Waterboarding...

[GreenScoutII]

of what. you wanting to blow yourself and a few US citizens up?
i'm all in favor of using it on Enemy Non Combatents. or as i call them Muslim Extremist.
no uniform NO geneva convention applies.

+1

If a little waterboarding stops another 9/11, it doesn't bother my consience one little bit if some terrorist gets a little wet.

Waterboarding is torture? Boo-Hoo, my pussy hurts....

[BigBear]

I agree that if they are not wearing a "standard, recognized" uniform, anything goes. I may be a little hard hearted on this but...

If I captured several "terrorists" or just plain enemy combantants. I put them all in the same room and line them up. Ask one a question. He doesn't answer, blow his head off. Go down the line.

Waterboarding isn't fun but it's not life threatening. My dad had a friend that was in 'Nam and was a POW for about 4 years. Unfortunately about 6 years after he was freed he divorced his wife, left his kids, and committed suicide. Before he did that though, he had some crazy stories about torture...

If an "enemy" has information that can save your or your team/country/side/etc life, ANYTHING goes in my mind.

Flame suit on.

[iamhunter]

I'm not against waterboarding terrorists by any means.

But what I AM against is all the propoganda BS on both sides "Ohh nooo we can't torture them..."

"It's not torture, it only simulates drowning."

The video is correct. It doesn not "simulate" drowning. It is slow drowning. and it is torture.

And no, the geneva conventions do NOT apply because

They're not soldiers. They're terrorists. "non combatants"


All that said, if some terrorist has vital information, torture away.

Let's just call it what it is.

[275RLTW]

Waterboarding is nowhere near torture. We do it to our own troops in SERE school. The politicains have really screwed this up. Now, even physical exercise is considered extreme (even though srtaight out of FM 21-20 and required by EVERY soldier, EVERY morning) when applied to captured prisoners. Since when did terrorists get more rights than the soldier?

[Hoosier]

Wow, not a single person here thinks waterboarding is torture? I've also seen video of Christopher Hitchens being waterboarded, he lasted a similarly short amount of time.

I'm pretty shocked no one considers it torture. I'm guessing if you had it done to you, you would feel differently.

I'm also fairly surprised that everyone believes life is like an episode of 24, where torturing the bad guy is going to magically save lives. Because that guy they sent to be a suicide bomber would have been filled in on the details of their next operation.

We convicted Japanese after WWII for waterboarding... double standards are a good way to make lots of people hate us. People hating us makes it much easier for terrorists to do their work, get financed, etc. I say that waterboarding has made us less safe.

But hooray for feeling like you're getting some retribution, I guess. I'm tired of people taking "common sense" approaches to things, with no regard for the complexity and longevity of the repercussions. We are still paying for what we did to install the Shah in Iran, still paying for supporting Saddam against Iran, still paying for our blind support of Israel. Are we still going to be paying a price 50 years from now?

H.

[BigBear]

I'm guessing if you had it done to you, you would feel differently. Probably, but I know I wouldn't die... so it'd be a mind game. And if I did happen to die, no harm, no foul, my soul is secured.

Because that guy they sent to be a suicide bomber would have been filled in on the details of their next operation. Suicide bomber probably knows nothing, but since he was willing to die before we captured him, I'd be glad to arrange the meeting between him and his Maker.

Double standards are a good way to make lots of people hate us. I totally agree. I think we should behead the terrorists we capture too instead of giving them rights.


Are we still going to be paying a price 50 years from now? Probably... but I'm all for bringing our troops home and telling the rest of the world to #&^& off. I don't mind helping out teh allies every now and then though.

H. T.

[jake]

If I captured several "terrorists" or just plain enemy combantants. I put them all in the same room and line them up. Ask one a question. He doesn't answer, blow his head off. Go down the line.

The problem with that idea is that if the second guy in line doesn't know the answer to your question, but doesn't want to die, he will tell you what he thinks you want to hear. And as YOU don't know the answer to your question either, you might just believe it.

[BigBear]

That why you don't believe anything they say and just kill them all... They are being killed for their previous actions, not for what knowledge they may or may not posess. If they want to talk, the "suits" will still check it out, but no promises made on that information.

[Mtn.man]

Waterboarding seems to be a viable and effective way of getting information from our enemies.

[jake]

So does anything go if you're trying to get vital information, or do you just want enemy combatants summarily executed? You seem to have shifted your entire argument in the space of a couple of hours.