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The Torture Memos

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  • Registered Users Posts: 83,309 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    My opinion? It doesnt look very honest when you need to scramble through your paperwork to find your own words.

    The fact that you wont offer up your own opinion confirms to me that you agree, or at the very least, do not disagree.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    No, that's another opinion. It is your opinion that she looked like she was hiding something. I have not given my opinion on the press conference, and I won't, because my opinion doesn't affect the facts one way or the other.

    Really? Acting erratic is the mark of a person with nothing to hide. :rolleyes:
    It is very cute that you can't possibly see anything other than your point of view, though.

    And that makes me different from you and just anybody else on this forum how?


  • Registered Users Posts: 83,309 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    It is very cute that you can't possibly see anything other than your point of view, though.
    When the other view is irrational I can see why he mightn't?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    Thanks Overheal.


  • Registered Users Posts: 990 ✭✭✭LostinKildare


    Overheal, am I right that your argument boils down to this:

    1. She is lying about what she was told in the September 2002 briefing because she seemed to be acting guilty in her recent press conferences

    and

    2. Even if she was not told at that time, as a member of the intelligence committee, it was her job to know what the CIA hadn't told her


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    Overheal, am I right that your argument boils down to this:

    1. She is lying about what she was told in the September 2002 briefing because she seemed to be acting guilty in her recent press conferences

    and

    2. Even if she was not told at that time, as a member of the intelligence committee, it was her job to know what the CIA hadn't told her

    Your still grasping at straws here. You're clutching to your belief that she is innocent at this point.


  • Registered Users Posts: 990 ✭✭✭LostinKildare


    JohnMc1 wrote: »
    Your still grasping at straws here. You're clutching to your belief that she is innocent at this point.


    JohnMc1, I'm asking Overheal to clarify his/her argument.

    I am not making any argument of my own.

    Overheal?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    Since the liberals love to use the "Where were you for 8 years" card when discussing the Tea Party protestors I'm going to turn the table so to speak.

    Where were you when Bill Clinton had suspected Terrorists sent to Egypt and had them subjected to renditions [Ie real torture not dousing 3 Top AQ officers, or keeping the lights on at night to cause sleep deprevation]

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1539284.htm

    http://adisgruntledrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/05/bill-clintons-rendition-to-torture.html


  • Registered Users Posts: 990 ✭✭✭LostinKildare


    You make a good point.

    Knowing that the Clinton administration did extraordinary renditions, do you think then that

    * there should be investigation of all of the past crimes of rendition, torture, and other crimes, looking not just at the Bush administration but also at Clinton's and whoever else (I read somewhere that Reagan did this too but I'm not sure about that. might have been only kidnapping/rendition without torture)

    or

    * because both parties are guilty of these war crimes, we shouldn't investigate any of them

    I think the former, but I'm interested in hearing what you all think


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    You make a good point.

    Knowing that the Clinton administration did extraordinary renditions, do you think then that

    * there should be investigation of all of the past crimes of rendition, torture, and other crimes, looking not just at the Bush administration but also at Clinton's and whoever else (I read somewhere that Reagan did this too but I'm not sure about that. might have been only kidnapping/rendition without torture)

    or

    * because both parties are guilty of these war crimes, we shouldn't investigate any of them

    I think the former, but I'm interested in hearing what you all think

    I would be interested in that. If people are crying about Bush being tried for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity then they should be willing to try Clinton as well. The Renditions under the Clinton admin made the Bush admin look humane in comparison.

    Unfortunately this whole Waterboarding is nothing more than an excuse to bash Bush.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,088 ✭✭✭Ruskie4Rent


    JohnMc1 wrote: »
    Since the liberals love to use the "Where were you for 8 years" card when discussing the Tea Party protestors I'm going to turn the table so to speak.

    Where were you when Bill Clinton had suspected Terrorists sent to Egypt and had them subjected to renditions [Ie real torture not dousing 3 Top AQ officers, or keeping the lights on at night to cause sleep deprevation]

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1539284.htm

    http://adisgruntledrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/05/bill-clintons-rendition-to-torture.html

    Its not just liberals that using that card, actual conservatives that are consistant with their beliefs on economic policy are too.

    You raise a good point about blind partisanship though. The torture issue, and the tea parties are both good examples of people on both sides not needing a well thought out reason to support/oppose something.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭JohnMc1


    Its not just liberals that using that card, actual conservatives that are consistant with their beliefs on economic policy are too.

    You raise a good point about blind partisanship though. The torture issue, and the tea parties are both good examples of people on both sides not needing a well thought out reason to support/oppose something.

