Fact vs. Myth: The CIA Waterboarding Interrogations ( April 27, 2009 )

The Memos Prove We Did NOT Torture ( April 27, 2009 )

Didn’t Need to Waterboard? Obama Should Know Better ( April 30, 2009 )

"Almost All" Guantanamo Detainees "Innocent"? Not Hardly ( April 25, 2009 )

European Court of Human Rights Vindicated Harsh Interrogation Method that Rumsfeld *Rejected* ( April 24, 2009 )

No matter how many times you point out that the CIA’s interrogation methods caused no physical damage, and of course were not lethal, some folks on the left are never going to stop calling those methods "torture."  It seems to be a matter of emotional, religious faith on the left that waterboarding, walling, and sleep deprivation are "torture."  Nothing anyone says to them is going to get them to stop peddling this myth.

I happen to agree with both you and Barnes on this. If torture worked bin Laden would be history, al Qaeda would no longer exist and the U.S. would be in a another quagmire in Afghanistan.

Looking into history and currently at countries who use torture an an institutional method of interrogation are not the most successfully or economically and that include Israel.

ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

Since long before we were a Nation, since the times of the Pilgrims and the Jamestown Colony, we have had a peculiarly American view that this is the Promised Land, the Bright and Shining Light on the Hill.  This twisted view of our relationship with a Deity has fueled more pain and warfare and cruelty throughout our history than is possible to relate in this short note.

We went to war with Mexico in 1848 because we wanted their land in what is now the American Southwest.  We literally started out to provoke that war.  And we did that.  The Southern States felt every right to defend themselves against Northern aggression based on their view of their special place in the scheme of international nationhood.  Slavery was acceptable to them based on the New Testament scripture verse found in Ephesians 6:59 which reads in part "…Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear.."  We waged a war that killed 618,000 American soldiers on both sides and perhaps another 80,000 civilians and unaccounted for troops.  We did it because we had a right to do it.  At least we thought so at the time.

The Spanish American war saw us absorb 4,108 casualties on the American side.  We have never been able to figure out the Spanish casualties.  And on and on with all of our wars….

Most of our wars were fought for market share on the world exchange.  We simply wanted the markets and/or the territory so we took it.  The same mindset more or less, was apparent for our invasion of Iraq.  They are an oil rich country, we wanted either access to their oil or we wanted to be in a better position to protect Middle East oil fields, so we simply concocted a reason to go to war and then we executed it. 

We tortured people under G.W. Bush for one simple reason.  We could.

We knew that no one would seriously condemn us for torture after the 9/11 incidents so we took advantage and decided to become North Korea.  Now here is the price we have paid; we are now without a doubt seen as a third rate dictatorship with a first army and navy who is truly the bully on the block.  People just wait bullies out, they do not engage with them.  Because we have no vocal critics of any stature around the world relative to our torture history does not mean that people agree with us, it means they are waiting for us to weaken economically and socially before they pull their money out of our markets and turn to China and India as economic powerhouses.  That will probably happen within the next thirty years.

This is the ultimate price of torture.  Your friends simply  pick up and leave.