Arguing About Torture – Score One for the Left

John R. Houk
© June 13, 2010

I have been taking a pro-waterboarding stand at the Slanted Left human rights organization known as Human Rights Now.

I had been arguing that waterboarding was an effective advanced interrogation technique rather than actual torture such as the torture of body maiming, rape and/or death.

I came to my conclusion by looking at a military veteran’s account of the effectiveness of waterboarding at Human Events, then I looked at a Time Magazine article that questioned the effectiveness of waterboarding using experts of the Slanted Left as the authority and then I found a veterans website that used a myth versus fact format to prove its case that waterboarding did work. Of course my conclusion was just as preconceived as a Slanted Left person’s conclusion would be, meaning I still think waterboarding is an ethical form of interrogation.

Then in my self-righteous cause I took the stand that since waterboarding did not maim or kill that America did not hurt anybody that was questioned using the waterboard technique. I stated that those that proclaimed their families were affected by American torture were actually perpetuated by radical Muslim terrorists following the purist format of Islam who then would use propaganda to blame America. I came to this conclusion from the fact of being aware that Islamic terrorists are trained to either claim harm by interrogators or to harm them self and claim the interrogators did the harm. A case in point is the recent final exoneration of Navy SEALS who were falsely accused of using violence during interrogation. Also one can point out the Islamic propaganda used by radical Muslims to claim a group of Marines executed a massacre of local Muslims in Haditha, Iraq – All but one have been exonerated. Remarkably of the eight Marines falsely accused of a massacre Sgt Frank Wuterich will still face prosecution scheduled for September 13, 2010.

Knowing all these things as facts Tom Parker –the author of the article – informs about 100 American held detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been documented to have died while captured under circumstances that appears that the heinous torture I thought Americans were not involved in were involved:

Tom Parker Says:

Sadly John, more than 100 detainees have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan. This isn’t propaganda, or credulous reporting, it is well-established fact. You can read US military autopsy reports on some of these deaths obtained by the ACLU under a Freedom of Information Act suit at the following site: http://action.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/102405/. Causes of death include repeated incidents of blunt force trauma, choking in restraints, strangulation, and unprovoked shooting. There is no question that insurgent crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan have been utterly heinous but we’re supposed to be better than that.

After verifying more than the link that Parker sent me to I have to admit to eat some crow. The executive summary of Human Rights First (whole report is an 82 page PDF file) is a decent example of most of the Google information I ran into. The report was produced in February 2006.

It is inexcusable that America participated in the same fiendish acts of torture that our enemies still perpetuates in. Islamic nations have utilized torture since the days of Mohammed until the present as a form to extract information and to force populations to succumb to the will of despots in the name of Islamic religion. Purist Islamic terrorists use torture in their quest to institute an Islamic Caliphate. The torture is aimed at Islamic co-religionists, Middle Eastern Christians, American Coalition troops in Iraq and civilian supporters of American led NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Even with this disgusting piece of evidence of evil torture perpetuated by American Intelligence, Military or both; I still stand by waterboarding as an effective tool in interrogation. In fact waterboarding should have been used rather than the brutal torture that was used in Iraq and Afghanistan. It appears that waterboarding was the tool of choice at Gitmo rather than the medieval torture copied from radical Muslims. One Gitmo detainee stirring up controversy about Gitmo torture is Binyam Mohamed.

In saying that waterboarding (or sleep deprivation or loud music or whatever non-maiming interrogation technique) is a tool that should be used, I have to join the Slanted Left that some kind of criminal investigation and prosecution needs to occur concerning real torture such as physical maiming or acts leading to death. That is a shameful thing for a nation to participate in.

JRH 6/13/10