Bybee's Insect Ruling: Pat Leahy demands that he resign
By John Amato Tuesday Apr 21, 2009 4:15pmI know that this is a few days old, but still deserves to be seen again. Rachel Maddow reports on Judge Bybee's CIA memo that involves torturing a prisoner with insects. It's 1984 all over again. This is sick and it shows how disturbed Dick Cheney and his henchmen at the OLC were and still are.
And this man is one step away from the Supreme Court, where he'd have a nice relationship with Scalia, I'm sure. He needs to be impeached.
Pat Leahy says that Bybee should just resign.
If that's the case, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), told reporters Tuesday, then Bybee should resign. "The fact is, the Bush administration and Mr. Bybee did not tell the truth. If the Bush administration and Mr. Bybee had told the truth, he never would have been confirmed," said Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The decent and honorable thing for him to do would be to resign. And if he is a decent and honorable person, he will resign," he said deliberately.County Fair has a long list of conservative reactions to the release of the torture memos.
It's one big laugh-O-thon.
Numerous conservative media figures have downplayed, mocked, and jeered the notion that the use on detainees of harsh interrogation techniques authorized by the recently released Justice Department memos constitutes torture. Listed below are further examples of conservative media personalities making light of the idea that such practices constitute torture:
- During the April 16 edition of CNN's No Bias, No Bull, convicted Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy compared the proposed technique of placing a detainee who "appears to have a fear of insects" in "a cramped confinement box with an insect" to his appearance on a game show, stating, "I went through worse on Fear Factor."
- During the April 17 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Fox contributor Mike Huckabee mocked the same proposed technique, saying: "Look, I've been in some hotels where there were more bugs than these guys faced." Huckabee went on to state that under the Obama administration, "We're going to talk to them, we're going to have a nice conversation, we're going to invite them down for some tea and crumpets." Co-host Gretchen Carlson replied, "That usually works with your kids, too, right? When they're in trouble for something, they just tell you everything." Co-host Steve Doocy then joked, "Mr. Moussaui, it's time for you over in the time-out chair."
- During the April 17 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-host Joe Scarborough commented that "if putting a caterpillar in a box will save your child, that's OK." Later, Scarborough stated: "Yeah, you know, millions of people are dead, but I feel good about myself -- we didn't put caterpillars in people's boxes." Scarborough went on to say: "God, I go through torture everyday."
- During the April 17 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh said: "I just slapped myself. I'm torturing myself right now. That's torture according to these people."
- During the April 17 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Karl Rove equated presidential candidates' campaigning to sleep deprivation of detainees, saying of the CIA: "They authorized up to several hundred hours worth of sleep deprivation. They used it three times for a total of 96 hours. Remember when Bob Dole ran for president, and said that he was going to campaign nonstop for 96 hours? Do you remember when Al Gore was campaigning and said he was going to campaign for two days straight? Both of those men were, according to the left, torturing themselves by engaging in sleep deprivation."
- During the "Panel Plus" segment of the April 19 edition of Fox News Sunday, Bill Kristol argued: "I'm not confident that forswearing the use of the techniques is prudent." Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume went on to characterize the technique of throwing detainees against a false wall as "very controlled," while host Chris Wallace called the technique "fairly cautious and careful."
- During the April 20 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade commented that he "feel[s] better" knowing that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was "waterboarded 183 times."
- During the April 20 edition of his show, Limbaugh stated that "if somebody can be water-tortured six times a day, then it isn't torture."
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And why is G. Gordon Liddy relevant? i understand why but he should not get the airtime because it legitimizes him.
And should have been tried for treason instead the low level burglary charge.
He should have been hung thirty years ago. The world would have been a better place without him.
New York Times' David Barstow wins the Pulitzer prize for the ret Generals in the media story and research. Ignored by all the guilty TV 'news' media.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/0...
Rep. Jane Harman suddenly becomes a rabid pro freedom watchdog.
Her suddenly becoming a news celeb with her NSA wiretap and the AIPAC spies a coincidence.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/0...
should be impeached.
Please, hurry!
Come on DOJ...time's a wastin!
Rachel Maddow (YouTube): Senator Whitehouse on Impeachment Of Judge Bybee
Also interesting because of this exchange:
Immediately after the revelations of cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility began its investigation of the Office of Legal Counsel's opinions that formed the legal framework for these "enhanced interrogation techniques."
