Judge urged not to ask about CIA tapes

[Tommycat]

While I am in agreement with the indefinate holding of these prisoners, I also feel that the US SHOULD hold itself to a higher standard. Torture is never a good thing(well almost never, but I won't go into that). While many of these combattants are not a protected class under the Geneva Conventions(I can find the citation if needed), it still does not excuse torture to extract information. Not only that, but torture is not a good way to extract useful information. What torture does is make you willing to say whatever the questioner wants you to say, whether accurate or not.

[mimartin]

While I am in agreement with the indefinate holding of these prisoners,

I have no problem with indefinitely holding terrorists. The problem with Guantanamo and other CIA prisons is the lack of oversight. We are taking people from foreign sovereign nations, locking them up, and torturing them on hearsay evidence. They have NO RIGHTS. They have no way to prove their innocents. Then once we realize we have made a mistake, we are releasing them without even an apology. We will not even acknowledging that we ever even had them. Try explaining that to a wife or a husband. The founding fathers set this country up with checks and balances for a reason and those reasons do not stop just because we were attacked.

 

Therefore, while I do not care what happens to a terrorist including torture I do care what happens to an innocent victim. I do mean that in the singular. Torturing one innocent man, one innocent woman or one innocent child is one too many. I do care how my government is perceived by the rest of the world. I do care when we destroy the very concepts this country was founded on in the name of security. I said it before and I will say it again, what is the use of protect our way of life when we allow ourselves to become no better than the terrorists, who care nothing for the innocent either.

[Tommycat]

Considering where our founding fathers came from, I have a hard time believing they would find the current situation acceptable. Our country has been far from the vision of the founding fathers for a long time. I believe that Thomas Jefferson even said we should have a revolution on a regular basis to keep the government in check. Hasn't happened in a long while.

 

Honestly though how other countries view our government is pretty well low on my priorities. I mean I doubt the british care how I feel about their parlamentary system and their leaders. I don't care how the French feel about our leadership anymore than they care that we consider them surrender-monkeys. Until the other country cares how we feel about their leadership, their opinion means very little to me.

[Darth InSidious]

Indefinite holding?

 

You wouldn't say that if it was American Citizens in an Afghan jail, I think.

 

And what does it say about us? Holding someone on minimal evidence without charge and without trial?

 

Are we so much better than these terrorists, and aren't we just adding fuel to the fire?

 

habeas corpus and all that?

 

As for France, given that it was considered the greatest military power in the Western world from about 1790-1860, and Wellington's famous comment about Waterloo that "it has been a damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life... By God! I don't think it would have done if I had not been there." ("Nice" here I would assume being in the archaic meaning of the word.), your stereotype of the French people is most amusing.