Does obama think waterboarding is as bad as cutting the head off a soilder on camera. Is it as bad as mass graves where many were still alive at burial...Drastic times call for drastic measures to protect the citizens and military of the USA...Lack of information opened the door for 911..If we stop waterboarding and other severe means of interigation GET READY FOR THE NEXT 911

What is waterboarding?

Those interogation methods were never proven to actually work, let alone they were pretty much morally wrong and could be classed as a war crime. War is war, but it still has rules...even if they are not followed by the enemy, this is why the military teaches honor and valor.

Waterboarding was an interogation technique practiced by military during interogations of suspected terrorist, it is a lot like water torture and the likes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding

But the UN wants us to play nice with those who don't play by the rules at all. Sorry but we need to break eggs to make this omelet. If they are combatants they deserve no civility. If torturing them is so bad why do we let them do it to us? Because Obama want's to play nice? I want to throw pies at him so badly.

From the Wikipedia


Waterboarding is a form of torture[1][2] that consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.[3] It is considered a form of torture by legal experts,[4][5] politicians, war veterans,[6][7] intelligence officials,[8] military judges,[9] and human rights organizations.[10][11] As early as the Spanish Inquisition it was used for interrogation purposes, to punish and intimidate, and to force confessions.[12]

In contrast to submerging the head face-forward in water, waterboarding precipitates a gag reflex almost immediately.[13] The technique does not inevitably cause lasting physical damage. It can cause extreme pain, dry drowning, damage to lungs, brain damage from oxygen deprivation, other physical injuries including broken bones due to struggling against restraints, lasting psychological damage or, ultimately, death.[4] Adverse physical consequences can start manifesting months after the event; psychological effects can last for years.[14]

In 2007 it was reported that the CIA was using waterboarding on extrajudicial prisoners and that the United States Department of Justice had authorized the procedure,[15][16] a revelation that sparked a worldwide political scandal. Al-Qaeda suspects upon whom the CIA is known to have used waterboarding include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.[17][18]

Incoming President Barack Obama banned the use of waterboarding. In April 2009 the Department of Defense refused to say whether it was still used for training purposes. [19]

Pol Pot used it a lot. Hey, if it works...

That's a nice inhumane way of thinking. It doesn't work. Torture is inhumane, of course I suppose that requires some humanity in the first place...we really are no different than animals...

Yay!!!
I was beginning to lose hope in American values!

Actually torture does work but when applied by idiots it fails. First of all look a the culture you are facing. Wanna torture them? Starve them and serve them pork. Better yet make it raw! Tell them if they want food that is not pork based they can talk. Information needs to be confirmed anyways. Butcher a pig and make then mot only witness it make them watch one of them get bathed in its blood. They revile pigs religiously. According to their traditions they are condemned to their hell for being contaminated like that even against their will. This one is even better, make them watch as you feed one of them to pigs.

If you want to talk about torture I can come up with same damn good ones I am sure would loosen some tongues to spare them what they would be put through.

How about an old Mexican classic, Pancho Villa used these two. One involved a goat and honey put on your feet, the other involved a hungry calf. Do I need to explain more?

When facing an uncivilized adversary you had better be ready to stoop down to their level to deal with them or face eventual defeat. History is full of examples where the Civil Guy lost everything! All this "hugs and rainbows" crap gives me a rash.

Do you really think our government would waste valuable time,money,and energy to practice something they know doesn't work?The reason they use it is because it does work and they did get information.It's common sense that if you torture some one long enough and they think they are going to die they are going to tell you anything you want to know.

Take two terrorist and put them into different rooms.Torture one of them and ask the other to give up information with out the torture.See which one gives information first in the shortest amount of time.

Information...true information?

Maybe not.

So, we are fighting terrorist and people who disregard the rule of law because what they are doing is wrong by doing the same?

There's some nifty logic.

When we engage in torture we are surrendering our moral authority, acting outside the law and supplying those that hate us with proof that we really are monsters.

Oh and...it doesn't work!!

Who gives a crap about the terrorist and his or her rights?They should get no rights!If I was the president this war would be over in a week because I would be telling all of our soldiers to dip their bullets in pigs blood.Any torture you want to give those parasites is fine with me.The reason they are so bold is because we are giving off this image that we are a bunch of soft,push overs who care more about offending someone than kicking the crap out of a bunch of worthless terrorist who should be killed to begin with.

We're going to have another 911 if we stop waterboarding? I severely doubt that.

Waterboarding rarely works anyway.

Hi Italy0219,
Water boarding is sticking a garden hose in a person’s mouth and letting water fill up the person’s stomach and lungs, it’s very much like droning. The person is revived and the process is repeated till
The desired results are achieved. The Japanese did this to American prisoners of war in WWII.

I bet given enough water and a big enough board and time I could make you confess to being a witch, so you say torture works?

Last night our president said he believes they could have got that info without enhanced interogation. That right there is an admission that they worked. If he's so sure they could have got that info without them, then why wont he release the other memos? What does he have to hide if they show that those methods didnt work?

