Does torture work?

It is public knowledge now that the Bush administration used brutal torture procedures on 9/11 suspects and other detainees – such as water-boarding and sleep deprivation. This method of torture is illegal under the U.S. laws. Since these illegal activities by the Bush administration many experts have come forward and stated that torture does not work and that a person being tortured would say whatever investigators want to hear. A former CIA operative Glenn L. Carle wrote a book on the subject matter. In his book he clearly states that torture does not work and he states:

“The methods that worked were the same ones that work in classic intelligence operations: establishing a rapport with the individual, understanding his fears, hopes, interests, quirks. It is a psychological task, very similar to what one should do when establishing any human relationship.”

More about Glenn L. Carle.

Now a former director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr wrote a book “Hard Measures” in which he states that torture works. I believe he is trying to protect his own butts as he himself might have been involved in torture practices directly or indirectly.

I believe torture does not work and Bush and his cronies committed crimes against humanity. In the process they have endangered their own soldiers who in captivity might be tortured too since Bush administration felt it was justified.

Read more about Jose A. Rodriguez and his interview with the 60 Minutes of CBS.

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George W. Bush inflicts another injury to US and its soldiers

Recently Bush said that he was aware of the torture of detainees and approved of it. Keith Olbermann and his guest Matthew Alexander discuss the consequences of such statements by the former President Bush. I was expecting that Olbermann would say, “that man is an idiot” because unquestionably Bush is an idiot.

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Elena Kagan: Is she pro-torture?

Very interesting discussion on Elena Kagan - the Obama nominee for Supreme Court. Is she too conservative? Her position on Bush/Cheney treatment of detainees is not clear. Did she approve of long illegal detentions, without cause, at Guantánamo Bay? Did she approve of torture? And her views on many other progressive issues are not clear. Countdown, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC.

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Torture of Afghan Detainees: Déjà vu all over again

Watch the videos here and here as reported by CBC.

First it was US where “enhance interogation” techniques (torture) against war detainees was the controversary. It looks that Harper took a chapter out of George W. Bush’s "torture book" and similar tecniques were used against Afghan detainees through Afghan authorities.

“Amir Attaran University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran says Canadian officials intentionally handed over Afghan detainees to be tortured in order to gather intelligence.” CBC.

Where is all this going? Is appointing retired Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci, to review documents for release, going to delay matters as the cat is already out of the bag.

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Rick Hillier: What now?

Rick Hillier categorily denied that there was any torture of Afghan detainees handed over to Afghan security by the Canadian military. Gen. Walter Natynczyk said the same thing initially but then changed his story on Wednesday. Now he says there were a few cases. What happens to the credibility of Rick Hillier now, and to that of his political bosses Stephen Harper and Peter Mackay. The opposition is asking for Peter Mackay's resignation. It looks he knowingly might have misled Parliament and hence the Canadian people.

It is not a pretty picture. You may read Gen. Walter Natynczyk's story here. However, since this story broke he further inidcated that there were more similar cases. What a disgrace that Canada is being given this kind of reputation and how hard Harper and Mackay are trying to cover it up. The plot thickens. It is extremely important that there is a public inquiry.

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Mazair Bahari and torture

Let me first say that it is unfortunate that Mr. Bahari was arrested in Iran for no obvious reasons and imprisoned and tortured as he says. It is wrong and Iranians should be made accountable for it. It is good that he is back with his family and newly born child.

However, why are media in the U.S making so much fuss about Bahari? That Fareed Zakaria guy goes on and on. Mr. Bahari was on Zakaria's show on the previous Sunday and he repeated his interview this Sunday; constantly chastising Iran and telling the world how barbaric he thinks Iranians are. I think this Zakaria is full of hot air. What about the torture of Iraqis and Afghanis in their own country in full view of occupying U.S forces? Bush and his poodles Harper of Canada and Blair of Britain were in cahoots with each other and they carried out this war in the name of God. What kind of God is He that blesses the actions of Bush, Blair and Harper and does nothing about Iraqis and Afghanis? No wonder people feel so cynical about religion. Are Iraqis and Afghanis not humans? Does the rest of humanity not matter? The stupidity of humans at the highest levels of society is breath taking.