Senator Whitehouse said he expects that report to be completed in the next few weeks.
See also: Think Progress: Sen. Whitehouse on Jay Bybee: 'It is certainly possible that an impeachment inquiry is warranted.'
That Huckleberry freak is sure a nice Christian isn't he.
Get it?
Now that I think about it, it's the same crowd that gets off on "The Passion."
Because what's more fun than "The Hamburger of Christ"?
Sadists. These people are psychotic sadists to the last. Get them a padded room - stat!
Come to think of it, what would they do if they got a hold of a terrorist with allegedly important info, but who happened to be a masochist? They'd wet themselves most likely, out of joy or frustration.
The infliction of pain and suffering seems to be part and parcel of those with a bend towards the Old Testament.
In this case it's a form of punishment on anyone that fits the ethnic profile of the perceived enemy.
The detainee becomes the vessel to unload all the righteous justice that the torturer deems his sort deserves.
These kind of people should never be put in a position of power over anyone.
And yes, I was beaten as a child, why do you ask?
Stheve Doothy is really somebody i look to for my news. How about you?
There are all kinds of ways to torture people: we're very vulnerable beings. Psycological torture is probably the worst; let our own fears terrorize us.
If you put my sister in a "box" with a spider, she'd be insane within 60 seconds. Knives, or other such, wouldn't even come close.
These mindless drones need to put themselves into these prisoners' shoes for a few minutes: Hooded, airlifted around the world, chained, scared, in darkness, dogs barking at you, at the mercy of your captors... let your own imagination take over from here (the techniques are too numerous to list). Just imagine what kind of terror they are subjected to, before any other torture even begins.
Yet, sitting in front of their TVs they slap themselves and joke about it.
That's impossible. One of the central characteristics of a psychopath is a complete empathy for other human beings.
You fill in the blanks.
You meant to say that; one of the central characteristics of a psychopath is a complete LACK of empathy for other humans beings.
I'm not trying to embarrass you, but your original statement didn't makes sense.
Yes, the professional textbooks on sociopathy have found that sociopathy is a condition where empathy for others does not, can not, will never be learned. That is why it is a psychiatric diagnosis. Every single applicant for higher office should be compelled to take a test to weed out the insane, emotionally incompetent BEFORE the first declaration of their intent to gain office. They feel nothing, unless we talk torture, and even the pleasure they get, is blunted.
BID
If none of these methods are so harsh, why are they also claiming to have got useful info from these people? If it was so nancy nice and so ooooh not so scary, then why do they say it works? You can't have it both ways you ignorant asswipes.
Is this a remake of the night of the living dead?
They went to G. Gordon Liddy for an opinion of what constitutes ethical behavior? Are they irony challenged?
Hey Gordo, there's two critical differences between Fear Factor contestants and prisoners of war.
1.) Those goobers on Fear Factor volunteered to be ill treated. (Can't fix stupid.)
2.) Fear Factor contestants also have a reasonable assurance of having the torture STOP the INSTANT they ask it to.
There's no "crying Uncle" in the dank and slimy prison cell at GITMO, you flaming asshat!
Tell us again why you're not still in jail, you traitorous prick?
God, I can't wait for all these Nixon cult members to die! The collective intelligence of the species is going to jump at least 30 percentage points when these jerks are no longer dragging us down. By all that is holy, let's make sure them and their offspring are neutered!
He should have been hanged.
What would the right be saying about these guys if they were left wing traitors?
"Brian Kilmeade commented that he "feel[s] better" knowing that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was "waterboarded 183 times."
Better than what? A Human being? A vulture? A shark? A pile of dog vomit with a turd in it?
Gee, did lack of torture make him feel "worse"? Worse than what?
he thought it such a jolly wheeze, that we should kill their people in the streets.
i find i loathe liddy et al just as much as i did back in the nixon days.
the rotten thing is these nutbars are as you so aptly point out out, still alive to instruct a foul new crop of immoral, unethical, dimwit, "plumbers".
We've all seen the photos from Abu Ghraib.
We know that a number of detainees have died in our custody.
We prosecuted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding after WW II.
A majority of the feedback obtained from intelligence and interrogation professionals validate that these measures are not only unproductive, but counterproductive.
