Friday, May 22, 2009

Deal Or No Deal


So another right-wing talker gets waterboarded. This guy lasted six seconds. Before, he'd been saying it's not torture. After, he decided it is. Fine.

Notice, if you watch the video, that he got to sit up and call it off as soon as he crumped. That's okay, I guess; I don't want the guy to die. (Never heard of him; maybe if I had, I would.) But here's what I'd like to see. Let one of these macho chickenhawks (still waiting for Hannity) agree to it under more real circumstances: tied down. No bailing in a few seconds, no sitting up, not stopping until the "operator" decides to. And how about this: you'll be waterboarded until you say "Barack Obama is a great president and George Bush sucked." Write it down and sign it. Let's not worry whether it's torture. Let's just see if it can be used to make a self-righteous blowhard say something he doesn't believe.

Any guesses? Would anyone take up the challenge? Would anyone refuse to cop? If they signed, would it change minds about using it?

No.

No.

And no.
.

18 comments:

  1. I think thats why its NOT torture...REAL torture lasts for hours, days, or weeks... or maybe even just 6 seconds, like the last rectal exam I had... Guy was double jointed with Howard Hughes finger nails... decided I'll take my risk with the Prostate Cancer...
    My Word Verification is "Gay train"....Dammit! how do you do that???

    Frank

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  2. KSM lasted 183 times. Not torture...not enough, anyway.

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  3. Quite possibly, anon, KSM was too stupid to figure out what lies they wanted him tell. I'm sure you would have figured it out on the first try.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Some would consider Gay Sex torture...
    just sayin...
    Thats why I lost 20lbs and told everyone I had the AIDS when I was in the joint...
    Would having Andrew Sullivan do the Interrogations be considered torture????
    I'd make a friggin St. Crispin's day speach to get away from that perv...

    My "How to write" book said to work in a Shakespeare reference today...

    Frank.

    my word verificaton is "Colon Blow".... you can't tell me this is randomly generated...

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  6. Looks as if the video link is gone from your post and Andrew Sullivan's as well.

    Erich "Mancow" Muller is fairly well known as a young "out-there" conservative radio broadcaster in Chicago. He must have his devoted followers. Thankfully, I am not one of them.

    When Don Imus' radio show was simulcast nationally on MSNBC, Mancow would appear with his hyperactive act on a split-screen. They would schmooze together. Since Imus in the Morning occupied the 3AM to 6AM Pacific timeslot on weekdays (since replaced by Morning Joe Scarborough), it was only by ill luck that I would be forced to watch him.

    I saw the clip. Please don't try that on me, in any of its forms. Although I love to swim and snorkel, I do not scuba dive due to claustrophobia. Add thanatophobia to that. I would probably admit that "up" was "down" under torture. Hey, some conservatives do that now!

    Thank you for your service to our country on this Memorial Day weekend.

    Warm regards,

    EK

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  7. Hi Sid --

    YouTube has the entire sequence with Mancow broken down into Part 1 and Part 2.

    Search for "Mancow waterboarded" if you want to fix your link. He really sounded shaken up.

    EK

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  8. anon -

    No, he didn't last 183 times. He was tortured that many times because Cheney is a sadist. Does that make you feel better?

    --Sam Spade

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  9. Sorry Spade, I forgot Cheney was there watching. So he didn't last for 183 times?

    --Confused

    PS--did the attack on LA ever happen? That's right! It didn't! LA can say "thank you, Mr. Cheney" whenever it's ready.

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  10. "FBI Director Robert Mueller told Vanity Fair magazine in December that he didn't think that the techniques disrupted any attacks."

    Stop making shit up, you stupid git.

    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/68643.html

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  11. If Cheney wasn't watching than he isn't a sadist? That's an interesting defense. Incidentally they had a policy of videotaping these "interrogations," so even that feeble argument isn't necessarily right.