As far Zakaria is concerned, maybe he wants to please his bosses at CNN. He should take his butts out of his cocoon and go to Iraq and Afghanistan to interview detainees there who were tortured. Are we in Canada and US not equally barbarian that we are letting it happen? He must go to Iraq and Afghanistan and interview those whose loved ones have been murdered in front of their eyes and have been tortured too. What happened to "all humans are created equal" since Bush, Harper and Tony Blair are so religious and worshippers of God.

The best way U.S., Canada and Europe can influence the rest of the world is through example and NOT through brutality, murder and mayhem. As far as Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Stephen Harper and Tony Blair are concerned they may think that they are more evolved than rest of the humanity but in reality they are nothing more than a bunch of buffoons, and dangerous ones at that.

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Mulroney Again: Oh no!

Did we not deal with a Mulroney before?

Brian Mulroney said at one point in time that he did not do this and that, or say this and that with regards to Karlheinz Schreiber and money exchanging hands. It turned out that he did all that and said all that. Strange now David Mulroney, one time Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs to Harper and currently ambassador to China, is saying there was no torture of detainees in Afghanistan, claiming he didn't know anything about it. Moreover, he says he does not know what Richard Colvin is talking about. Can we believe this Mulroney now? Is this guy related to Brian Mulroney. Déjà vu all over again.

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Peter Mackay: Writing is on the Wall

Peter Mackay keeps saying that allegations that Afghan detainees handed over to Afghans were tortured cannot be substantiated by facts. What facts? Would he care to elaborate?

Peter, for Pete sake, the writing is on the wall. Your own senior diplomat is saying it happened. His fellow diplomats here in Canada and Europe are backing him up. Media in Canada and Britain are saying that this is the case. Even a very right leaning paper, the National Post, is saying that there is a problem, they had an editorial siding with Mr. Colvin.

Peter, have you learned nothing from Maher Arar's case who was detained in the U.S? Our law enforcement agencies provided unsubstantiated information about him, and he was sent to Syria where he was tortured. Canada got a black eye for that and settled for millions of dollars with Mr. Arar. When will you learn? Do yourself a favour and resign, as the defence portfolio is not your cup of tea.

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Stephen Harper: Emperor Without Clothes

It is amazing that Stephen Harper, Peter Mackay and Rick Hillier all either have amnesia or don't recall (typical excuse in order to hide the truth) receiving any memo from Richard Colvin, a senior Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan now posted in the US. In these memos, it was stated that detainees handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan authorities were routinely tortured. How can they not know? They have lost any credibility, not that they had any. It does not look good on Canada. We wittingly or unwittingly were party to war crimes. How can we condemn Rwanda or other similar war atrocities by other societies when we ourselves were heavily involved? Very sad times for Canada.

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Stephen Harper's anticipated trip to China

In the past, Harper made a big deal that he would not meet Chinese leaders because of China's human rights record. Now he wants to follow the example of Barack Obama and visit China. What happened to human rights record now? Also we have joined the big league with the US on the issue of torture. The recent disclosure is that Afghani detainees are routinely tortured when handed over to Afghan authorities by the Canadian military. We can deny all we want, but what how are we going erase the evidence? Our own senior diplomat is saying that such torture exists in Afghanistan. Can we tell other nations now with straight face that their human rights record is not good? The Harper government is not even willing to do any further investigation into such allegations.

"The Canadian government is dismissing calls for a public inquiry into the alleged torture of prisoners handed over by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay defended his government Thursday in light of allegations that detainees were routinely abused.

"There has not been a single, solitary proven allegation of abuse involving a transferred Taliban prisoner by Canadian forces," MacKay said in the House of Commons.

His comments came a day after Richard Colvin, a former senior diplomat with Canada's Afghan mission, dropped a political bombshell on Parliament, alleging that suspects handed over by Canada to Afghan authorities were tortured."

