Read other letters about this article

• Thursday, January 8, 2009 06:27 AM

  Salon's lies on torture

  Reportedly, only three al Qaeda members, including KSM, were subjected to waterboarding (and with results that saved many Americans). I personally do not consider that a form of torture. Liberals often confuse waterboarding with the "water cure," which actually is torture since it entails actually puring water down the victim's thought until his stomach feels as if it will burst. Our troops did this against Philippine insurgents and "Moros" during the Philippine-American War, as did the Japanese against their enemies.

  Liberals such as the authors of this piece and the extremely dishonest Glenn Greenwald never acknowledge that the policy of extraordinary rendition began in 1995 when Bill Clinton was president. Michael Scheuer, the CIA agent who devised the policy for the Clinton administration, was asked a few years ago if torture took place during the Clinton years: "I have no doubt about it," Scheuer replied. "You’d think I’m an ass if I said nobody was tortured. There was more of a willingness in the [Clinton] White House to turn a blind eye to the legal niceties than within the CIA. The Agency always knew it would be left holding the baby for this one."

  A member of the Clinton administration's national security team, with his refusal to deny that torture occurred doing the Clinton years, seems to confirm what Scheuer said.

  "The guidelines for Clinton-era renditions required that subjects could be sent only to countries where they were not likely to be tortured—countries that gave assurances to that effect and whose compliance was monitored by the State Department and the intelligence community," David Benjamin said. "It’s impossible to be certain that those standards were upheld every time, but serious efforts were made to see that they were." (My emphasis)

  http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2005/10/two_experts_on_1.html

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101900835_pf.html

  We all have our opinions regarding torture. However, it is simply dishonest to suggest that no terror suspects were tortured prior to the Bush administration. So let's stop this lie that it started after 9/11.

  —Groenhagen Read Groenhagen's other letters
  Permalink
  Flag
  Click "Submit Flag" if you feel this post is inappropriate. Explain why below if you wish.

  Cancel