    Thank You. I'm all for discussion on it. If people want to discuss torture, fine but let's be honest and across the board with it. The Dems and their supporters want to go after the Bush admin but fail to mention the Clinton renditions.

    If they're doing this for the sake of humanity they should offer up Bill Clinton as well. Clinton is just as guilty as Bush is/was.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 798 ✭✭✭bobbyjoe


    JohnMc1 wrote: »
    Thank You. I'm all for discussion on it. If people want to discuss torture, fine but let's be honest and across the board with it. The Dems and their supporters want to go after the Bush admin but fail to mention the Clinton renditions.

    If they're doing this for the sake of humanity they should offer up Bill Clinton as well. Clinton is just as guilty as Bush is/was.

    Excuse 1: We don't torture
    Excuse 2: Waterboarding isn't torture
    Excuse 3: Pelosi knew she did it too.
    Excuse 4: Waaaa Clinton.

    If you break the law pay the price simple.


  • Registered Users Posts: 83,309 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    Overheal, am I right that your argument boils down to this:

    1. She is lying about what she was told in the September 2002 briefing because she seemed to be acting guilty in her recent press conferences

    and

    2. Even if she was not told at that time, as a member of the intelligence committee, it was her job to know what the CIA hadn't told her
    I believe she started by saying I know nothing! Then "I wasn't informed" and then finally "I was briefed, but never told." :confused:
    WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused the CIA and Bush administration of misleading her at a secret 2002 briefing on the use of harsh interrogations in the war on terror.


    CIA records suggest that Pelosi, D-Calif., was told at that time that the Bush administration was using waterboarding — a simulated drowning. Pelosi, however, said on May 14 that spy agency officials specifically informed her at that session that the practice was not used.


    The CIA's records on the subject are vague. Here is a brief timeline on the conflicting accounts of what Pelosi knew, and when:


    _Sept. 4, 2002: Pelosi, then the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and the panel's Republican chairman, former Rep. Porter J. Goss of Florida, are briefed on the use of harsh interrogation methods in the war on terror. CIA records describe the subject of the secret briefing as "enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah ... and a description of the particular EITs that had been employed." The Bush administration acknowledged in 2008 that Zubaydah had been waterboarded, and documents subsequently revealed that the method was used on him at least 82 times in August 2002. Pelosi said on May 14 that briefers at the 2002 meeting told her that the administration had deemed the harsh tactics legal, but that they specifically said that they had not used waterboarding.

    _Feb. 5, 2003: Pelosi, now House minority leader, is informed by a top aide who sits in on a secret briefing of Goss and the new senior Democrat on the Intelligence panel, Rep. Jane Harman of California, that the administration has used harsh interrogation techniques including waterboarding. She is informed that Harman is lodging a formal written protest of the practice in a letter to the CIA.

    _Dec. 9, 2007: Pelosi, now the House speaker, first publicly acknowledges having been briefed on enhanced interrogation techniques in 2002 and learning in 2003 of their use. Responding to a news report that said Pelosi was among top lawmakers who had been briefed in 2002 about waterboarding, she issues a statement saying she had been briefed once in 2002 "on interrogation techniques the administration was considering using in the future," and told that Bush's team "had concluded that the techniques were legal." She also acknowledges learning in 2003 that Harman had been briefed that "the techniques had in fact been employed." She references Harman's letter of objection and says it was "a protest with which I concurred."

    _April 23, 2009: Pelosi for the first time directly denies having been told at the 2002 briefing that waterboarding or other harsh interrogation techniques had been used. After the Senate Intelligence Committee releases a timeline showing that key lawmakers in both parties had been briefed at that time about the use of waterboarding on terrorism detainees, Pelosi tells reporters she was not one of them: "We were not — I repeat, were not — told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," Pelosi said. She says again that she was told then that the administration had concluded the practices were legal.

    _May 6, 2009: CIA Director Leon Panetta tells lawmakers in a letter to the Intelligence Committee that he can't vouch for the accuracy of the CIA records that describe what Pelosi and other lawmakers were told about enhanced interrogation techniques. It's up to the Intelligence Committee to "determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what actually happened," he writes.

    _May 7, 2009: Pelosi's spokesman says she stands by her account of the 2002 briefing, and for the first time says that at that session Pelosi was told specifically that waterboarding had not been used. "The briefers described these techniques, said they were legal, but said that waterboarding had not yet been used," said spokesman Brendan Daly.