Click here to read the full story/.

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A Taste of Torture

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A conservative radio host who previously said that waterboarding was not torture had his mind changed when he was waterboarded - he said it was worse than he thought it would be, and that is was "absolutely torture."

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Dick Cheney – Torture Mania

Dick Cheney is not giving up despite that talking heads on news networks and political pundits have pointed out that his ramblings are hurting Repugs just like the ramblings of Rush Limbaugh. Maybe astronauts should have taken these two and put them in the Hubble Space Telescope, as they do not belong on planet earth. They could have communicated there with extraterrestrial creatures. At least their lack of understanding would have been mutual – extraterrestrials not understanding them and vice versa.

Hey Dick it is about time that you get lost. It is about time to cut-off this Dick. Calling on a certain Ms. Bobbit.

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The American Presidency and its symbols

George W. Bush and the cowboy gang succeeded to hurt America both nationally and internationally, including its symbols which have been a source of pride for America. He turned eagles into angry seagulls - the ones who bring things down by running into airplane engines.

Internationally, America has earned a bad name under Bush, especially with his gang invading Afghanistan and especially Iraq. He sent the whole Middle East into a tizzy. That state will prevail for sometimes to come. Afghanistan was completely botched and he not only further destabilized Afghanistan, but also Pakistan – Pashtuns turned into Taliban spreading their influence into Pakistan and destabilizing that country as well.

Torturing of detainees has further damaged the reputation of the US..

Bush ignored America as such in search of his glory through plundering other countries. Hence he left the country in dire economic straits. I hope that Obama can turn things around. More recent explosions of torture revelations may help Obama, as the whole nation seems to be embroiled in it and is diverting some attention away from the economic woes. That does not mean the economic woes will go away easily but it gives Obama breathing space to keep working on the issue. Maybe Obama found out how to govern, as with the torture revelation attention has turned away from him personally thus giving him more free hand to tackle the economy. All the good luck to him because we Canadians do depend on a good US economy as it is our biggest trading partner.

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Roxana Saberi: The journalist detained in Iran

I feel sad for Saberi and her family. Maybe she is not a spy and Iran is over-reacting. She says she was coerced to confess that she was a spy. Now to coerce her in this manner is wrong and must be condemned, but does the US have moral grounds to do so? Did the US not torture its detainees after 9/11, some of them innocent detainees. How can we say that if the US does it, it's OK but if any allegations exist against Iran then lets condemn them. We cannot do that. All the sages through the ages said lead by example. Did Bush/Cheney set good an example. Of course not. They have endangered the whole planet and its habitants by illegal torturing and by invading sovereign countries.

Now Bush/Cheney and other uncanny kinds may dress up their torture tactics and call it "enhanced interrogation techniques" but it won't work. So fellows back off, admit your blunders and agree to pay for it. Then we may march towards a more peaceful world. Only then.

One standard for US and another for rest of the world is a recipe for disaster.

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Keith Olbermann: Bush has confessed to crime

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The Bush-Cheney administration violated the US Constition and human rights, in particular through torture. They also violated the Geneva Convention and other international laws in this regard.

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Omar Khadr: UPDATE

I just watched CBC News and their extended coverage of the Khadr video, it's absolutely horrible and uncivilized the way a 16 year old was being treated. He was a minor. According to reports, he was mistreated everywhere, including at Guantanamo Bay - especially by American interrogators.

Even one of the investigators from Canada there, whose a retired person, said a young person like Khadr shouldn't be in a place like that. He should be brought to Canada and treated. Now I'm totally convinced that it's immoral, unethical and wrong.

I am completely ashamed that Stephen Harper -- who is a complete poodle to Bush -- is taking no action. Our Prime Minister, our leaders and our politicians must be ashamed of themselves that a young sixteen year old was put in a horrible place like that, treated in a horrible way, and still held there in a place recognized internationally as immoral, unethical and wrong. This is a very sad day in Canadian history.

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