Mancow: Waterboarding is Torture: Olbermann

Keith Olberman Countdown shows Mancow being waterboarded...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Waterboarding
• Olbermann
• Countdown

[timpipe]

America, love it or leave it. Anyone who likes the idea of torture denies the basic values and philosophies upon which our country was founded: Habeus Corpus, the Enlightenment, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Geneva Conventions, and from our Judeo-Christian roots: the Beatitudes. All spell out the manner in which this country should conduct itself. Don't like the ideas in these documents? Leave, you do not belong here.

[1freedomfighter11]

Yeah the nerve of people to spew the truth.

[steeby420]

@timpipe So do you honestly believe George Washington wouldn't have tortured some Redcoat if there was even a slight possibility it could save an Americans life?

[800pieds]

@investorspolldotcom Obviously some people are trying to change that, following democracies' examples. As for dictatorships, we have huge responsibilities in not helping democracy in many countries, Irak being a perfect example. Chile had democracy until a US-sponsored coup led to dictatorship. And a French minister offered help to the government of Tunisia to control the riots (then again she got the sack by popular demand). Powerful countries should lead by example (I mean good example).

[investorspolldotcom]

@800pieds but they still insist on imposing dictatorships on their own people, even in the 21st Century.

[investorspolldotcom]

@800pieds I would agree with you if the enemies were rational people like most of the Western World, but the people we're talking about don't give a damn if we use torture or not, they'll still use torture even if we don't. These people are hellbent on bringing down the west at any cost and will use any measure to do so. We can set all the examples we want, but I'd also argue that we already have. We've shown them how much better a Democratic-Republic Society is, (cont.)

[800pieds]

@investorspolldotcom I understand your reasoning, but I'm saying that there is no hope of changing the mindsets of others if you are not able to take it upon you to not use torture. The overall situation will not improve if you don't consider other human beings as worthy of respect and dignity as you consider Americans. Torture may work as a short term solution, but you will only create more resentment and make more enemies. Hardly a way to reach a peaceful world.

[investorspolldotcom]

@800pieds My reasoning is this, you better be willing to do to your enemy, what your enemy is willing to do to you. I'm not opening any pandora box. This is the classic Liberal argument. Prisoners of War are NOT protected by the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. When we go to a country and bomb the shit out of it, we're NOT respected the Constitutional Rights of those people, we're bombing the shit out of them. If the Government uses torture on domestic prisoners, i'm w/ you

[800pieds]

@investorspolldotcom If your reasoning is "it's ok to torture because others do", there is no way those others will stop.

You're opening the pandora box. One day someone in your government will say "after all it works for terrorists, why not try on citizens we know are guilty of some crime so that we make justice more efficient?". The more tools you give a government or a police force to control you, the more it will misuse it.

[investorspolldotcom]

@800pieds I'm not saying that torture is moral, but let's face it, you don't take a knife to a gun fight. You don't go to a fist fight with a broken shoulder. What i'm saying is, if your enemy is willing to do it to you, you better be willing to do it to them too, otherwise, you're gonna be shit out of luck.

[800pieds]

@investorspolldotcom No, my country is no model. We tortured Algerians during the Algerian war, only to give them through bloodshed what they had been asking from day 1.

If the debate is whether torture is acceptable, pointing out that there are other torture camps is not relevant in that it doesn't change the outcome of the debate. That there is another torture camp doesn't bring information on the moral validity of torture.

[investorspolldotcom]

@800pieds Well, our Court System supposedly does its best to make sure we get as many guilty and less innocents as possible, but people do slip through the cracks, but it doesn't matter anymore anyways, because the court system is corrupt too.

No offense, but your country is not the model in how to deal with the Muslims. It's hard to communicate with people who are stuck in their ideological ways.

Egypt is irrelevant? U.S. outsourced prisoners to be tortured even worse in Egypt than Gitmo.