Spring Break
CIA free to waterboard with Bush's veto of anti-torture bill
Justin Gero
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Ed-Op
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In a statement after the president's veto, Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA executive director, said, "President Bush's veto, in essence, spat on domestic and international law and compromised human rights to justify illegal, ineffective and immoral practices ... While asserting that the United States 'does not torture,' as he vetoes anti-torture legislation, President Bush's rhetoric rings more hollow than ever."
Some people have proposed a "ticking time bomb" scenario in defense of torture. We have the guy who knows where the bombs are, and he won't talk. … Do we let Americans die, or do we beat the information out of him?
This is the absurd hypothetical situation that is pushed by torture supporters. It sounds reasonable at first glance, but we have to remind ourselves that life isn't "24." When in the last 500 years has there been a situation like this? Never. There has never been a situation like the exaggerated ones that defenders of torture so often use to justify these disgusting acts. Even if that situation ever did happen, who is to say torture would even work?
George Bush would have us believe that waterboarding and so-called "aggressive" techniques like it have been effective in stopping terrorist attacks.
"The fact that we have not been attacked over the past six 1/2 years is not a matter of chance," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe."
However contrary to his claims, there have been no examples of quality intelligence that have been gained through torture. In fact, we have gotten very bad intelligence from torture.
On Dec. 8, 2005, the New York Times reported that, "The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials."
We now know that there was no connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, rather it was the confession of a desperate man attempting to escape torture.
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