What if Cheney's Right?

[Mike (Premo)]

By Richard Cohen (Washington Post)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Blogger Alert: I have written a column in defense of Dick Cheney. I know how upsetting this will be to some Cheney critics, and I count myself as one, who think -- in respectful paraphrase of what Mary McCarthy said about Lillian Hellman -- that everything he says is a lie, including the ands and the thes. Yet I have to wonder whether what he is saying now is the truth -- i.e., torture works.

In some sense, this is an arcane point since the United States insists it will not torture anymore -- not that, the Bush people quickly add, it ever did. Torture is a moral abomination, and President Obama is right to restate American opposition to it. But where I reserve a soupçon of doubt is over the question of whether "enhanced interrogation techniques" actually work. That they do not is a matter of absolute conviction among those on the political left, who seem to think that the CIA tortured suspected terrorists just for the hell of it.

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I think Cheney is right (surprise, surprise).

There was a great episode of Bonanza on TV Land over the weekend that had Hoss repeatedly dunking some thug under water over & over until he fessed up one where the thug's gang had taken his Pa.

Not quite waterboarding, but who would not resort to extreme measures in order to save a loved one or in innocent lives?

It is preposterous to think our own countrymen would investigate and prosecute men that kept the country safe for 7 years. Has everyone forgotten the righteous rage you felt on Sep 11th and 12th? And the vows we all silently made wishing swift punishment to the guilty parties responsible? And praying our familes and neighbors would be safe from these POS's? I still feel that rage.

Think back to that horrific scene of people jumping from those burning towers or the fear those poor children that were on those planes must have felt.

Yep, I am still pissed about 9-11. Thank God we had people like George Bush and Dick Cheney in charge to deal with the aftermath.

[ginwoman]

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Let's dispense with the doubt; waterboarding does work. Torture does work. Not always. Not in every situation and it's not always the best or only way to get given information. However, it does work and there are situations where it would be the best and only way to get answers.

This is not debatable. It just is.

Gun control is not always the best and only way to save lives. In some circumstances it may be the best. People, Americans' have lost their lives to the foolish idea that gun control is the best and only way.

Limits on free speech.

Man made global warming.

Roe v. Wade.


If some Americans wanna open up a bunch of boxes, let 'em. Let's have a civil war over how many times some hostile jerkwad Muslim extremist freak got his nose wet and how horrible it was or was not.

Let's pretend we are not a rational, intelligent people that can see many sides to an argument and can be mature enough to understand and accept legitimate differences and to not seek to criminalize those differences.

I hope the left NEVER lets go of this so people can see just how mad they are.

[hvp05 (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

I hope the left NEVER lets go of this so people can see just how mad they are.

Towards that end, and to tie in your other thread, does that mean that you think Pelosi should stay where she is and keep giving the right tools to use against her anti-torturing kind?

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by hvp05

Towards that end, and to tie in your other thread, does that mean that you think Pelosi should stay where she is and keep giving the right tools to use against her anti-torturing kind?

As I've said before, someone should throw a bucket of water on her and I'm good.

and keep giving the right tools to use against her anti-torturing kind?

Could you clarify that before I comment further?

[hvp05 (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Larry Gude

Could you clarify that before I comment further?

Basically, every time she speaks or puts out a statement she contradicts herself. You said you want the people to see how mad the left is, and she could demonstrate that better than most of her peers.

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by hvp05

Basically, every time she speaks or puts out a statement she contradicts herself. You said you want the people to see how mad the left is, and she could demonstrate that better than most of her peers.

Kewl, got it.


Yes, I am all for Pelosi saying, in effect, water boarding isn't all that big a deal and then continuing to help put Republicans back in control of the House in 2010.

Yes.

[SamSpade]

It does work, and to my knowledge, every nation on the planet has done some kind of torture to extract information from people, if only in the form of sleep deprivation or bread and water rations.

We would LIKE to think that our country is above that, for the same reason we'd like to think our kids are well-behaved at school and they can always be trusted to do the right thing. Wishful thinking. In our heart of hearts, we know we do, we know they do, and we know that we'd all rather not talk about it.

It's not the inhumanity of it all that chaps the hide of the left; they don't hesitate to laugh at the idea of Limbaugh's kidneys exploding or Hannity being waterboarded. They're bothered by two things; the ability to use it as a hammer on the heads of Republicans, and the PR mess it creates in the face of the international community (which in itself is a hypocritical joke - which of our most vocal critics on the matter do you suspect NEVER tortures enemy combatants in wartime?).

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

It does work, and to my knowledge, every nation on the planet has done some kind of torture to extract information from people, if only in the form of sleep deprivation or bread and water rations.

We would LIKE to think that our country is above that.

We are above that. We don't torture. We waterboard and sleep deprive and tickle people on the feet with feathers. And stick bugs in cells. And make them watch Olbermann. Which is much like a bug in a cell.

We don't torture.