Torture "is basically subject to perception," CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong."
I'm sure you could likewise construct an argument that death is subject to perception, that "doing it wrong" is likewise perceptual, that the universe does not create us, but we the universe, calling each instant out of the foam of probability, creating existence anew in each moment, each life a unique product of itself, independent and holistic, hermeneutic and hermetic, a wink of consciousness on the inscrutable skein of space and time, existing forward and backward in crystalline, unitary perfection, whole unto itself.
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the committee chairman, asked: "How on Earth did we get to the point where a United States government lawyer would say that . . . torture is subject to perception?"
Well, it all began when these Indians . . .
8 comments:
Whose perception are we talking about?
Does "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong," pertain to the perception of the folks at home? i.e: if the detainee dies, the public will perceive that you were torturing him. So long as you they live, the pundits can argue he wasn't tortured.
I know my rights man.
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I wouldn't be opposed to torture, per say, if we were doing it at home on our soil and within our borders (sic). hell, even if it were done to our own people, or whatever (sic). in the open, televised, with popcorn/beer vendors, and sponsors, etc. I mean, I could live with that fact, you know? belly of the beast and all. at least we'd own it. but the fact that we're bored (and boring) enough to go around the globe and do this as shamefully, cowardly, half-heartedly, and half-assedly as we are kinda disappoints me. and with such denial and deception! come on America, show me what you've got, you fucking faggots. you pansies. you effete motards. cuz I'm seriously doubting your commitment to Sparklemotion. show me where my tax dollars are going, please. I want a camera in each room, a camera on the end of each gun, let's go! you take a lot of money; I want to see what it is exactly that I sponsor. because these sit and bullshit sessions with congress or whatever are boring and tedious. I expect better.
the 'royal we,' of course. the editorial. . .
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I now return to the garden party.
sorry.
i had to.
My perception is that angels are dancing on a pin-head!
If a detainee falls in the forest and nobody hears him, does he really fall?
Next, we the war crimes court will hear testimony from Alberto Gonzales about his "Theory of Schröedinger's Detainee".
"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
Major General Antonio Taguba, USA (Ret.)
From the preface of a recently released report on torture by the group Physicians for Human Rights.
You may remeber General Taguba as having written a report on the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
W4B
But see the following links for more on the SASC report and its methodology:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/or_20090110_9776.php
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/04/lawyers-letter-counters-torture-report/
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