    The only "attacks" your crew averted were the martial arts clowns in Florida and the Golden Gate Bridge thing. How about the Presidential Daily Briefing of August 2001, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US", specifically mentioning airplanes as weapons? How did Boy Wonder react to that? Right, he did absolutely nothing. Then he read My Pet Goat while NYC burned, assuming of course that Cheney would handle it. Then he invaded the wrong country. Bin Laden is free. How much worse a job could he possibly do?

    --Sam Spade

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  12. "Presidential Daily Briefing of August 2001"

    Maybe this is just a little vague, ya' think? "Guy going to attack US" Alert! Alert! Check all airplanes!

    "Bin Laden is free."

    He's living in a cave, on the run, afraid to use his cell phone because that brings death from the sky. Enjoy your freedom. Stick your head up and we'll waterboard you, too.

    "you stupid git"

    Have I insulted anyone on this list? You display your childishness with this comment.

    Say it with me: "Thank you, Mr. Cheney, for keeping me safe."

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  13. "Maybe this is just a little vague, ya' think? 'Guy going to attack US' Alert! Alert! Check all airplanes!"

    No it's not. The intelligence community showed at least come competence in predicting the attack. They relayed this to Bush, and he did nothing, despite how you crow about his national security cred.

    Much more damning of course is this, which will forever hang around your neck like the carcass of an albatross:

    "Be glad of the good news: America is mired in the swamps of the Tigris and Euphrates. Bush is, through Iraq and its oil, easy prey. Here is he now, thank God, in an embarrassing situation and here is America today being ruined before the eyes of the whole world."
    --Osama bin Laden, Oct 18, 2003

    Mission accomplished, no?

    "[Bin Laden] is living in a cave, on the run, afraid to use his cell phone because that brings death from the sky. Enjoy your freedom. Stick your head up and we'll waterboard you, too."

    First, you don't know that. Second, even if it is true, it's completely unsatisfying. You are an apologist. You would be rightfully outraged were it a Dem that fumbled his capture. It's grotesque, instead of pursuing the man behind 911, Boy Wonder invades a country that is relatively secular, and thus a foe to Bin Laden. Your boy was egregiously outmatched. As I said, many of us who actually understand what are competence and credentials never entertained the notion that he'd be an effective leader.

    As for itching to waterboard Bin Laden, do you not have any understanding or regard for your heritage from the enlightenment? We are to endeavor to be a nation of laws, but you are acting the vengeful sadist.

    --Sam Spade

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  14. I guess it's possible bin Laden is living at Barney Frank's house. Bush has been such easy prey that...never mind! Nothing happened! That's your "easy prey"?

    "Did nothing". Help us out there. He should have....................?

    Okay, don't waterboard him. Make his live at Barney Frank's house. Barney will take out his...revenge.

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  15. Here's the only part of you post that I understand:

    "[Bush] 'Did nothing'. Help us out there. He should have."

    And it could not be easier to answer. Had he simply been proactive enough to tell the public that he suspected an attack on the US involving hijacking an airplane (the PDB mentioned that), then the plot would have been mostly foiled. We know this because, once warned, the passengers of the final 911 plane rose up against their attackers.

    Do you have any more questions?

    --Sam Spade

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  16. Well, I guess you're right. That darn Bush should just have announced to the nation that there would be an attack on an airplane somewhere in the country or incoming international flight, sometime in the next...year? two years? Hard to guarantee within a month...and that would have solved the problem. Passengers could have watched for Muslim men with box knives and taken them out immediately.

    I wonder if that was the only threat assessment ever put on Bush's desk. I wonder if any have been put on Obama's desk? If so, why hasn't he announced them?

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  17. "Bush should just have announced to the nation that there would be an attack on an airplane... Passengers could have ... taken them out immediately."

    Actually yes, as happend on the flight 93 which missed the White House. The passengers on it learned via cell phone what was going on and overpowered their captors. Too bad Bush didn't warn the entire nation, maybe the WTC and Pentagon would have been spared.

    --Sam Spade

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  18. "Have I insulted anyone on this list?"

    Yes.

    You insulted the intelligence of your readers by posting thoughtless drivel.

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