So, a pretentious group of musicians is upset that their music is being used to torment America’s most dangerous enemies?
And now they want the U.S. government to release an official song list?
I can’t imagine that such a document actually exists. Are we supposed to believe that CIA and Pentagon interrogators around the world were issued [...]

” I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Convention against torture that we ratified under President Reagan. I think that these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit. I got that from an al Qaeda operative in a prison camp in Iraq who told me that. I think that the ability of [...]

Everybody’s abuzz about the new Wash Post story today that starts off with the idea that Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) was turned into some type of “terrorist professor” because he was waterboarded.
And away we go…
The debate over the effectiveness of subjecting detainees to psychological and physical pressure is in some ways irresolvable, because it is [...]

But they promise that detainees won’t be abused. More on why I think that’s nonsense later on in the post.
But first, more from NY Times:
The announcement, by President Obama’s Interrogation and Transfer Policy Task Force, seemed intended in part to offset the impact of the release on Monday of a long-withheld report by the C.I.A. [...]

npr link to music torture…

If Hannity can’t admit that something is torture after having a friend undergo the technique and claim emphatically that it is, what else to say except it’s high time he makes good on his promise and goes through the process himself.

By the way, most of you know I don’t make it a habit to embed [...]

Eric “Mancow” Muller is a fairly popular conservative/libertarian morning talk show host, and he didn’t think waterboarding was torture.
It took 6 seconds for him to change his mind:
Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment [...]

2008 Senator Lindsey Graham seems to disagree with 2009 Lindsey Graham.
This is Mike Fritz and David Murdock from ANP.
Senator Lindsey Graham was a passionate critic of the Bush Justice attorneys during this past summer’s Armed Services Committee hearings on interrogation.
Lately, however, Graham seems to have had second thoughts on the matter. At a recent Judiciary [...]

Jesse Ventura on The View recently…

By the way, I don’t agree with Hasselbeck being called a “right wing idiot” on the title of this video, but I can’t take it off and I think the point is valid enough to post.

When it comes to waterboarding, the question now surrounding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is what did she know and when did she know it. Today, Pelosi claimed what she knew, at least at first, was a lie.
[T]he House’s top Democrat, speaking at a news conference in the Capitol, was unequivocal about a CIA briefing she [...]

A surprising reversal and one I obviously disagree with. This also seriously undermines Obama’s message of transparency and openness…at least in the eyes of Dems.
From Wash Post:
President Obama has decided to oppose the release of several dozen photos depicting abuse of detainees held in U.S. military custody abroad, reversing his previous position on the grounds [...]

We all knew this had to happen sooner or later, and it looks like the White House wants to put this issue to bed once and for all.
From Wash Post:
Government officials familiar with the CIA’s early interrogations say the most powerful evidence of apparent excesses is contained in the “top secret” May 7, 2004, inspector [...]

A couple nights ago, the original Post-Modern Conservative James Poulos, Scott Payne and I spent a few dozen minutes discussing torture – how our thoughts on the issue have evolved, why prosecutions and/or truth commissions aren’t such an easy call, and most importantly why the aspect of the torture program that is most troubling is [...]

Just for future reference, what you’re seeing above is considered a “pour.” You’ll need that information to weave your way through the mine field presented here by Fox News.
Let the apologizing begin…
A U.S. official with knowledge of the interrogation program told FOX News that the much-cited figure represents the number of times water was poured [...]

When I read the following I have to ask, “Who’s lying here?”
Because haven’t we heard from some pretty high profile folks that these techniques worked, most notably former VP Cheney?
I guess maybe Hillary was right.
First, from NY Times, what traditional interrogation tactics gave us:
Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I [...]

First, let me say that I respect Sonny Bunch. A lot. I rarely agree with Sonny, but he is clearly and genuinely interested in engaging those with whom he disagrees.
That said, the posts (and subsequent responsive comment) with which E.D. and Mr. Schwenkler take issue is emblematic of something that has been [...]

There was some question, with Obama’s statement on the release of the OLC memos, whether he was making a blanket declaration that there would be no prosecution of former torturers or torture-enablers, or whether he was being wishy-washy.
Today he was asked again. Wishy washy it is.

I take this as, more or less, reassuring.
It [...]

That means he was made to feel as if he were drowning an average of 6 times and day for 30 straight days.
Kind of puts that whole ticking clock scenario to rest.
From Emptywheel:
I’ve put this detail in a series of posts, but it really deserves a full post. According to the May 30, 2005 Bradbury [...]

[...] imagine if an American operative out of uniform were captured by the Iranians tomorrow. Imagine he were put into a coffin for hours with no light and barely enough air to breathe, imagine if he were then removed and smashed against a plywood wall by a towel tied around his neck thirty times, imagine [...]

“The United States is a nation of laws. My Administration will always act in accordance with those laws, and with an unshakeable commitment to our ideals. That is why we have released these memos, and that is why we have taken steps to ensure that the actions described within them never take place again.”
- President [...]