He told me of his fundamental disagreement with Cheney: “When you have a majority of Americans, seventy-something percent, saying we shouldn’t torture, then I’m not sure it helps for the Vice President to go out and continue to espouse that position,” he said. “But look, he’s free to talk. He’s a former Vice President of the United States. I just don’t see where it helps.”
And then he got acerbic: Cheney, he says, “believes that waterboarding doesn’t fall under the Geneva Conventions and that it’s not a form of torture. But you know, it goes back to the Spanish Inquisition.”
Yesterday on Fox News, McCain reiterated that waterboarding is “not a new technique, and it is certainly torture.” “You hear it from al Qaeda operatives that when we torture people and it becomes public, then it helps them recruit,” he said. Watch it:
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It helps us tell the difference between human beings and animals, Senator.
So, why are you still in the party of mindless animals?
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 amAm I wrong, or is Cheney the former Vice President?
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 amCheney, he says, “believes that waterboarding doesn’t fall under the Geneva Conventions and that it’s not a form of torture.”
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If it’s not torture, then why bother doing it? Is Cheney trying to market it as a spa treatment?
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:34 ammisscoleopteramolly Says:
Cheney, he says, “believes that waterboarding doesn’t fall under the Geneva Conventions and that it’s not a form of torture.”
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If it’s not torture, then why bother doing it? Is Cheney trying to market it as a spa treatment?
If it’s not torture, why doesn’t this gibbon man up and have it done to himself?
Shite, if a guy with a bad heart can withstand it, it must not be torture, right?
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:37 amCheney is a liar.
Only cowards fall for his BS
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 amAnd then he got acerbic: Cheney, he says, “believes that waterboarding doesn’t fall under the Geneva Conventions and that it’s not a form of torture. But you know, it goes back to the Spanish Inquisition.”
I know it’s a popular saying in American English, but the Inquisition was all over Europe, including the Northern countries, and, obviously, including Britain, and yes, Scotland, where the ancestors (William Bruce?) of McCain came.
As an example, a guide for prosecuting witches, the “Malleus Maleficarum” or “The Hammer Against Witches” written by two inquisitors, of german and swiss origin.
And, Salem is a closer reference to the subject ;)
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:39 amEvil Spaniard, I empathize with your position. I hope that what we have recently witnessed does not go down in history as “The American Inquisition”. Rather, may it be remembered as “The Bush-Cheney Inquisition”.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:42 amEvidently Cheney’s five deferments allowed him to escape the facts “on the ground” that seeing your brothers and sisters tortured encourages more resistence. This X-V-P is so far in denial and the lies are so blatant he can only be preparing for the hearings in Congress sure to come. He can’t say he was just following orders: he’s now the face of torture to the world replacing WWII SS and the Gestapo agents of the past. It’s lonely at the bottom, too Dickyboy.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 am‘
Site R – also known as Raven Rock or the Alternate Joint Communications Center is from where vice-President Dick Cheney ran the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. Cheney’s command superceded the orders of the Pentagon, the FAA or the White House.
Remember – Cheney ran those wargames that kept fighters from protecting NYC.
He is my number one suspect in the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people.
In May of 2001, by presidential order, Cheney was handed direct control of all wargame and drill operations. This meant he was solely in charge of the overlapping NORAD drills and wargames on the morning of 9/11, that prevented Standard Operating Procedure from being implemented, and any of the hijacked planes being intercepted.
The smoking guns of 9/11 are no longer disparate jigsaw pieces that serve to just raise more questions than they answer. We now have a coherent and plausible explanation of how the events unfolded, why there was no air defense response, and a prime suspect as to who executed these actions. The facts fit this version of events.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 am“You hear it from al Qaeda operatives that when we torture people and it becomes public, then it helps them recruit,” McCain said.
– - (when) it becomes public is the operative phrase here. Damn, if only we were China.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 amWatching MSM you would think we are a nation of torturing neanderthals. After all, on ‘Morning Joe’ They brought in ‘My Daddy tortures people, but it’s OK’ Liz Cheney. I can’t stand how MSM tries to brainwash people. I thought Faux News was bad.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:49 amjohn who?
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:51 amctcadguy Says:
Wasn’t Cheney involved in the Northwoods Project document? (I could be mistaken)
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 amThe DICK is the ‘poster boy’ for TORTURE which al Qaeda USES to recruit more terrorists in their fight. So long as he continues to run his mouth, they will recruit ever more terrorists. I still don’t understand why the networks continue to give him ‘VOICE’.
