Posted on 05/13/2011 6:59:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
This is getting really good. As noted below, John McCain in an Op ed this morning skewered the claim that the killing of Bin Laden vindicates torture. But just now, on the Senate floor, he uncorked a new broadside that is quite remarkable, taking direct aim at Bush apologists who are reviving this debate in order to claim Bin Laden’s death as part of the Bush legacy.
McCain amplified his case, and called on former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey — whose recent op ed claiming torture led to Bin Laden has been widely cited by the right — to retract his claims. McCain’s speech is worth quoting at length:
“With so much misinformation being fed into such an essential public debate as this one, I asked the Director of Central Intelligence, Leon Panetta, for the facts. And I received the following information:
“The trail to bin Laden did not begin with a disclosure from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times. We did not first learn from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the real name of bin Laden’s courier, or his alias, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti — the man who ultimately enabled us to find bin Laden. The first mention of the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, as well as a description of him as an important member of Al-Qaeda, came from a detainee held in another country. The United States did not conduct this detainee’s interrogation, nor did we render him to that country for the purpose of interrogation. We did not learn Abu Ahmed’s real name or alias as a result of waterboarding or any ‘enhanced interrogation technique’ used on a detainee in U.S. custody. None of the three detainees who were waterboarded provided Abu Ahmed’s real name, his whereabouts, or an accurate description of his role in Al-Qaeda."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
For Obama, McCain is the gift that just keeps giving.
Juan will probably be on at least half the Sunday morning shows this weekend. They just love it when he stabs his own party in the back.
We never tortured anyone.
I despise McCain. He’s always been pathologically jealous of Bush. I don’t know if it started when Bush beat him for the nomination in 2000 or before.
And he’s an inconsistent nutcase.
Too late McCain/MSM. The Obama administration already admitted that enhanced interrogation led to Bin Laden. The MSM couldn’t find a conservative to spout their revisionist history, so they use McCain instead.
Imagine, this moron could be President. What the hell was the Republican Party thinking of? No wonder the Tea Party emerged.
Why, oh why,
did Arizonans send this man back to the Senate?
The word RINO is very over used and abused on this forum and others, but THIS is what a true RINO is. A true RINO is one who throws the party and the cause and the philosophy under the bus as a way to promote himself.
That’s exactly what McCain is doing here. He is being the quintessential RINO because he knows his mainstream media buddies will eat it up and it will diminish credit to Bush, Cheney and Rummy - three folks he is jealous of and despises.
I’m sorry. I don’t buy McCain as a hero. I just don’t see any evidence today that heroism was ever in this man. Maybe it was, but if it was, it has all leached out .
The day John McCain passes on, I will celebrate with the same enthusiasm reserved for the passing of Ted Kennedy.
Proof that retired people will send anyone back to office as long as they are promised SS and Medicare forever, no matter who takes it up the -— for the cost.
Panetta’s story, this version, is stating that the information did not come from a source in US custody.
Panettas is careful not to say that the source held in another country on the US’s behalf was tortured for the information.
Panetta’s story, this version, is stating that the information did not come from a source in US custody.
Panettas is careful not to say that the source held in another country on the US’s behalf was tortured for the information.
Man-churian candy-date
“The trail to bin Laden did not begin with a disclosure from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed”
Does not refute anything. Ok, it didn’t ‘begin’ with Khalid...but could they have found Bin Laden without Khalid?
And the other part is rich - we didn’t torture the guy, we just sent him to a foreign prison...and he decided to talk. I have a sneaky suspicion that many people in these foreign prisons long for the easy-going days of Gitmo, and would gladly do a few waterboarding sessions, over the treatment they are getting.
And this is where McCain’s logic is flawed. I know he was beat and pain was inflicted on him in prison...waterboarding is not the same. There has to be a bright line between what is a useful technique and what is torture...somewhere as you progress from yelling, dark rooms, slapping, punching, water-boarding, and pulling out finger nails. McCain draws the line at waterboarding. I draw it at pulling finger nails (maybe).
We need to honor McCain’s sacrifice in the torture prisons of N. Vietnam but the fact is he cannot be trusted to be objective about the subject because of it.
Why doesn’t this old fool retire already.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.