After being tortured, and held without trial for 9 years, ABD Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri faces a kangaroo tribunal at Guantanamo for bombing the U.S.S. Cole
Man: Why do you find America somewhat annoying?
Nobody comes out looking good in all this. Bombing the Cole was a crime, without a doubt, and one that should be severely punished. Nonetheless, there is no reason that we should not live up to our own laws and legal precedent to afford whomever we believe is the perpetrator to a fair and timely trial. Doing anything less simply gives our enemies additional fuel for their cause. Doing so, sets a standard that others look up to as well as undercutting some of our enemy’s claims.We have let fear and demagoguery overcome our best selves to our detriment.
Yes, it was terrible, but if they have evidence of his guilt, why not live up to what this country supposedly stands for – the rule of law – and produce it in an open trial. We become more like the Arab dictatorships every day.
“… the use of violence to intimidate civilians… " is part of the definition of terrorism in the Patriot Act. What exactly was ‘Shock And Awe’ at the beginning of the Iraq Debacle? How many civilians were not just intimidated but killed? Why is that not terrorism, because it was done by the US Air Force?
“Not torture”, sure. Here’s your “not torture”:http://www.salon.com/2010/03/09/waterboarding_for_dummies/ "Waterboarding, according to the Bradbury memo, could produce “spasms of the larynx” that might keep a prisoner from breathing “even when the application of water is stopped and the detainee is returned to an upright position.” In such cases, Bradbury wrote, “a qualified physician would immediately intervene to address the problem and, if necessary, the intervening physician would perform a tracheotomy.” The agency required that “necessary emergency medical equipment” be kept readily available for that procedure. The documents do not say if doctors ever performed a tracheotomy on a prisoner. … One of the weirdest details in the documents is the revelation that the agency placed detainees on liquid diets prior to the use of waterboarding. That’s because during waterboarding, “a detainee might vomit and then aspirate the emesis,” Bradbury wrote. In other words, breathe in his own vomit. The CIA recommended the use of Ensure Plus for the liquid diet. … As brutal as the waterboarding process was, the memos also reveal that the Bush-era Justice Department authorized the CIA to use it in combination with other forms of torture. Specifically, a detainee could be kept awake for more than seven days straight by shackling his hands in a standing position to a bolt in the ceiling so he could never sit down. The agency diapered and hand-fed its detainees during this period before putting them on the waterboard. Another memo from Bradbury, also from 2005, says that in between waterboarding sessions, a detainee could be physically slammed into a wall, crammed into a small box, placed in “stress positions” to increase discomfort and doused with cold water, among other things. The CIA’s waterboarding regimen was so excruciating, the memos show, that agency officials found themselves grappling with an unexpected development: detainees simply gave up and tried to let themselves drown. “In our limited experience, extensive sustained use of the waterboard can introduce new risks,” the CIA’s Office of Medical Services wrote in its 2003 memo. “Most seriously, for reasons of physical fatigue or psychological resignation, the subject may simply give up, allowing excessive filling of the airways and loss of consciousness.”
GRAYHARES: So, when Japanese soldiers were tried for the war crime of torture for waterboarding American soldiers, they should actually have been let off?
wmclay over 12 years ago
Yep, we torture and detain people without trial. Oh wait, isn’t that supposed to be something only those dirty commies do?
crlinder over 12 years ago
Nobody comes out looking good in all this. Bombing the Cole was a crime, without a doubt, and one that should be severely punished. Nonetheless, there is no reason that we should not live up to our own laws and legal precedent to afford whomever we believe is the perpetrator to a fair and timely trial. Doing anything less simply gives our enemies additional fuel for their cause. Doing so, sets a standard that others look up to as well as undercutting some of our enemy’s claims.We have let fear and demagoguery overcome our best selves to our detriment.
babka Premium Member over 12 years ago
we have become what we most despise. tragic.
Creature950 over 12 years ago
And they wonder why so many Arabs are anti-American.
pirate227 over 12 years ago
Seventeen dead on the Cole, they didn’t get a “Kangaroo Tribunal”.
Spyderred over 12 years ago
Yes, it was terrible, but if they have evidence of his guilt, why not live up to what this country supposedly stands for – the rule of law – and produce it in an open trial. We become more like the Arab dictatorships every day.
Dtroutma over 12 years ago
Just make him listen to the next Republican debate, and offer him the chance to finish drowning himself, he’ll take it.
mattro65 over 12 years ago
“… the use of violence to intimidate civilians… " is part of the definition of terrorism in the Patriot Act. What exactly was ‘Shock And Awe’ at the beginning of the Iraq Debacle? How many civilians were not just intimidated but killed? Why is that not terrorism, because it was done by the US Air Force?
Max Starman Jones over 12 years ago
What? All I keep remembering is the hole in the side of the USS Cole.
Lavocat over 12 years ago
Remember when we were a nation of laws?Yeah, neither do I.
d_legendary1 over 12 years ago
I see what you did there.
lbatik over 12 years ago
“Not torture”, sure. Here’s your “not torture”:http://www.salon.com/2010/03/09/waterboarding_for_dummies/ "Waterboarding, according to the Bradbury memo, could produce “spasms of the larynx” that might keep a prisoner from breathing “even when the application of water is stopped and the detainee is returned to an upright position.” In such cases, Bradbury wrote, “a qualified physician would immediately intervene to address the problem and, if necessary, the intervening physician would perform a tracheotomy.” The agency required that “necessary emergency medical equipment” be kept readily available for that procedure. The documents do not say if doctors ever performed a tracheotomy on a prisoner. … One of the weirdest details in the documents is the revelation that the agency placed detainees on liquid diets prior to the use of waterboarding. That’s because during waterboarding, “a detainee might vomit and then aspirate the emesis,” Bradbury wrote. In other words, breathe in his own vomit. The CIA recommended the use of Ensure Plus for the liquid diet. … As brutal as the waterboarding process was, the memos also reveal that the Bush-era Justice Department authorized the CIA to use it in combination with other forms of torture. Specifically, a detainee could be kept awake for more than seven days straight by shackling his hands in a standing position to a bolt in the ceiling so he could never sit down. The agency diapered and hand-fed its detainees during this period before putting them on the waterboard. Another memo from Bradbury, also from 2005, says that in between waterboarding sessions, a detainee could be physically slammed into a wall, crammed into a small box, placed in “stress positions” to increase discomfort and doused with cold water, among other things. The CIA’s waterboarding regimen was so excruciating, the memos show, that agency officials found themselves grappling with an unexpected development: detainees simply gave up and tried to let themselves drown. “In our limited experience, extensive sustained use of the waterboard can introduce new risks,” the CIA’s Office of Medical Services wrote in its 2003 memo. “Most seriously, for reasons of physical fatigue or psychological resignation, the subject may simply give up, allowing excessive filling of the airways and loss of consciousness.”
aardvarkseyes over 12 years ago
GRAYHARES: So, when Japanese soldiers were tried for the war crime of torture for waterboarding American soldiers, they should actually have been let off?