Friday, October 27, 2006

Cheney on Torture

It's not like we didn't know he supported torture, but it's more disheartening to hear the VP of the US come out and say it directly. Here's the interview if you want to read it.

Then read this two part article from MSNBC (part 1 and part 2) and be disgusted. They are both really worth reading.

"It was two years before the photos emerged from Abu Ghraib, the Pentagon cops said, when they began arguing that coercive or abusive interrogations would not serve war-fighting or justice. 'No. 1, it’s not going to work,' said Col. Brittain P. Mallow, the commander of the task force from 2002 to 2005. 'No. 2, if it does work, it’s not reliable. No. 3, it may not be legal, ethical or moral. No. 4, it’s going to hurt you when you have to prosecute these guys. No. 5, sooner or later, all of this stuff is going to come to light, and you’re going to be embarrassed.'"

One of the alleged 20th hijackers Mohammed al-Qahtani probably can never be tried for his alleged crimes. "We were told by the Office of Military Commissions, based on what was done to him, it made his case unprosecutable," said Mark Fallon, the deputy commander and special agent in charge of the Criminal Investigation Task Force from 2002 to 2004. "It would taint any confession if obtained under coercion. They were unwilling to move forward with any prosecution of al-Qahtani."

Great, our administration's policy makes it impossible for alleged hijackers to be brought to justice, and what I find particularly disgusting is that it wasn't even necessary. "The cops argued that the al-Qahtani plan not only was illegal and unreliable, but also unnecessary. Mohammed al-Qahtani was not alleged to be a leader of the Sept. 11 plot. He was not trained as a pilot. If he was involved, he was one of the 'muscle' hijackers. Everything known about al-Qaida, they said, suggests that information is compartmentalized."

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