Obama says torturers may face prosecution

[luciddreamer]

Obama may prosecute over torture | theage.com.au

Obama may prosecute over torture

* Ewen Macaskill, Washington
* April 23, 2009
* Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View

IN A surprise about-turn, US President Barack Obama says members of the Bush administration who approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures could face prosecution.

Mr Obama said his Attorney-General, Eric Holder, was conducting an investigation and the final decision rested with him. Mr Obama referred to four Bush administration memos he released last week detailing CIA interrogation measures, saying they "reflected, in my view, us losing our moral bearings".
Obama open to torture charges

US President Barack Obama said he is open to prosecuting officials who laid the legal groundwork for harsh interrogation of detained terror suspects.

Mr Obama also lifted his opposition to a separate congressional inquiry. Last night, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the President would like to see the inquiry modelled on the 9/11 commission. Mr Obama reiterated that there would be no prosecutions of CIA agents who carried out the interrogation of suspected al-Qaeda members at Guantanamo Bay and secret prisons around the world.

But for the first time he opened up the possibility that those in the Bush administration who gave the go-ahead for waterboarding and other interrogation techniques could be prosecuted.

"For those who carried out some of these operations within the four corners of legal opinions or guidance that had been provided from the White House, I do not think it's appropriate for them to be prosecuted," Mr Obama said. "With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the Attorney-General, within the parameters of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that."

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said only three days ago that the Administration did not favour prosecutions of those who had devised the policy, and Mr Gibbs echoed that on Monday.

Mr Obama again indicated that he remained opposed to politicisation of the issue, saying it might hamper national security operations. But he added: "If and when there needs to be a further accounting of what took place during this period, I think for Congress to examine ways that it can be done in a bipartisan fashion â?¦ that would probably be a more sensible approach to take."

Republicans reacted angrily. "What happened to him talking about not looking backward, about looking forward?" said Republican senator John Ensign of Nevada. "I think it's a huge mistake," said Republican senator Lindsey Graham. "If we start criminalising legal advice given to a past president, advice you may disagree with, that's on the margins of legal thought, in your opinion, you've really harmed the presidency."

Mr Obama's own Director of National Intelligence privately told his workforce last week that the now-banned methods had produced valuable information.

"High-value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al-Qaeda organisation that was attacking this country," Dennis Blair wrote in an April 16 memo to staff.

A version of the memo was distributed to the media without that line. But in a statement to the White House summarising his views, Mr Blair said: "The damage (the interrogation methods) have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

luciddreamer Reviewed by luciddreamer on 04-23-2009. Obama says torturers may face prosecution Obama may prosecute over torture | theage.com.au Obama may prosecute over torture * Ewen Macaskill, Washington * April 23, 2009 * Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View IN A surprise about-turn, US President Barack Obama says members of the Bush administration who approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures could face prosecution. Rating: 5

[thedeadone]

Mr. Otruama is at it again. I realy think this guy hates americans- and our freedoms given to us by the constitution.

[gypski]

It will prove just how crazy a society we live in if they don't prosecute these torturers and other criminals from the Bush administration and continue to arrest and prosecute medical or recreational marijuana/cannabis users. Cannabis users don't torture as far as I've had experience. We're not perfect, but come no where close to that. :thumbsup:

[JaggedEdge]

It will prove just how crazy a society we live in if they don't prosecute these torturers and other criminals from the Bush administration and continue to arrest and prosecute medical or recreational marijuana/cannabis users. Cannabis users don't torture as far as I've had experience. We're not perfect, but come no where close to that. :thumbsup:

Speak for yourself. I smoke weed daily but if I discovered a member of a terrorist organization who was planning some terrorist act, I would happily torture them in order to get the needed information to protect American lives.

Obama is the fucking criminal here for giving CIA secrets away to the world! How exactly does that benefit our national security? I see nothing wrong with torturing our enemies in order to gain the knowledge to protect ourselves from said enemies.

I suppose we should just hand em a joint, drop to our knees and start sucking their dick until they give us the information we need... That is far more humane, except for one small problem, it wouldn't work.

[gypski]

For the sake of debate, I suppose you don't believe in the doctrine of cruel and unusual punishment either then? Torture has never gotten to the truth. Just look at the Inquisition. I suppose you'd support that too? :stoned: To each their own as they say. imp:

And to qualify myself, if you harmed mine, you'd suffer the worst of retribution if I had to take the law into my own hands. Still, it would be tempered by the degree of the crime. Will the government torture someone to find out where a grow is? Do you support that? Where do you draw the line?

[JaggedEdge]

Your comparing torturing war captives to religious persecution? We aren't talking about cruel and unusual punishment in it's traditional sense.

Torture has never gotten results? How exactly do you know that?

We aren't talking about them torturing citizens to find out where a grow op is. The people being interrogated were war prisoners, enemies of the state, not American citizens. If they ever began torturing American citizens I would speak up and fight against that, but that isn't what were talking about here.

Not to mention, why should we treat our enemies better than they treat us. Do you not remember the beheading videos of American's in the Middle East? Do you think our enemies give a shit about how they get information from their captives?

[killerweed420]

There's a reason why all the civilized nations signed the Geneva Convention. Because its wrong to torture anyone and the knowledge gained from torturing is usually worthless. If we resort ot torture then we should just stop all pretenses of civilized nation. Go back to the wild west days and we just shoot anyone we don't like.

[gypski]

We aren't talking about cruel and unusual punishment in it's traditional sense.

Torture has never gotten results? How exactly do you know that?

Case in point: The Raw Story | Cheney pushed torture techniques to find Iraq, Qaeda tie: report

And, no we don't behead either. At least not the we are aware of.

[justanotherbozo]

There's a reason why all the civilized nations signed the Geneva Convention. Because its wrong to torture anyone and the knowledge gained from torturing is usually worthless. If we resort ot torture then we should just stop all pretenses of civilized nation. Go back to the wild west days and we just shoot anyone we don't like.

as far as i am concerned, terrorists and pirates don't deserve to be treated by the Geneva conventions. they're not soldiers, they're rabid dogs and should be shot on sight.

also, if i had to water-board someone so i could prevent them from cutting off your head, i'd do it in a minute.

this is just another tactic by the Obama administration to keep us looking at Bush so we won't see the bullshit that's really going on!
it's just sleight of hand, a dog and pony show to distract us while Obama bin Laden sells America to the highest bidder.

[psychocat]

So much for the belief in innocent until proven guilty.
If I were to torture someone I am pretty sure they would have a breaking point at which time they will tell me whatever I want them to.
This does not make what they say the truth.

Torture is a thing of the dark ages and really has no place in a so called civilised society. How can you denounce Saddam or others for using something and then go right ahead and use the very same thing ,wouldn't that make you a hypocrite ?

The people responsible for giving the go ahead to torture should be treat as criminals.