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The NYT reports that with the release of the long-awaited Senate report on the use of torture by the United States government — a detailed account that will shed an unsparing light on the Central Intelligence Agency’s darkest practices after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the US is bracing itself for the risk that it will set off a backlash overseas. Some leading Republican lawmakers have warned against releasing the report, saying that domestic and foreign intelligence reports indicate that a detailed account of the brutal interrogation methods used by the CIA during the George W. Bush administration could incite unrest and violence, even resulting in the deaths of Americans. The White House acknowledged that the report could pose a “greater risk” to American installations and personnel in countries like Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Iraq. But it said that the government had months to plan for the reverberations from its report — indeed, years — and that those risks should not delay the release of the report by the Senate Intelligence Committee. “When would be a good time to release this report?” the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, asked. “It’s difficult to imagine one, particularly given the painful details that will be included.”
Among the administration’s concerns is that terrorist groups will exploit the disclosures in the report for propaganda value. The Islamic State already clads its American hostages in orange jumpsuits, like those worn by prisoners in CIA interrogations. Hostages held by the Islamic State in Syria were subjected to waterboarding, one of the practices used by the CIA to extract information from suspected terrorists. The 480-page document reveals the results of Senate investigation into the CIA's use of torture and other techniques that violate international law against prisoners held on terrorism-related charges. Though many details of the Senate's findings will remain classified – the document is a summary of a 6,000-page report that is not being released – the report is expected to conclude that the methods used by the CIA to interrogate prisoners during the post-9/11 years were more extreme than previously admitted and produced no intelligence that could not have been acquired through legal means.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday December 10 2014, @06:58AM
Yes, it does. So much for "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Being free and brave carries risks; accept it, or move to an existing authoritarian hellhole.
I'm betting you haven't put a significant amount of time contemplating just how your principles would stack up to need to survive.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by Anal Pumpernickel on Wednesday December 10 2014, @07:20AM
I'm betting you haven't put a significant amount of time contemplating all the people's freedoms you've helped take with your authoritarian attitude. I thank you and your ilk for the TSA, the NSA's mass surveillance, laws like the Patriot Act, and the numerous other violations of our constitution and fundamental liberties.
The land of the free and the home of the brave: A land where people bravely surrender their freedoms to the government in exchange for safety so that it can be free to do as it pleases. Well, at least it's better than North Korea!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday December 10 2014, @07:53AM
I'm betting you haven't put a significant amount of time contemplating all the people's freedoms you've helped take with your authoritarian attitude.
That would be a poor bet considering I didn't actually express a view on the matter. What I did do was ask a question that I'd still like an answer to. Even though you didn't bother to ask, I'll volunteer the information that I'm anti-torture, anti-TSA, and anti-Patriot Act. Hopefully that'll spare us another round of your self-righteous horseshit and get us back to discussing a philosophical topic... preferably with practical details and light on the Doctor Who'esque speeches. I like to think of my self as a strong moral character but since my life has never been threatened I don't actually know where I'd go to survive, so I'm curious what happens when that question is seriously considered.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 10 2014, @01:13PM
Read again the end of Orwel's 1984: the protagonist surrendered his values and survived Miniluv's treatment. Get a refresher on what happens with the survivors, see if you can resonate with the idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday December 10 2014, @02:58PM
Is life as a slave worth living? It's a persistent human question. The Roman proverb said, "It is better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand days as a lamb." Through to the present day, many, like me, belong to an organization that emphasizes integrity above life. I can say my actual physical life has never been threatened in such a way, but my professional life has been many times and I have always chosen integrity, though the other path always offered greater material reward. Perhaps I, and they, would react differently in that life-or-death situation. None of us can really know until we're faced with that moment.
But that is not what we're talking about here. There was never any situation, as in the hypothetical "ticking bomb" scenario, wherein it was a life-or-death decision. We have, and did have, clear codes of conduct and laws that prohibit exactly what the CIA and the government did. They crossed the line of civilized behavior. They did evil. They must pay with their lives. Period.
Anything else is bullshit.
Washington DC delenda est.