GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Why don't right wingers see anything wrong with the prison tortures?

m00d · 05-12-2004, 10:17 AM

Have you personally ever participated in an interrogation?

No. I have questioned Iraqi soldiers who were taken overnight in fighting in northern Iraq in 1995. But it was just a sit-down. I was more interested in making sure the Kurds weren't fooling us. There was fighting going on [between Kurds in the north and Saddam's forces in the south], but Washington was doubting it because the fighting was taking place at night when people couldn't see it. So I wanted to make sure those prisoners were actually current Iraqi soldiers rather than people who were posing as soldiers. And there was some question in my mind whether I could even do that.

Why?

Well, what would have happened to me if the guy had walked out of there and then the Kurds tortured or killed him? Then they could say, "Well, Mr. Bob told me to do it."

Such things had happened before?

Yes, in Lebanon in 1983, when terrorists blew up the American Embassy. Two agents came back and said they'd seen the Lebanese torturing a suspect. The question was, "Did you encourage it?" They said, "No, we just saw it." But that was enough to stop the Embassy-bombing investigation, because the Lebanese had tortured one guy to death. It turns out the guy was a Christian, and he had nothing to do with the bombing. Amin Gemayel was the president, and he rolled up the usual suspects. And since he was in a civil war with the Christian militia, he tried to blame one of them for it. But we all knew the predecessor to Hezbollah [was to blame] -- and we all know they don't hire Christian Maronites to do their bombings. But after that, messages went out to CIA stations all over the world saying, "We don't torture."

What about the contractors who are allegedly involved in the abuse and at least one of the deaths. Does that surprise you? Did the CIA ever use contractors to conduct interrogations while you were at the agency?

No. The only contractors we had were people who fixed your computers and stuff. You never used a contractor to run agents or sources, interrogate, or anything like that. And there were all sorts of reasons for that. How can you trust somebody you haven't vetted? I mean, an outside company -- who knows who these people are that they're hiring?

Should Defense Secretary Rumsfeld resign over this?

I think he should, because it was systematic and there was a failure to deal with Abu Ghraib right from the beginning. He did not understand the significance [it would have] all over the Arab world.

Should the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, resign?

Come on. Here's a guy who has overseen a string of intelligence failures, from the [mistakenly bombed] Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, to the [failure to find] weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to 9/11. And now torture? How bad does it have to get before you hold someone accountable? When contractors are sent out to torture people to death and then hide it, the place is broken.

05-12-2004, 10:17 AM
m00d So Fucking Banned Join Date: May 2002 Location: Parts Unknown Posts: 3,129	Have you personally ever participated in an interrogation? No. I have questioned Iraqi soldiers who were taken overnight in fighting in northern Iraq in 1995. But it was just a sit-down. I was more interested in making sure the Kurds weren't fooling us. There was fighting going on [between Kurds in the north and Saddam's forces in the south], but Washington was doubting it because the fighting was taking place at night when people couldn't see it. So I wanted to make sure those prisoners were actually current Iraqi soldiers rather than people who were posing as soldiers. And there was some question in my mind whether I could even do that. Why? Well, what would have happened to me if the guy had walked out of there and then the Kurds tortured or killed him? Then they could say, "Well, Mr. Bob told me to do it." Such things had happened before? Yes, in Lebanon in 1983, when terrorists blew up the American Embassy. Two agents came back and said they'd seen the Lebanese torturing a suspect. The question was, "Did you encourage it?" They said, "No, we just saw it." But that was enough to stop the Embassy-bombing investigation, because the Lebanese had tortured one guy to death. It turns out the guy was a Christian, and he had nothing to do with the bombing. Amin Gemayel was the president, and he rolled up the usual suspects. And since he was in a civil war with the Christian militia, he tried to blame one of them for it. But we all knew the predecessor to Hezbollah [was to blame] -- and we all know they don't hire Christian Maronites to do their bombings. But after that, messages went out to CIA stations all over the world saying, "We don't torture." What about the contractors who are allegedly involved in the abuse and at least one of the deaths. Does that surprise you? Did the CIA ever use contractors to conduct interrogations while you were at the agency? No. The only contractors we had were people who fixed your computers and stuff. You never used a contractor to run agents or sources, interrogate, or anything like that. And there were all sorts of reasons for that. How can you trust somebody you haven't vetted? I mean, an outside company -- who knows who these people are that they're hiring? Should Defense Secretary Rumsfeld resign over this? I think he should, because it was systematic and there was a failure to deal with Abu Ghraib right from the beginning. He did not understand the significance [it would have] all over the Arab world. Should the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, resign? Come on. Here's a guy who has overseen a string of intelligence failures, from the [mistakenly bombed] Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, to the [failure to find] weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to 9/11. And now torture? How bad does it have to get before you hold someone accountable? When contractors are sent out to torture people to death and then hide it, the place is broken.