    _May 14, 2009: Pelosi herself says for the first time that she was specifically told in 2002 that waterboarding had not been used, and accuses the CIA of misleading her and the Congress. She also confirms that she learned of its use in February 2003. CIA Spokesman George Little says the CIA's description of Pelosi's briefing was "true to the language in the agency's records," adding, "It is not the policy of this agency to mislead the United States Congress."

    _May 15, 2009: Panetta tells CIA employees in a message that agency records show CIA officers briefed lawmakers truthfully in 2002 on methods of interrogating terrorism suspects, but it is up to Congress to reach its own conclusions about what happened. "Let me be clear. It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress," Panetta writes.

    _May 21, 2009: The House rejects a Republican resolution to create a bipartisan panel to investigate Pelosi's assertion that the CIA misled her in 2002 about whether waterboarding had been used. Two Republicans, Ron Paul of Texas and Walter Jones of North Carolina join Democrats in voting 252-172 to block the measure.
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irtq7phKqJifevFvYeZqhg8s5pWQD98BFJP00

    The CIA memo for the 2002 briefing reads verbatim:

    “Briefing on EITs including use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah, background on authorities, and a description of the particular EITs that had been employed.





    .

    Her integrity is now in serious question, imo.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 13,018 ✭✭✭✭jank


    I know how we can solve all this. Have a truth commision. Investigate everything. Will the GOP like this?? Hell no!

    Its really interesting how the narrative has turned from water boarding is torture, no it isnt...to pelosi knew, pelosi knew!

    AND? Do we just wash it all under the rug.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,336 ✭✭✭Mr.Micro


    jank wrote: »
    I know how we can solve all this. Have a truth commision. Investigate everything. Will the GOP like this?? Hell no!

    Its really interesting how the narrative has turned from water boarding is torture, no it isnt...to pelosi knew, pelosi knew!

    AND? Do we just wash it all under the rug.

    Well I find it hard to believe that Pelosi and many other Democrats did not know. Its their business to know things otherwise how could they be effective opposition?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 798 ✭✭✭bobbyjoe


    Mr.Micro wrote: »
    Well I find it hard to believe that Pelosi and many other Democrats did not know. Its their business to know things otherwise how could they be effective opposition?

    They can't know these things if they are not told. Thats pretty much the whole issue. It is not in the incumbent party's interest to have an effective opposition.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,336 ✭✭✭Mr.Micro


    bobbyjoe wrote: »
    They can't know these things if they are not told. Thats pretty much the whole issue. It is not in the incumbent party's interest to have an effective opposition.
    Agreed it is not incumbent on an opposition party to know what is going on but to be effective they should.
    An effective opposition knows mostly what is going on, they are supposed to have shadow defence secretary, health, economy etc to keep up with every department of the Government, so it beggars belief that Pelosi did not know. Do not believe a word of it. What can she do but deny knowledge at this stageas to admit it would be incredibly damaging to the Democrats


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 13,018 ✭✭✭✭jank


    Mr.Micro wrote: »
    Well I find it hard to believe that Pelosi and many other Democrats did not know. Its their business to know things otherwise how could they be effective opposition?

    I find it hard to believe that Bush and the GOP did not know that Iraq didn't have WMD's. It is their business to know things before going to war, otherwise how could they be effective in government?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,336 ✭✭✭Mr.Micro


    jank wrote: »
    I find it hard to believe that Bush and the GOP did not know that Iraq didn't have WMD's. It is their business to know things before going to war, otherwise how could they be effective in government?

    Bush and his crew did know that Iraq was not a major threat and had no WMD, the dog in the street knows that. It was all a charade and for months before the war " Bush and his bit.h Blair constantly said we have proof but never got round to showing it. Remember the pretendy presentation by Colin Powell at the UN. Since they found nothing leading up to the war, there was nothing, even Blix siad so but the war was not going to be postponed as Bush and Blair were not going to be disappointed.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Mr.Micro wrote: »
    Bush and his crew did know that Iraq was not a major threat and had no WMD, the dog in the street knows that. It was all a charade and for months before the war " Bush and his bit.h Blair constantly said we have proof but never got round to showing it. Remember the pretendy presentation by Colin Powell at the UN. Since they found nothing leading up to the war, there was nothing, even Blix siad so but the war was not going to be postponed as Bush and Blair were not going to be disappointed.

    Well, they had the confessions elicited by means of torture, which is what this is all about really.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 99 ✭✭ozhawk66


    Mr.Micro wrote: »
    Bush and his crew did know that Iraq was not a major threat and had no WMD,


    For that to be true, then Saddam had to be the one telling the truth all along.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    ozhawk66 wrote: »
    For that to be true, then Saddam had to be the one telling the truth all along.

    Yup.


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