Posted on 04/17/2009 10:42:01 AM PDT by Schnucki
The White House has insisted that President Obama was reluctant to release documents detailing harsh CIA interrogation techniques that were kept secret by the Bush Administration.
Four memos published last night showed that terror suspects had been subjected to tactics that included being slammed against walls while wearing a special plastic neck collar, kept awake for up to 11 straight days, simulation drowning known as "waterboarding" and being placed in a dark, cramped box.
Senior officials explained that the President felt compelled to release the information because of a court case under the Freedom of Information act which ordered the Administration to reveal the treatment of prisoners interrogated by CIA agents.
Denis McDonough, the Deputy National Security Advisor, said: “The President believes that this court proceeding, a legal proceeding, required him to take this action.”
Nine additional documents were released by the Administration last month and more are expected to follow as a result of legal action taken by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“He would have preferred to not have spent the last month methodically working through this issue,” Mr McDonough told Fox News. “I think that he would have preferred to have to have moved beyond this. But the fact is there is a court case and the President believes that he, out of respect for transparency and the rule of law, had to take this step.”
The memos showed that the Justice Department also approved exploiting one detainee's fear of insects by putting caterpillars in the box with him. Others were kept naked and cold for long periods, denied food, shackled for prolonged periods or had their family threatened.
Many senior figures in the Obama Administration, as well as human rights groups, believe that such practices amount to torture.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Typical for this administration. When the blowback starts, they backtrack.
You mean none of these guys were forced to watch their 10 year old daughters get gang raped and then flayed alive? Nobody had to watch their friends and family being fed feet first into a wood chipper? Nobody had their fingernails and toenails pulled out? Somebody needs to tell the obama administration what torture really is in the real world!
He did it because he is a muslim.
LLS
No, Obama wants you to think that he was reluctant to do it. As usual, he tries to be as vague as possible so that both sides can think he’s on their side.
Looks like someone is regretting a bad decision.
How about something on Whiskey Island. It’s the paradise isle of Cleveland!
Bravo Sierra!
Zero is still running against Bush and trying to placate the
move on types. This release of information is a violation of
law if not Treason.
‘TOTUS is a bigger liar than bubba.’
TOTUS is much more dangerous to this country than Bubba.
Ha!
Bullshit!
the only thing he is reluctant to is showing his birth certificate.
They can insist all they want, but we know it isn't true. Obama is in office because of dirty Soros money, and Soros is one of the biggest Bush haters on the planet. You can tell he has a bunch of Clinton flunkies in his admin, since they're still using the "I've never worked harder to..." BS statement to cover their tracks.
Sure.
Like I’ve said before, I do not believe anything this assclown says about any subject.
I do not like him and I want him to jump off the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
Right wing extremist, gun owning Christian, veteran here.
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