Waterboarding US troops is not a violation of the Geneva Conventions

JeffC's picture

So now it has come to this. Some of the highest government officials in the Bush administration have followed that administration’s logic to its inevitable conclusion and have decided that waterboarding US troops is not a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Of course, even though those of us who have opposed torturing prisoners have been warning those of you who support torture that this would be the outcome; it is still shocking to hear Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann testify before the Senate that if Iranians were to shoot down a US pilot and then waterboard him, then he could not say that it was torture:

GRAHAM: You mean you’re not equipped to give a legal opinion as to whether or not Iranian military secret security agents waterboarding downed airmen is a violation of the Geneva Convention?

HARTMANN: I am not prepared to answer that question, Senator.

The entire debate can be seen here, the exchange is at the end:

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham versus General Hartman

General Hartmann is only the latest administration spokesman to disgrace the country. In October, State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger, Condoleezza’s top legal adviser, refused to declare waterboarding a form of torture if used by a foreign intelligence service on an American citizen.

Top US legal adviser refuses to rule out torture technique

Those of you who have served in the military are well aware of which “American citizens” are most likely to fall into the hands of a “foreign intelligence service”.

Every Republican and Republican candidate should be asked if they will condemn the torturing of US troops and if they would be willing to put the full force of the United States behind finding and prosecuting those who do it.

Then they should be asked how they can reconcile that view with their support for torturing our enemies.

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Howdy Jeff C.
AF A-10's picture
Submitted by AF A-10 on Sat, 12/15/2007 - 4:16pm.

I've been gone for a bit fighting the elements, but I'm glad you posted this. You may notice that some of the most grave issues of our day are dealt with by pretending they are not issues and ignoring them. Climate change; torturing humans; politicizing the Department of Justice; emasculating govt. offices like the Consumer Protection Admin only to see the fruits of this downsizing delivered in the form of lead-based toys.

I have been waiting for the members of the party of life to also be the party of anti-torture of those lives. This is insane to me. Water boarding was torture in WWII. We have tried and convicted others for doing this to our soldiers. And then, in 2001, it all of a sudden becomes open for debate? This is shameful, and I fear it will be yet another crime for which no one will be held accountable. We have given our opponents in future wars justification to preemptively attack us and torture us, and we have been too short-sited to see it comming. When I hear the Greenwood song, "I'm Proud to be an American," as I did yesterday when we graduated the Air Force's newest pilots, this current direction we have taken on a moral level, seems to fly in the face of the pride I have; pride which should be unabated, and unattenuated. The only way we will resolve this moral cloud over the very meaning of being "Americans" is to acknowledge the crimes we have committed and begin holding those who authorized and even encouraged the torture of humans accountable. We wouldn't treat dogs this way.

Cheers,

Kevin "Hack" King


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Look on the bright side
River's picture
Submitted by River on Sat, 12/15/2007 - 4:41pm.

After the last four years, we have a much better understanding of how the Nazis rose to power in Germany in the 1930s. They convinced themselves that it was okay to put the Jews into concentration camps, since Jews were the enemy. It became fashionable to ignore the torture that was going on in those camps. You could pretend that it was necessary to do these things to prevent the Jews from undermining the national security. You could overlook the laws that were broken or rewritten, because it was needed to make the nation stronger. Newspapers and radio news reports all put a positive pro-Nazi spin on their reporting, because that was the patriotic thing to do.

The difference in this country was that not all the news media fell in line like Fox News did. Also, the Bush administration was incredibly inept in its handling of the Iraq war, the economy, and Katrina, which tarnished its aura of invincibility, even among right-wingers.

I wonder how things would have turned out if the war in Iraq had been the cakewalk that Rumsfeld expected. We would probably have gone on to invade Iran, don't you think?

It makes for interesting speculation. I'm relieved that we appear to have tipped back towards sanity, at least for now.


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Waterboarding- in the manual (President's copy)
Submitted by Bonkers on Fri, 12/14/2007 - 4:43pm.

It chills me to think that maybe Secretary Rice would somehow fall into the hands of our enemies and be water-boarded!
I realize it would not be a crime according to any General you ask, or any President you ask, but would you just say, "thank you sir, may I have another gallon?"
Never in my wildest thoughts have I ever thought that a stupid political party such as the republicans, would either support torture or be silent about it like some did in WW2!

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Also
Submitted by Bonkers on Sat, 12/15/2007 - 2:49pm.

I think maybe this water-boarding thing is why Bush doesn't want his two kids to participate in this never ending war!
Cheney might send his daughter if she wasn't "married."

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