tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098264341625381422.post5554294732543376837..comments2024-03-18T17:01:07.165-07:00Comments on The Provocateur: This Pandora's Box Has a Mind of It's Ownmike volpehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02999118519606254362noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098264341625381422.post-66595912615855405602009-04-27T13:28:00.000-07:002009-04-27T13:28:00.000-07:00this issue wasn't going to dominate the news cycle...this issue wasn't going to dominate the news cycle forever. That doesn't mean it is going away. As soon as there is something to move the story, it is back on the front pages. It still hasn't been resolved. Nothing has been resolved. We're going to learn more, much more, and it will be back on the front pages.mike volpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02999118519606254362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098264341625381422.post-35992035348728766892009-04-27T13:20:00.000-07:002009-04-27T13:20:00.000-07:00Or, a fake pandemic will arise out of nowhere and ...Or, a fake pandemic will arise out of nowhere and dominate the news cycles until no one remembers the torture memos anymore.<br /><br />As to whether waterboarding is torture (and I have no problems with the CIA, under scrutiny from the executive branch, performing waterboarding or damn near anything else to save American lives), I would submit that waterboarding is the simulation of drowning, and thus it is a simulation of death. Simulated executions are specifically proscribed by the Geneva Conventions as unacceptable wartime treatment of POW's.<br /><br />Where the left's argument breaks down is the fact that terrorists do not get protection from the Geneva Convetions because they don't comply with the rules of war (wear a uniform, exclude civilians from conflicts, not hide in populated civilian areas, etc.). This is why Bush used the term "enemy combatant" to distinguish them from POW's. It was a necessary legal distinction, and one that the left has never really accepted.<br /><br />I recognize that there is a moral high ground to be had by saying that we don't torture, and that our interrogation needs to use more American-ideal-based means to extract information (whatever that means). I respected John McCain's stance against torture, though I don't agree with him. That said, the only concession I'd be willing to make is that "enhanced interrogation techniques" should only be used against enemy combatants, not POW's (we did sign the Geneva Conventions, after all), and it should only be used in cases where there is some reason to believe that the enemy combatant actually has information that will save American lives. It shouldn't be done to just any random terrorist we capture, but that's very different from saying it shouldn't be done.<br /><br />I also think the President, working with his AG, should directly approve every single instance of such interrogation techniques against an enemy combatant.<br /><br />To summarize, I think what the Bush administration did to KSM and other high value terrorists was perfectly justified, and I'm ashamed that the current administration has seen fit to publically demonize them for trying to protect America.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098264341625381422.post-36482500477875294732009-04-23T17:13:00.000-07:002009-04-23T17:13:00.000-07:00You caught me. I often make predictions and I am n...You caught me. I often make predictions and I am not always right. Sometimes, I make a prediction and it doesn't turn out. <br /><br />That said, whether this is torture is a matter of debate. Torture is the imposition of "extreme pain" to get information. Is waterboarding "extreme pain" well that is a matter of debate.mike volpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02999118519606254362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098264341625381422.post-78838762547388157422009-04-23T17:02:00.000-07:002009-04-23T17:02:00.000-07:00"enhanced interrogation techniques"
At least have..."enhanced interrogation techniques"<br /><br />At least have the honesty to call it what it is.<br /><br />Torture.<br /><br />Then we can start debating it.<br /><br />Mike I have noticed the tendency for you to claim this story will become a big issue, or this story is just getting started etc...then the issue disappears in the next news cycle.<br /><br />There is something sensationalist about this blog - particularly when it comes to reports you predict will hurt the Democrats or Obama,<br /><br />Saying this, this story isnt not going away.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098264341625381422.post-86948172422513473352009-04-23T13:15:00.000-07:002009-04-23T13:15:00.000-07:00It matters how we find because there will be a per...It matters how we find because there will be a perception. If it is leaked who attended Congressional briefings, then it looks as though those folks were trying to hide their attendance. If details of how plots were successfully stopped are leaked, then it looks as though the admin was trying to squash that from coming out.<br /><br />Something will happen. The partisan bitterness will be amped up to levels not yet seen. That's what will happen. The opinions on both sides of this will harden, a lot, and so the debate will come extremely bitter as we go along.<br /><br />I don't know that this will still be a front burner issue at the end of next year, but it has a ways to go. The damage will be any semblance of the country coming together. The fault for that will lie squarely with the president because his handling will have caused it.mike volpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02999118519606254362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098264341625381422.post-47200890953300926122009-04-23T13:07:00.000-07:002009-04-23T13:07:00.000-07:00If that's the case, than what does it matter if an...If that's the case, than what does it matter if and how we find out? As I was reading your post I thought to myself "I feel like we're just going to talk about this for a while and then nothing will happen."<br /><br />On the other hand, if it does continue to intensify without bound, it could become a litmus test for the 2010 elections. Could it really stay relevant for that long though?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com