Another reason to eschew torture

Here’s a simple fact for torture advocates like Derek Foley to consider: Not only is torture morally abhorrent, but it’s counterproductive. Once a suspect is tortured, it may prove difficult or impossible to prosecute him:

The United States is relying on evidence obtained by torture to prove that it can continue to imprison indefinitely a young man arrested as an adolescent in Afghanistan six and a half years ago, according to documents filed with a federal district court.

Mohammed Jawad may have been as young as 12 years old when he was seized by Afghan police and turned over to U.S. authorities in December 2002, according to a recent letter from the Afghan attorney general, who is requesting his return. Jawad is accused of throwing a hand grenade into a U.S. military vehicle and injuring two servicemen and their translator. But the primary evidence against him — his own confessions — were obtained by torture. Although the U.S. military commission created by President George W. Bush eventually charged him with war crimes for the attack in October 2007 — almost six years after the crime — a judge ruled in October 2008 that because they were tortured, his confessions were unreliable and inadmissible.

  1. Prosecution of this guy in the American system wasn’t exactly the point in the first place.

    I ain’t sayin’, I’m just sayin’. It’s a lot easier to just look the other way.

  2. Prosecution of this guy in the American system wasn’t exactly the point in the first place.

    That may be. But can we know with perfect foresight which terror suspects we may want to prosecute down the line?

    No?

    Then maybe not torturing any of them is the best way to preserve all our options.

  3. The information obtained from waterboarding suspects wasn’t to get a confession to prosecute them, but rather to obtain information from an upcoming attack.

    Khalid Sheikh Mohammed anyone?

    The information was reliable and potentially save thousands of lives. All because we waterboarded 3 terrorists. Weigh the pros and cons. Thousands of lives vs putting terrorists through a scary and uncomfortable situation.

  4. The information obtained from waterboarding suspects wasn’t to get a confession to prosecute them, but rather to obtain information from an upcoming attack.

    Derek Foley is, of course, lying once again.

    The facts prove conclusively that the US broke up the Library Tower plot to which Derek refers, months before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured:

    What clinches the falsity of [the Library Tower claims], however (and that of the memo [Mark A. Thiessen] cites, and that of an unnamed Central Intelligence Agency spokesman who today seconded Thessen’s argument), is chronology. In a White House press briefing, Bush’s counterterrorism chief, Frances Fragos Townsend, told reporters that the cell leader was arrested in February 2002, and “at that point, the other members of the cell” (later arrested) “believed that the West Coast plot has been canceled, was not going forward” [italics mine]. A subsequent fact sheet released by the Bush White House states, “In 2002, we broke up [italics mine] a plot by KSM to hijack an airplane and fly it into the tallest building on the West Coast.” These two statements make clear that however far the plot to attack the Library Tower ever got—an unnamed senior FBI official would later tell the Los Angeles Times that Bush’s characterization of it as a “disrupted plot” was “ludicrous”—that plot was foiled in 2002. But Sheikh Mohammed wasn’t captured until March 2003.

    How could Sheikh Mohammed’s water-boarded confession have prevented the Library Tower attack if the Bush administration “broke up” that attack during the previous year? It couldn’t, of course. Conceivably the Bush administration, or at least parts of the Bush administration, didn’t realize until Sheikh Mohammed confessed under torture that it had already broken up a plot to blow up the Library Tower about which it knew nothing. Stranger things have happened. But the plot was already a dead letter. If foiling the Library Tower plot was the reason to water-board Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, then that water-boarding was more than cruel and unjust. It was a waste of water.

    Once again: Derek Foley is a proven liar. He will continue to lie. And I will continue to expose his lies for what they are.

  5. “Derek Foley is, of course, lying once again.

    The facts prove conclusively that the US broke up the Library Tower plot to which Derek refers, months before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured”

    There was another attack planned. In the Gitmo post on my site, note how I mentioned that it was the second attack, not the first.

    Again, you have a fatal flaw to your argument, and again, I prove that I am in fact telling the truth, thus making you look like a whiney child.

  6. There was another attack planned.

    It’s great being a lying wingnut like Derek Foley. No, it really is. Nothing you say can ever be disproved… because as soon as an inconvenient fact comes to light, a liar of the Foley variety can simply bend over, insert a hand way up his ass, and pull out yet another dung-covered fantasy. Presto! The goalposts are moved, and he blithely moves on to still more lies.

    That’s what Derek has done here. The claim that “There was another attack planned” is a complete fabrication. Derek Foley is lying yet again.

    In the Gitmo post on my site, note how I mentioned that it was the second attack, not the first.