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:54 amP.D. Says:
Watching MSM you would think we are a nation of torturing neanderthals. After all, on ‘Morning Joe’ They brought in ‘My Daddy tortures people, but it’s OK’ Liz Cheney. I can’t stand how MSM tries to brainwash people. I thought Faux News was bad.
P.D., I don’t think it is the entirety of MSM, but rather ‘Morning Joe’ with Scarface doing the solicitation of neocons. After all, he is one and ALWAYS feels his facts or lack thereof, are right [that's why he continually talks OVER everyone there]! He’s a complete a@@
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 amRepublicans live in “opposite world” where torture is good and unwed teenage pregnancy makes you a hero and you get your picture on the cover of People Magazine. Next I expect them to tell us that beating our children is the best form of discipline.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 amI think it’s interesting that Republicans aren’t afraid to disagree with Cheney in public, but if they disagree with RUSH, they have to grovel.
Who has the power, bee-otches?
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 amYeah Guido. Who is Liz Cheney, and why give her a platform? She hold no office, In fact, what does she do? It reminds of of Bill Kristol, Rick Santorum, the list goes on and on.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 amDoodlebug: Spare the rod…
They covered that one long ago.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 amctcadguy Says:Site R – also known as Raven Rock or the Alternate Joint Communications
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 amDo you have any recommended links about that?
I can’t believe those war games were specifically premeditated (i,e, the Gummint planned 8-11! etc.) but the the disarray in the air force response demonstrated a broken chain of command
(the Air Traffic Controllers on the other hand seemed to get it together much more quickly) and it speaks to the fact that Bush Cheney , Rice etc were all studiously ignoring the threat warnings.
Whether they would have shot down the planes I don’t know ( very tough call) but they simple weren’t there in the first place.
The eventual launching of the F16’s was a fool’s errand—even at full thrust they couldn’t catch the airliners and they’d have probably run out of fuel even if they had got within shoot-down range.
MadasHelinVA Says:
The DICK is the ‘poster boy’ for TORTURE which al Qaeda USES to recruit more terrorists in their fight. So long as he continues to run his mouth, they will recruit ever more terrorists.
That must be IT. Nail, head. What would Dick do if the war on tair were ever ‘won’?
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 amnotice the chyron:
“SEN JOHN MCCAIN TALKS ABOUT US OF
ENHANCED INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES”
doesn’t sound like it to me… i hear “TORTURE”…
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:08 amEvil Spaniard Says: I know it’s a popular saying in American English,
Yes, it ought really to be known as the Roman Catholic Inquisition.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 amctcadguy:
I’ve never understood one main thing about 9-11, from that day on:
If our Air National Guard/Air Force/whatever can intercept and escort a small jet with a famous golfer on board twenty minutes AFTER it went off-course…
Why were there no jets intercepting those airliners?
Again, there is no answer. Well, except yours, maybe. D*mn every one of them straight to h*ll. Every single one of them, starting with Dick Cheney.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 amDaddy-O Says:
That must be IT. Nail, head. What would Dick do if the war on tair were ever ‘won’?
Has ANYONE supporting the “War on Ter -r” EVER offered up the conditions that would define, clearly, “victory”? I have never seen such, probably because they can’t. It is a war-lover’s dream, because it is capapble of being re-defined over and over again: it is the foundation for perpetual war, which, by the way, dovetails very neatly into the PNAC mission statement. (By the by — does PNAC have a website anymore? The link I had from a few years ago will not work anymore).
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 amMcCain: I just don’t see where it helps.
Obviously, McCain doesn’t have the same autoerotic response to torture that Cheney does. If, like Cheney, he suffered from erectile dysfunction and discovered that talking publicly about torture was the only thing that got his little soldier to stand at attention, McCain would be able to “see where it helps” I’m sure.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:15 am5th Estate Says:
——————————————————————————–
ctcadguy Says:Site R – also known as Raven Rock or the Alternate Joint Communications
Do you have any recommended links about that?
I can’t believe those war games were specifically premeditated (i,e, the Gummint planned 8-11! etc.) but the the disarray in the air force response demonstrated a broken chain of command
(the Air Traffic Controllers on the other hand seemed to get it together much more quickly) and it speaks to the fact that Bush Cheney , Rice etc were all studiously ignoring the threat warnings.
Whether they would have shot down the planes I don’t know ( very tough call) but they simple weren’t there in the first place.
The eventual launching of the F16’s was a fool’s errand—even at full thrust they couldn’t catch the airliners and they’d have probably run out of fuel even if they had got within shoot-down range.
My source is the testimony during the 911 Comission.
