Waterboarding

There has been a bunch of crap written and said and thought about the torture technique of waterboarding. I have seen it defended on discussion forums and I have seen it condemned on some of the same forums. But what is waterboarding?

It was first used, as far as I can tell, during the Spanish Inquisition in the 1500's against Jews, Protestants and other heretics. The Nazis and the Japanese used it during WWII, the North Vietmese employed it and the Khmer rouge of Cambodia used it on difficult prisoners. And that brings us to today and the US use of it.

What is it? The prisoner is secured with head down and feet up, then water is trickled on to a cloth over his/her face. The water filling the nose and throat triggers a primal survival mechanism and the prisoner becomes desperate to escape. But they are secure and cannot move or hold their breath for very long. as they fight to escape the water overwhelms them and they feel that they are about to die. This is a short synopsis of the technique.

Now does it work? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. The prisoner could give outlandish answers to questions just to make the torture stop. I am sure that some credible intel is gained, but I am also as sure that most of it is NOT!

So is it torture? IMO, yes it is and it should be outlawed. I am not the sole answer to this and I am sure that many do not agree with me. But until they have been tortured, whether with waterboarding or other, their opinion does not matter. It is a crime to take away a person humanity.

CHUQ

Justification Of War With Iran

JUSTIFICATION OF WAR WITH IRAN

Recently the US administration has spent a bunch of time and effort to reassure the American people that there was no intention of going to war with Iran. Or at least, for the time being there is no desire to act. They, the Administration, say that all options are still on the table, that nothing is being discounted. But they reassure too much for my tastes.

Sens. Kyl and Lieberman have entered a measure into the Senate that would designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. They base this measure on reports from the recent past that the Guard is training and supplying the guerillas in Iraq. But I ask on what do they base this assumption? On the Intel that is given by the President and his entourage? Would that be the same people that gave them the Iraqi WMD information? Are they basing their accusations on the Intel of known and proven lairs? Yes, they are. But in their defense, I am not privy to all the Intel and I may be lacking a critical part of the puzzle, but from all the info I have at my disposal, this is a piece of bovine fecal matter.

Why, do I say that? Sens. Kyl and Lieberman are two of the biggest hawks in Congress and as such will rubber stamp anything Bush cares to talk about at anytime. These two will be used by the President to run the end around through Congress. These two are administration tools for their “cowboy” foreign policy.

Here is part of the wording of the proposal:

"Our military leaders, diplomats, and intelligence reports say that there is clear evidence Iran is exerting negative influence in Iraq," said Kyl. "I believe that the Senate's adoption of this measure sends a message to Iran that the U.S. will not tolerate any interference to progress in Iraq. It is now incumbent upon the State Department to add the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to the list of terrorist organizations."

The wording is very precise and to the point. It sounds innocent enough and if proven to be true, then any terrorist group should be added. But there is a hidden agenda in this measure. In my humble opinion, there is more to this than meets the media’s eye. I sat this because the media has focused on the above portion of the measure and has ignored another.

"It is vital to the national security interests of the United States that the Iranian government not be allowed to prevail in its proxy war against us in Iraq," said Lieberman. "This amendment makes it clear - both to our enemies and our friends - that the United States will not retreat in the face of Iranian terrorism."

The above is the key portion of the measure, in my opinion. Why? It leaves the door open for a future action against Iran. It could possibly be used to justify any and every action taken against the country of Iran.

How could this be done? Intel could be cooked to show that Iran was a threat to the world, which is being done as I speak. It is all about justification, not labeling.

CHUQ

Syria Did It!

That is the answer that seems to be given by the Bush admin on a regular basis, or either Iran did it. I will stick with Syria, for now.

they have been accused...........you get the idea. Syria has been labelled by Bush as part of the Axis of Evil, so with that sold to the American people, anything they are accused of Syria has been blamed for numerous assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon, they have been accused of support Al-Qaeda, they have been accused of being in league with Iran, and will be seen as gospel.

There is NO proof that Syria has ordered or contributed to any assassinations, but if asked the average person would say they are guilty of it. a helluva sell job! As a matter of fact NO proof has ever been offered to substantiate the claims of their links to terrorism, just the word of a Prez who is known to be a lair.

Recently Israel attacked a Syrian location with an air strike. First it was they dropped fuel tanks, then ordinance, then, it was a nuke site. Israel says they had intel that North Korean nuke material was stored at the site. As of today, a report from US intel sources say there was NO nuke material at the site.

A provocation was the only reason for the strike, with the hope that it would have an overreacted response from Syria, that would then confirm that they were a sponsor of terror and an aggressor.

OOPS! Syria has taken the high ground and filed formal protest in the proper international arenas. Now another strategy will have to be formulated to entice Syria into a bad call and thus give the opposition a reason to continue the hostilities against Syria.

I would say that Syria is acting as a responsible international resident, even if their neighbors are not.

CHUQ
26 Sept 2007