    Oh, yes, let’s look at Derek’s “Gitmo post”. What we find is that Derek has posted a quote from an article in Commentary magazine — and that quote agrees with the timeline that proves that the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could not possibly have led to the foiling of the alleged Library Tower plot.

    According to the Commentary article, when was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed captured?

    Khalid Mohammed’s subsequent capture in Pakistan in March 2003…

    I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. When was KSM captured?

    in March 2003…

    And when did President George W. Bush say that the supposed Library Tower plot was foiled?

    In 2002, we broke up a plot by KSM to hijack an airplane and fly it into the tallest building on the West Coast.

    When?

    In 2002…

    Ah. So we did break up the plot months before KSM was captured. So saith President George W. Bush. Is Derek Foley going to claim that Bush was lying to the nation?

    Derek’s claim that there were two plots to fly a plane into the Library Tower is completely unsupported by any factual evidence. He made it up. He’s lying — once again. He doesn’t know how not to lie.

  7. When? 2004

    and instead of quoting irrelevant parts of my post, why not post the portion that I was talking about:

    “Khalid Mohammed’s subsequent capture in Pakistan in March 2003 revealed still more details which, we now know, enabled the Bush administration to foil a second wave of suicide attacks directed at Los Angeles.”

    Some other sources since you didn’t like that one:

    http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2009/04/22/waterboarding-saved-los-angeles-from-terrorist-attack-per-released-cia-memos/

    http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2009/04/22/waterboarding-saved-los-angeles-from-terrorist-attack-per-released-cia-memos/

    http://macsmind.com/wordpress/2009/04/21/cia-confirms-that-waterboarding-khalid-sheik-mohammad-stopped-los-angeles-attacks/

    “It’s great being a lying wingnut like Derek Foley. No, it really is. Nothing you say can ever be disproved”

    Actually, nothing I say can be disproved because everything I say is fact. I do not make a statement without having solid evidence behind what I say. Of course, you neglect everything I say and take the contradictory route, calling my claim a lie without providing ample evidence to prove it to be so.

    When can I start to call you a liar? You have misquoted me, straw manned me, and called me a liar which I have proven to be false time and time again.

    “He doesn’t know how not to lie.”

    Is it irony that you believe everything to be a lie except your own views? If anyone is to be pointing fingers, it would be me.

    “Derek’s claim that there were two plots to fly a plane into the Library Tower is completely unsupported by any factual evidence.”

    Hey, check it out: A LIE.

  8. When? 2004

    Derek Foley again chooses to lie outright. President George W. Bush stated unequivocally that the supposed Library Tower plot was foiled in 2002.

    Some other sources since you didn’t like that one:

    http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2009/04/22/waterboarding-saved-los-angeles-from-terrorist-attack-per-released-cia-memos/

    http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2009/04/22/waterboarding-saved-los-angeles-from-terrorist-attack-per-released-cia-memos/

    http://macsmind.com/wordpress/2009/04/21/cia-confirms-that-waterboarding-khalid-sheik-mohammad-stopped-los-angeles-attacks/

    Theses links are simply other bloggers repeating the same claim that Derek made. And they, like Derek, also are unable to explain how the capture of KSM in 2003 could lead to the foiling of a plot in 2002.

    Note also that Derek Foley provided three URLs supposedly “proving” his claim — and two of them are identical. He really is so mind-boggling stupid as to think that he can inflate his “evidence” with this transparent and dishonest ploy.

    Actually, nothing I say can be disproved because everything I say is fact.

    Derek Foley is lying yet again.

    I do not make a statement without having solid evidence behind what I say.

    Then Derek Foley can certainly provide evidence that there were two separate plots to fly a plane into the Library Tower in Los Angeles. Hint: Finding other bloggers who say the same thing does not qualify as evidence.

    Of course, you neglect everything I say and take the contradictory route, calling my claim a lie without providing ample evidence to prove it to be so.

    Derek Foley is lying yet again.

    You have misquoted me…

    Derek Foley is lying yet again. I have never misquoted him.

    Hey, check it out: A LIE.

    Hey, check it out: DEREK FOLEY IS A LIAR. He has provided no evidence whatsoever that there were two plots to fly a plane into the Library Tower.

  9. “President George W. Bush stated unequivocally that the supposed Library Tower plot was foiled in 2002.”

    Are you seriously so dense you cannot distinguish between the two plots? Check the sources, they all agree that there was a second plot which was foiled.

    “Theses links are simply other bloggers repeating the same claim that Derek made. And they, like Derek, also are unable to explain how the capture of KSM in 2003 could lead to the foiling of a plot in 200”

    Missed the cns news one. Hold up:

    http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46949

    Maybe I should give less sources so I don’t repeat.

