Jon Stewart's Interviews Cliff May on Torture

"On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart's interview with The Foundation for Defense of Democracies President Cliff May turned to the subject of torture. Things got so intense and involved that the segment had to be edited for time, but here now is the complete discussion."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Cliff May Unedited Interview Pt. 1
thedailyshow.com
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I thought Stewart made a lot of good points and didn't let May talk enough. I thought May took only extreme positions that weren't fair. I'm sorry no one brought up what I've seen WWII US interrogators say, that they got information out of Nazi prisoners by winning them over.

There are stress and duress techniques that have been ruled to not be torture but are still inhumane and degrading. It's hard to imagine that waterboarding someone over 100 times isn't torture. Even if a doctor is present. Sleep depravation for extended periods is torture. Complete sensory depravation for much shorter periods (I think as little as 2 days) is torture.

I also know that whether the Geneva Conventions really do apply to the detainees is in fact questionable.

In these cases I want my government to err on the side of higher moral ground. I know that this is a judgement call and I think you can make mistakes and not be a war criminal. I don't think Truman was a war criminal for dropping the atom bomb. I do want to see those from the Bush administration that ordered torture, tried. I think that's how we find out what really happened and if they're guilty of war crimes.