Monday, May 18, 2009

Olbermann interviews Sen. Whitehouse on torture hearings.



Whitehouse sums up the huge amount of spin which is currently being spun by the Republicans regarding torture. The truth is that suspects were far more co-operative before they were tortured than they were after.

This, before one even gets into the morality of arguing that "torture works", proves that, on this evidence at least, torture does not actually work very well at all.

That pretty much destroys Cheney's immoral argument.

2 comments:

Jim in Raleigh NC said...

For those who live in the real world, the inefficacy of torture is only too obvious. But for the neocons, and others who prefer their own fantasy reality, torture works quite well. They get corroboration of their twisted versions of reality through these forced confessions.

It matters not that the torturers provided the answers they wanted parroted back. For in their world this answer is “The Truth.” Anything else is a lie. And morality is an integral part of all they do. Only the enemy is capable of immorality.

Attempting discourse with these “True Believers” through logical or moral constructs is a waste of ones’ time. Their beliefs are only strengthened in the face of opposition. But it is necessary to make these beliefs highly visible in order to demonstrate the absurdity, inhumanity and immorality inherent in them for those not yet afflicted.

And further, those who employed illegal acts in justification of these beliefs, whether in the codifying, ordering or performing of such acts, need to be held to account before the world in courts of law.

Kel said...

It's even worse than that, Jim. I think Cheney tortured to get them to say there was a link between Saddam and al Qaeda. In other words, with no WMD materialising, it mattered not a jot whether or not what they said was true. Cheney simply needed cover. So, it could be argued, he was torturing to get misinformation.

It's quite scandalous.