I would like to remind you that the plane that hit the Pentagon was in the Air for 62 minutes.
Andrews Air Force base is less than 10 miles from the Pentagon.
You need to believe this Boeing 757 outran 420 supersonic fighters for 62 minutes and hit the Pentagon – And there wasn’t one picture of the event.
HORSESHIT!
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 amThe coach needs to bench dick asap.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:17 amHe’s way too old to be playing so much defense.
Daddy-O Says: “I think it’s interesting that Republicans aren’t afraid to disagree with Cheney in public, but if they disagree with RUSH, they have to grovel.”
And then I guess as McCain was tortured, he gets a pass for going against the Republican grain but doesn’t really get punished for it, because it wasn’t Republicans who tortured him. That seems to be the ‘logic’
But if Liberals decry torture, they are “endangering the troops” and “endangering America” and most of the MSM ensures those memes are repeated ad nausem.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:22 amHere’s the theme I want to see promoted:
Torture/enhanced interrogations are techniques used to instill fear and pain in others so that they will give up their resistance and give the interrogators what they want.
Terrorism is a group of techniques use to instill fear and pain in others so that they will give up their resistance and give the terrorists what they want.
If we (or our representatives) torture then we (ditto) are terrorists!
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:32 amctcadguy Says You need to believe this Boeing 757 outran 420 supersonic fighters for 62 minutes and hit the Pentagon – And there wasn’t one picture of the event.
Oh, you mean the there were 420 combat aircraft engaged in the air that could be diverted from the exercise at the time? (thus the four F-16’s scrambled were really, really pointless).
I’ll have to re-read the commission report and look more carefully at that aspect. Thanks.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:33 amWhat’s the difference between a suicide bomber and Dick Cheney?
The suicide bomber is willing to share in the pain that his terror creates.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:36 amWhy isn’t he testifying before a Grand Jury?
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:45 amMcCain said waterboarding is torture, oh contrare . .
Cheney’s ‘enhanced interrogation’ is not torture because it’s considered a ‘medical procedure’ with physicians in attendance!
THOSE who have reviewed the two memos [Cheney refers to justifying his reasons for the medical procedures] say there are nothing in the memos that show ‘hundreds of thousands’ of American lives were saved because of imminent threats . .
If these memos do corroborate his version, why didn’t Cheney have these memos declassified before he left office?
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:47 amSince Cheney continues to approve and support enhanced interrogation techniques, then he must approve of the Vietnamese use of enhanced interrogation techniques that were applied to Senator McCain.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:53 amOh noes!! Numero Uno Terrurst is in Indiana waiting to use his super powers and escape into the cornfields!!!!
The Horror!! The Fear!! The End of America!!!
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 ammiss molly says…
Don’t think I’ll use waterboarding at my spa. It would have a negative impact on repeat clients.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 amIf ANYTHING in those memos supported Cheney’s assertions, they would have been featured items on every newscast and political ad during the 2008 campaign.
Cheney is obviously full of sh!t
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 amSo we see the feigned outrage, the feigned fear, by politicians is just that…feigned.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:58 amdaddyo says
Yeah, I still wonder about that. The fact that no action was taken made us look extremely weak and very vulnerable and the Cheney/Bush war on terror didn’t make us feel any safer afterwords.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:04 pmHere’s a rally cry…
Free John Walker Lindh!
(Or at least let him be heard.)
http://www.counterpunch.org/teitelman05222009.html
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pmIt is well known that Sociopaths have no conscience…
…Cheney is a sadistic liar who is simply trying to stay out of jail.
Since when did J. McCain buy his soul back from the devil…
…did losing the race by using Republic Fascist Party tactics remind him about working for America and not party only politics?
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pmCheney said “Imagine having a terrorist attack, what would you do? You would do anything!” And so they staged the 9/11 terrorist attacks so that THEY COULD DO ANYTHING from then on! Sabotaging the economy was the next task on their agenda.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:28 pmAnd here we are 8 years later, on the early stages of a long recession/depression …AND THESE CRIMINALS (BUSH CHENEY & Co. or BUSH-BIN Laden Partnership) roam free.
But Mr. McCain, neither ex-V.P. Cheney nor his supportive daughter call it ‘torture’.
They call it ‘enhancing technique’. !!
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:37 pmExpect McCain to be the target of El Rushbo’s vile bile today.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:41 pmTorturing ‘high value’ detainees like Zubaydah and Sheik Mohammed is the reason they cannot actually be TRIED in court: they might walk, since the evidence is tainted! So, then what? Treat them as POW’s that could be handed back to their original employers (Al Quaida) when they sign articles of surrender. Otherwise, they remain POWs — if indeed this is a war…
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pmCheney’s description of ‘torture’ as the reason behind saving thousands of lives has to be proven.