Sadly, the folks watching Fox News also watch "24". They believe both are reality TV, when it's really Orwell and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Extracting one element from a large and complex issue, and then spinning it as either innocuous or malicious (depending on their purposes) and representative of the whole, is one of these right wing apologists' favorite ploys. Like the items they culled to mock the stimulus bill: volcano monitoring, parks upkeep, etc. I'm sure they would've mocked levee assessments in 2004 and bridge/infrastructure assessments in 2005. Limbaugh sadistically mocking Michael J. Fox in the midst of the stem cell debate, a flag pin, lipstick on a pig,a handshake or a bow boding the end of our way of life, on and on and on.
What I don't fully understand is why they're not immediately called out front page when foisting such blatant spin and lies about truly critical issues. Torture, illegal wiretapping, disappearing people, these things should be associated with dictatorships and banana republics, not with America the Beautiful.
"We've all seen the photos from Abu Ghraib."
"We know that a number of detainees have died in our custody."
We prosecuted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding after WW II."
None of those facts are reported or discussed on the wingnut media circus shows.
They're not "called out" because the wingnuts own the majority of the media, from radio to teevee. Wingnuts seem to adore their authoritarianism, along with S&M brainwashed drivel.
Great comment, btw.
if one session of waterboarding was all that was needed to garner intel...why did they use the rest?
either the original statement is a lie...which therefore means that the use of wb has no efFicacy, or....they got the intel and got their rox off torturing the prisoners
either way, they are fucked
and no...low level operatives should not be prosecuted...but their superiors should be
and ya...the judge should resign
thing is...if he doesnt, he wont be impeached....the congress is up to their necks in this mess
For example, right wing followers tend to be highly authoritarian by nature.
They follow leaders, and rarely ask questions.
Are usually lacking in a sense of morals.
Tend to have sadistic tendencies.
Tend to be more violent.
Look up Bob Altemeyer's, The Authoritarians. It will explain such behavior in detail.
They're basically somewhat insane.
paranoid. Rethugs are paraniod much more that independent or democratic voters or people that just think on their own.
Has no one ever read 1984? Jesus General did:
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2009/04/anothe...
Yes, I read it a few years ago online, and I instantly understood the reference to insects and 1984.
SPOILER ALERT:
In the end, the protagonist is tortured with what he fears most, which are rats. He has a strange cage contraption strapped to his head with 2 rats in it who are starving and is told he must confess or the rat's cages will open and they will eat his face alive. It's also in the movie. But the book is much better, IMO.
Pull out someone's fingernails ten times a day then it isn't torture.
including Rethug Senator Ensign, are outraged, outraged I tell you, at the mention of Bybee being impeached or resignation.
All that hot air was pushed over the mountains to LA the last few days, adding to the heat wave in So Cal.
Just another reason (#425) of WHY the right wing media needs to be held culpable, and STRIPPED of all media licenses and provisions allowing their further dissemination of Treasonous acts.
The RIGHT are treasonous, and the only way to stop them is to kill them. Hang all the GOOPERS.
who thinks torture is anything other than barbarism, I worked with a fine engineer in the past who was a "guest" at the Hanoi Hilton, for 7 hellish years. I dare these arm chair sadists who see "value" in these "techniques" to read General Robbie Robertson's "The Passing of the Night" ... but then perhaps it would give these psychopaths a thrill. They are sick and beyond reproach.... And yes, the gentleman that I worked with had been amongst other things, water-boarded (isn't it nice that we used the same techniques as the sadists who ran the Hilton (and Heartbreak Hotel, New Guy Village, etc? people like "The Bug" and "One Eye"?). When I knew him, years later after his release, his right arm still looked like Popey's and had a stent because it continuously drained, due to the fact that he broke it exiting his Thud over the Red River, and his "hosts" continued to break and re-break his arm, as yet another "enhanced/harsh" technique. I never ever thought I would live to see the day when my country would sink to the same depraved depths - and WORSE!!!
... continue to walk and breathe among us?
These reich-wingers are all sadistic psychopaths. They would have fit in SO well with Hitler's brigades.
Exists.
I said "Robertson" my bad - its Robbie Risner
* Limbaugh said: "I just slapped myself. I'm torturing myself right now. That's torture according to these people."
* Both of those men were, according to the left, torturing themselves by engaging in sleep deprivation."
If you do it willingly to yourself of your own accord, it's not torture, it's masochism.
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