Oh, the horror!!!!!!!!!!! Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official
The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a “life-threatening condition.”
“We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. “His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that’s why I did not refer the case” for prosecution.
Sounds like what one often goes through when joining a fraternity or the rugby team at college. Or, come to think about it, most special forces trainees go through much of the same. Don’t the SEALs have a period where they all sit in cold ocean water for hours and hours? Stay up for days?
I do not hear anyone on the left complaining about prisoners, such as Border Agents Ramos and Compean, remaining in solitary. But a jihadi that may have been a part of the 9/11 attacks being put in “sustained isolation,” not to mention the other stuff, will have progressives wetting their silkenpink-with-coat-hanger-bows panties all in a bunch. I bet al Qaeda is scared now! Say, I wonder what al Qaeda consideres torture?
But, don’t worry, Libs, President Barry will soon have these little darlings ensconced in a jail cell near you when he closes G’itmo.
Meanwhile, headline, the world: Pentagon: 61 ex-Guantanamo inmates return to terrorism
More: Jules Crittenden:
I’m not trying to be cute here. I’d never suggest that just because the MoveOn crowd wanted to waterboard the president, vice-president and secretary of defense, that waterboarding should be resumed. Obama can keep it on the table if he wants, but we all know it’s water over the dam(ned terrorist), so to speak. Playing loud music, failing to turn off the light switch, and private time without clothes all are now defined as torture. It’s clear we need to look at more practical methods of encouraging the cooperation of recalcitrants that are incontrovertibly moral.
Excitable Andy is beating his standard drum. Yawn. Gotta find a new schtick there, Milky!
One of the most amusing Lefties of the day, Donkelephant (funny names, since the majority of sidebar links are to blogs on the left
Obviously I’m not suggesting that our actions are anywhere close to being as bad as the terrorists, but one of the ways they’ll “win†is if we adopt their tactics. The Bush administration fell right into this trap and lost a massive amount of credibility as a result…as well they should.
Perhaps I need to add this link a second time. Please tell me if some sleep deprivation, along with feeding the jihadis food so rich that they are actually gaining weight, compares to drilling hands, severing limbs, eye removal, and so on. Somehow, I just seem to be missing the connection.
And visit Memeorandum for links to all sorts of links to outraged progressives, many whom go “huh? Oh, it’s September 11th. Again. Whatever.”