Cheney must tell us where,how and when these lives were save.
By repeating this,Cheney sounded like a politician who claims he had created 1/2 million jobs selling himself in an election campaign.
But where,when and how these jobs were created is what counts.
Cheney can say whatever he wants…but he has to back it up, to look believable and truthful.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:53 pmThey covered that one long ago.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 pmMcCain still has moments when he sounds sane. This is one of them. Too bad he will be saying something completely different tomorrow.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:09 pmtarazan Says:
Cheney’s description of ‘torture’ as the reason behind saving thousands of lives has to be proven.
Cheney must tell us where,how and when these lives were save.
Cheney is saying that the proof is there but that Obama won’t release the evidence. That is patently absurd. If there was any evidence that their torture had “saved lives”, Cheney would have had that information leaked by now.
Personally, I would like to see President Obama release the memos that Cheney said proved that torture worked. But he needs to release the entire content of the memos, not the 2-3 pages that Cheney wanted released.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:11 pmJust a reminder…the vice-president is Joe Biden.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 pmctcadguy Says You need to believe this Boeing 757 outran 420 supersonic fighters for 62 minutes and hit the Pentagon – And there wasn’t one picture of the event.
Oh, you mean the there were 420 combat aircraft engaged in the air that could be diverted from the exercise at the time? (thus the four F-16’s scrambled were really, really pointless).
I’ll have to re-read the commission report and look more carefully at that aspect. Thanks.
The Report does not cover everything. Read the testomony of the witnesses.
The Report itself is a whitewash.
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 pmMCCAIN: He’s a former Vice President of the United States. I just don’t see where it helps.”
Well, for starters, Dick’s not trying to help…
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:57 pm5th Estate Says:
Evil Spaniard Says: I know it’s a popular saying in American English,
Yes, it ought really to be known as the Roman Catholic Inquisition.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 am Recommend (1) | Report Abuse
Exactly. In a time where almost all Europe was Roman Catholic.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 pmEven on torture McCain simply licks his finger and raises it in the air to see which way the political winds are blowing and then just goes with the flow.
If he walked the talk he would be out there blasting Darth Vader and all this pro-torture nonsense!
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:52 pmCheney is scared. If we keep pushing, the truth of what really happened on 9-11 will finally come out. The torture was absolutely necessary for Cheney to force people to admit to crimes where they had no actual part.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:00 pmThere are two issues: 1) Is torture an acceptable process for America to use? For me, NO! I’m for the Geneva Convention. 2) Does torture work? There is disagreement which seems to line up precisely with those who support torture saying “Yes” and those who oppose it saying “No.”
If torture is wrong, whether it works is moot.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:28 pmcheney said watching 9/11 events unfold from his underground bunker changed him. then it looks like the terrorists acheived their goal.
but for the rest of us who got to watch 9/11 unfold in front of us, we’re able to go on with our lives knowing that the america we know isn’t like that.
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:25 pmYou can put “pnac” in the address bar and get the new website.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:17 pm.
Imagine, the (R)ushpublickin’s are willing to throw their Presidential candidate out with the bath water JUST so the (R)ushpublickins can be right. I guess they think John McCain wasn’t tortured then, or if he was, at least he was, justifiably.
.
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:33 pmRof. McCain straight busted them idiots over at Faux Noise’s bubble. You could just hear the air come out of Greta’s body. Notice how quick she got off of the subject of torture and kept trying to bring up other sidebar issues. Hilarious. McCaine didn’t buy of on any of her BS. Bet Faux Noise won’t invite him on again.LOL At least not about the subject of torture.LOL Great stuff!!!
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 pmProsecute the anti-christ Cheney now!! The people demand it!!
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:41 pmMan… McCain…? Really? Hardly a conservative republican… your media chose McCain and Obama last year, not conservatives. I am a Marine and use to be a McCain fan until his little stint with immigration reform. How the media got him into place, and Obama when Clinton and Romney held the edge is still a mystery.
How is that ‘change’ working for ya? Obama is faster than Bush though… What took Bush eight years to do, create a deficit of 1 trillion, was tripled by Obama in only 1 month. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid will make it easy to take it back in 2010… :)
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:12 pmI’d be more than happy to waterboard Cheney myself. He does not think it’s torture so he won’t have a problem.
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:11 pmI had seen that news while i was preparing for my EX0-101 exam.
May 25th, 2009 at 2:43 am