Posted on 11/10/2010 9:58:19 PM PST by RC one
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States must prosecute former President George W. Bush for torture if his admission in a memoir that he authorized waterboarding holds true, rights group Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
In "Decision Points," published this week, Bush defended his decision to authorize waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning condemned by some as torture.
Bush said the practice was limited to three detainees and led to intelligence breakthroughs that thwarted attacks and saved lives. He told NBC in an interview to publicize the book that his legal adviser had told him it did "not fall within the anti-torture act."
Amnesty International's Senior Director Claudio Cordone said in a statement: "Under international law, anyone involved in torture must be brought to justice, and that does not exclude former President George W. Bush
"If his admission is substantiated, the U.S.A. has the obligation to prosecute him," he said. "In the absence of a U.S. investigation, other states must step in and carry out such an investigation themselves
Waterboarding was banned by Bush's successor, President Barack Obama, shortly after he took office in 2009. Interrogators are now required to follow interrogation guidelines laid out in the U.S. Army Field Manual, which excludes the practice.
Bush wrote that waterboarding was first approved for Abu Zubaydah, an al Qaeda figure arrested in Pakistan in 2002 who was suspected of involvement in a plot to attack Los Angeles International Airport.
When Abu Zubaydah stopped answering questions from the FBI, CIA Director George Tenet told Bush he thought the detainee had more information to offer. Bush wrote that there were two techniques, which he did not describe, that he felt went too far even though they were legal and he ordered that they not be used. But he approved the use of waterboarding. "No doubt the procedure was tough...
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
"Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not in some ways differ significantly from the country that existed almost 50 years ago. This is truly sad."
--- Eric Holder
I wouldn't be surprised if Dubya put that mention in his book, as a way of sticking it to them. Sort of saying, "Come and get me, you SOBs!"
Ain't gonna happen, of course. They can eat dust.
wtf? [blinks rapidly] What's the context of that comment, please? Clearly I missed the antecedent.
Come and get him, Holder.
The Democrat Party will collapse into 100 years of darkness.
Let’s waterboard Amnesty for supporting terrorists!
When’s the last time those clowns objected to an act of terror?
Amnesty International, also like many journalists, think they are another branch of Gov’t, and are above the law or beyond harm or risk themselves.
Oh shut up, AI.
So, did these people EVER get upset about MaryJo????
Hypocrites.
Heh, love “Spooky Dude” - such an applicable name... Beck has this part right...
Yes, this is just another stupid probe by the left...
I’m not shocked “W” ordered waterboarding the bast — the 9/11 enemies... I refrain only because of a sense of decorum, not because I believe anyone would object to that title being applied to Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
Amnesty International, the Hague and any other international bunch — or the Justice Department for that matter — can go ahead and just TRY to indict and try “W” on such a charge. You ain’t SEEN trouble and angry like you’d see if they attempted to march him in for merely DEFENDING OUR NATION. A lot of folks didn’t like Bush — I disagreed with him on a number of issues — but THAT!? That would be tantamount to treason on a number of levels — a betrayal of our own SELF DEFENSE, not just of one man!
bomb those f*****s and call it an accident. hehehe
Just another Holder quote. There are many out there. Just gotta look.
I dare them to try and arrest him.
Many Americans, and especially Texans, will take up arms to stop them.
It would not be pretty.
This entire group can GTH and take the Marxist-democrat party owned by George Soros with them.
Prosecute President Bush for water-boarding Moselm terrorists? LOL.
He did his duty as CIC. BRAVO and THANK YOU, PRESIDENT BUSH!
“Whens the last time those clowns objected to an act of terror?”
I think it was right after NOW objected to the islamic treatment of women.
“Many Americans, and especially Texans, will take up arms to stop them.”
Americans, and especially Texans would do nothing. No one does anything any more except for ...
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/29/99817/3-decades-on-who-killed-skidmores.html
This denunciation of supposed torture (water boarding, etc.) and torturers proceeds from believing that political capital and moral authority can be harvested at a safe distance by berating people who put themselves in harms way on our behalf. To regard such actions as criminal requires asymmetrical morality, undefiled by any perception of danger to ourselves or others. Placating those who covet such a luxurious, dilemma-free type of morality requires we ignore military and intelligence professionals who face shrewd, ruthless enemies in a conflict fraught with frightening uncertainties.
Terrorists remain unresponsive to direct questioning and psychological gambits. Effective interrogation necessitates also applying all stress and coercion techniques the same techniques our military encounters in survival schools. Effective interrogation requires combining these techniques within a continually confused and uncertain environment. If the only information obtained is a confession or an assumed desired answer, then incorrect questions have been asked.
Intelligence acquired by these means remains as unreliable as that obtained from satellite surveillance or double agents. Independent verification still leaves intelligence officers lingering in a purgatory of distorted certitude with critical hazards only conquered through the resolute leadership of commanders.
Rep. Peter DeFazio quoted to me 20 former Army interrogators saying that abuse and torture of prisoners and detainees should be avoided at all costs. I find that disturbing, because on Sept. 11, 2001, we were prepared to shoot down any civilian airliner that did not land immediately, regardless of its crews assertions.
Theres an incredible moral disconnect here: We were prepared to kill our own citizens on 9/11, but were forbidden to subject terrorists to severe discomfort that might prevent extravagant murder and destruction. At what point in the application of chemical, biological and atomic weapons to our society must we protect the American people at all costs?
They would need an army to get to GW. There would be many Patriots there protectng him. Me included...
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