Olbermann presses Hannity on his waterboard offer

By David Bauder

NEW YORK (AP) — The debate over torture is getting personal for two of cable TV's prime-time hosts. After Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity made a seemingly impromptu offer last week to undergo waterboarding as a benefit for charity, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann leapt at it. He offered $1,000 to the families of U.S. troops for every second Hannity withstood the technique.

Olbermann repeated the offer on Monday's show and said in an interview Tuesday that he's heard no response. He said he'll continue to pursue it.

"I don't think he has the courage to even respond to this — let alone do it," Olbermann said.

Fox News Channel representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

The two men are on opposite poles of a debate that has preoccupied the worlds of talk TV and radio. Hannity says waterboarding is a fair and necessary interrogation technique for suspected terrorists; Olbermann calls it torture, says it's ineffective and should not be done by Americans.

Charles Grodin was challenging Hannity on the issue on Fox last week, and asked whether he would consent to be waterboarded.

"Sure," Hannity said. "I'll do it for charity ... I'll do it for the troops' families."

It wasn't exactly clear how serious the conversation was, since Grodin joked, "Are you busy on Sunday?" and Hannity laughed.

"I'll let you do it," Hannity said.

"I wouldn't do it," Grodin said. "I'll hand you a towel when you come out of the shower."

Olbermann's offer was quick. Besides the $1,000 per second, Olbermann said he'd double it if Hannity acknowledges he feared for his life and admits that waterboarding is torture.

"The idea of putting somebody in a position they have volunteered for, for charity, to respond to their own unsupportable claims, is in many ways priceless," Olbermann said.

Olbermann, who hasn't missed any chance to criticize his ideological enemies at Fox, concedes TV competition plays a part in his offer. But he said it was sincere, because he believes Hannity has had a damaging role in the debate.

"If you expose people to reality, even with someone who is denying reality, that can have a powerful and important impact," he said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jADf7Acwh1ozkVvkjNQ9dkk7GQuQD97RPCCO0

There is another issue here. America is trying to play fair and fight a war using "Geneva Convention" rules while the enemy could care less about any of those rules. In World War II, if an enemy dressed up in civilian clothes in order to more easily commit an act of war, he was shot on the spot as a spy in everyone's military; or maybe interrogated first.

The only reason these guys are not being shot is the hopes that some useful intelligence can be extracted from them.

If they aren't useful for intelligence should they just be shot? Why are the only rules that people seem to care about the ones which put us at risk?

in the war crimes tribunals that followed Japan's defeat in World War II, the issue of waterboarding was sometimes raised. In 1947, the U.S. charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for waterboarding a U.S. civilian. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15886834

We all have our views of 9/11, who, what and why.

It took 3 years to figure out who was responsible for the explosion and eventual crash of flight 800 over Locakabee, yet within minutes of the events of 9/11 we had pictures of the 19 terrorists responsible (many now proven to still be alive) and a culprit named Bin Laden (a man of poor health, on dialysis and living in a cave) who was responsible for it all.

This sick man, from a cave, was able to bypass the defense systems (the best in the world) of our nation, crash 4 planes (2 of which there was 0 debris), and evade the best survalence network in the world, avoiding capture for 8 years...... yet we had all the proof he was responsible within minutes?

As a result, we have been given 2 wars, enormous debt, recession, rewarded the incompetience that allowed 9/11 to occur (regardless of who was/is responsible), lost homes, jobs, 401Ks, savings, our liberties, etc, etc, etc, and yet to question any of "this" is a conspiracy theory and unpatriotic? Who is kidding who here?

Our stupidity as a nation to allow (and believe) such foolishness, has made us appear as we are seen in the world today. We've lost our pride and our respectibility as a world power, and now only appear as "bullies" on the playground!

Our torturing of "suspects" (not guilty as charged prisoners) makes us no better than any of those we have "freed" others from! We had credibility in the world, now we have lost it! We had a world economy based on our dollar, and we are now losing that!

Whatever you may believe, it is obvious our "leaders" are taking us down a path of destruction. We are allowing it to continue from our lack of response , complacency, and not making them accountable!

Torture is WRONG! PERIOD! It is simply a method of getting the answers they want to justify their guilt, whitewashing their complicity in crimianal acts! I can put you in a cell indefinately, never let you speak to anyone, torture you many times a day, and in a short time you too will say whatever I wish you to! THAT is the only proven truth about torture!

Wise up AMERICA! It's easy to complain and do nothing, have the news tell you that those who do act or question are "conspirists". It's harder to be responsible, act with morals and values, question or hold responsible those making the decisions as our representitives!

Look to your morals, research the cause and effect, take events off 1000's of pages of paper and place it as a reality in your vision. Then ask yourself, "could I morally, and with a good conscience, inflict this on a person, a people, a nation, and think I am justified?" If the answer is NO, perhaps we may still have a chance to restore our very great nation, and return its pride back to the people who make it great, away from a sadistic and irresponsible leadership!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!