Comments on: The Torturing of Christopher Hitchens

By: mememonkey

mememonkey — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:16:28 +0000

They stopped about 5 minutes too early for this to have accomplished any good.

By: lirelou

lirelou — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:41:59 +0000

Waterboarding may not be “torture” in the vein of Torquemada’s Inquisitorial techniques, but I’d bet that it qualifies as “cruel and unusual punishment” within the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The ringer being that, as the suspects have not been tried at the time such measures are applied, then it is not legally “punishment”. McCain is right, such practices do not belong in the armory of U.S. interrogation techniques.

By: Soob

Soob — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:22:17 +0000

“No “soob”, it is effective because it is agonizing and is torture by any definition of the word.”

Yep, I’m sure it is agonizing. But I’ll bet the poor bastard who hasn’t pre-arranged the whole deal for a news article suffers a tad more. That was my point, R. Elgin.

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:08:37 +0000

No “soob”, it is effective because it is agonizing and is torture by any definition of the word.

If we Americans have the greatest form of government in the world, why do we need to stoop to torture when it is a war of minds we are engaged in, which requires different tools?

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:29:44 +0000

A group calling themselves Stop Journalists from Waterboarding Themselves has been created because of what Hitchens did. (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/07/sjfwt.html) Of course this group looks like its made up of conservatives. They commit torture, but try to cover it up or call it enhanced interogation techniques. Now that it has emerged that it is torture, they claim only a few people have waterboarded (aka tortured). It has also come out that we have used torture techniques created by Mao’s communist government during the 50’s to elisit false confessions.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:42:54 +0000

I think real torture, by definition, is something you wouldn’t voluntarily undergo just to write an article about it.

By: Soob

Soob — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:23:22 +0000

Interesting but I expect the experience is hardly complete when you know the guys doing it aren’t going to kill you.

By: Johnson

Johnson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:58:57 +0000

“However I don’t think experiential “evidence” alone can solve this debate. Thoughts?”

If this is not evidence, then nothing is evidence.

By: JT

JT — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:26:54 +0000

I like Hitchens.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/10/waterboarding-is-torture-perio/

By: Jesus Reyes

Jesus Reyes — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:51:47 +0000

Finally, somebody waterboarded who indisputable deserves it. Interestingly, he’s clearly relieved by his habeas corpus. I suspect that his “confession” is about as valuable as John McCain’s was.

By: Mitch H.

Mitch H. — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:48:24 +0000

They weren’t active military. Sounds like some kind of independent contractor with a training specialization. He was kind of unprecise about the exact details, perhaps because the anti-torture laws might be a bit harsh regardless of waiver signatures and the like.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:35:24 +0000

Brave man, considering that he did put his money where his extraordinarily large mouth is.
Did Hitch change his mind afterwards? He certainly seemed to imply that, but ultimately perhaps didn’t have the courage to say “I was wrong”...