“Kill ‘Em All And Let God Sort ‘Em Out”, Said The (President “Surge” W.) Bush Administration
Slap ‘em around a bit, urinate on them, waterboard them to the brink of insanity, cut up their Visa Cards in front of their very eyes as they helplessly beg for cessation — ALL very good techniques to be utilized on actual terrorists who mean to harm we and ours, I believe most of us would agree. Call it “torture” or whatever; I FIRMLY stand behind my THE president when he allows such things to occur in defense of our Democratic Republic.
But what to think when he and his Administration look the other way when mere “suspects”; “innocent ’til proven guilty” in our culture IF/WHEN they happen to be American Citizens (just ask Jose Padilla on that one) are treated in this manner? It’s okay with most of us, just as long as THE GOVERNMENT GETS IT RIGHT. Unfortunately, the “Gub’mint” SELDOMLY “gets it right“. Even LESS so when the president is hell-bent on datamining, wiretapping -slash- “eavesdropping”, torturing, and tracking everyday American Citizens in pursuit of a way to eliminate an extraordinary MILITARY TACTIC exercized by our enemies known as “terr’ism”.
It ain’t gonna work in other words. And many innocent folks will be harmed irreparably in the process. And this is where the “Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” crowd comes into play…
From ABCNews:
Sources: Top Bush Advisors Approved ‘Enhanced Interrogation’
Detailed Discussions Were Held About Techniques to Use on al Qaeda SuspectsBy JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG, HOWARD L. ROSENBERG and ARIANE de VOGUE
In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.
The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of “combined” interrogation techniques — using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one method at a time — on terrorist suspects who proved difficult to break, sources said.
Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.
The high-level discussions about these “enhanced interrogation techniques” were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.
The advisers were members of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy.
At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
As the national security adviser, Rice chaired the meetings, which took place in the White House Situation Room and were typically attended by most of the principals or their deputies.
Contacted by ABC News today, spokesmen for Tenet, Rumsfeld and Powell declined to comment… “
“Declined to comment”… HMM. I’m not surprised, are you?
As a member of the U.S. Military (IRR at this very moment) and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I often ponder if I’ll ever be charged with war crimes when I’m in my sixties, kicking back on my porch swing as the “Multinational, One World Gub’mint Police [State] Force” comes swooping in. As the “Meek inherit the Earth”, will our “One World Government” one day be presided over by torqued off Iraqis who call the shots and determine that I am guilty of war crimes despite the FACT I only obeyed the (in)direct orders of my “Commander-In-Chief” as I labored to (so-called) help FREE the Iraqis from the stranglehold of Saddam Hussein? Unnapreciative JERKS anyway.
All I can promise — and this is fodder for the “Baby Killers” crowd… is I can honestly say, at ALL TIMES… I had the VERY best of intentions in mind for my fellow World Citizens.
***
As always, a HUGE thanks to our good friends at RealClearPolitics for selecting this post for their Best Of The Blogs feature…
Other blogger opinions, H/T to MemeOrandum: Michael Stickings (The Reaction); Marc Ambinder; Comments From Left Field; AMERICAblog
Loading ...
12:13 pm on April 10th, 2008 1
I believe that “kill them all” quote comes from the early 13th century Albigensian Crusade. I guess the public today isn’t much smarter or at least believes in a god that will fix their mistakes in another plane of existence and that this absolves us of responsibility.
I keep hearing about how “these people” are the worst of the worst and want to kill us all, but I’m afraid that picking people off the street because of an anonymous tip or because their name was similar to an alias of someone else isn’t a really good way of making sure someone is guilty of anything – nor is torture, for that matter.
I really haven’t heard much sentiment that blames the troops for torture and most seem to think the permission, if not the direct order comes from the very top. I’m of the same mind – that the buck stops much higher up.
8:06 pm on April 10th, 2008 2
Most people just want the troops home safe.
I don’t see any of the blame-the-soldier
mentality that I experienced in 1970.
I made the mistake of wearing my uniform
while on leave and people in passing
cars threw garbage at me.
Take some time to get your mind better,
do things you want to do,as much as you
can. Heal and feel better.
For what it’s worth, Welcome Home!
Mark
Former SP4, 1st/504/82d Abn Div
1968-1971