    “two of them are identical”

    Tis the backlash of having multiple sources. You think you are ctrl c ctrl v ‘ing one but really you missed the c so you are pasting the same link. My apologies, but I provided the CNS News link above.

    “Then Derek Foley can certainly provide evidence that there were two separate plots to fly a plane into the Library Tower in Los Angeles.”

    Check the CNS News link.

    “Of course, you neglect everything I say and take the contradictory route, calling my claim a lie without providing ample evidence to prove it to be so.

    Derek Foley is lying yet again.”

    You just proved my point.

    “I have never misquoted him.”

    Really? So misquoting my post to exclude the part where it talks about the second wave of LA attacks being foiled by Khalid Mohammed’s interrogation then saying “and that quote agrees with the timeline that proves that the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could not possibly have led to the foiling of the alleged Library Tower plot.”

    I believe this is just another lie by MB. This hypocrisy is killing me inside.

  10. Are you seriously so dense you cannot distinguish between the two plots? Check the sources, they all agree that there was a second plot which was foiled.

    “Agreement” isn’t evidence. Derek Foley has yet to provide a single shred of evidence that a second plot to fly a plane into the Library Tower ever existed.

    Maybe I should give less sources so I don’t repeat.

    Maybe Derek should provide some evidence that a second plot to fly a plane into the Library Tower ever existed. Merely citing another article that repeats the claim does not constitute ‘proof’.

    Tis the backlash of having multiple sources.

    Nope Tis the stupidity of a lying little boy who lacks the moral courage to stop lying.

    Check the CNS News link.

    That “CNS News link” provides no evidence — it merely repeats the claim. The CIA has never provided evidence of a second plot to fly a plane into the Library Tower in Los Angeles.

    So misquoting my post to exclude the part where it talks about the second wave of LA attacks being foiled by Khalid Mohammed’s interrogation then saying “and that quote agrees with the timeline that proves that the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could not possibly have led to the foiling of the alleged Library Tower plot.”

    Derek has yet to provide evidence of a misquote.

    I believe this is just another lie by MB.

    Derek Foley believes many fantasies. Now we know that he believes one more.

    This hypocrisy is killing me inside.

    Awwwww, the poor widdle lying brat has an owie. Awwwww.

  11. ““Agreement” isn’t evidence.”

    Never claimed it was, but having three sources that all say the same thing definitely builds its credibility. The sources are evidence, their agreement merely supports the evidence.

    “That “CNS News link” provides no evidence — it merely repeats the claim.”

    Uh, isn’t that evidence? A respected news source making the same claim? What is evidence to you? You want to interrogate Khalid Mohammed? Moving goalpost.

    TERRY: “Derek has yet to provide evidence of a misquote.”

    ME: “instead of quoting irrelevant parts of my post, why not post the portion that I was talking about:

    “Khalid Mohammed’s subsequent capture in Pakistan in March 2003 revealed still more details which, we now know, enabled the Bush administration to foil a second wave of suicide attacks directed at Los Angeles.””

    misquote. Again, you are lying.

  12. Never claimed it was, but having three sources that all say the same thing definitely builds its credibility.

    In other words, Derek still claims that agreement is evidence — despite the fact that none of his sources give provide any actual evidence of a second plot to fly a plane into the Library Tower.

    The sources are evidence…

    False. The sources are reporting a claim. They provide no actual evidence that supports that claim.

    Uh, isn’t that evidence?

    Nope. It’s a report of a claim being made. Nothing more. Derek Foley is too stupid to understand this simple reality.

    misquote. Again, you are lying.

    Again, Derek Foley is lying. He has yet to cite any example in which I quoted him saying something he did not say. That is what a misquote is — not the feeble waaaaaaahhhhhh-you-didn’t-repeat-my-every-word that Derek is trying to fob off as a ‘misquote’.

    Keep lying, little asswipe. I’m overjoyed that you are providing so much documentation of your deep-seated dishonesty.

  13. “Derek still claims that agreement is evidence”

    That they agree with me is evidence that I am telling the truth. Evidence that there were indeed a second round of attacks planned is shown by their presentation of the information. Again, moving goalpost. You just love the logical fallacies.

    “They provide no actual evidence that supports that claim.”

    Again, moving goalpost. A respected news source, along with the CIA, are both sources of information and can be counted as evidence.

    “It’s a report of a claim being made.”

    Yet they too are reporting it as true. Does that make CNS News a liar too?

    “He has yet to cite any example in which I quoted him saying something he did not say. ”

    I never said that you attributed something to me that I did not say (even though you have done it before straw man). I said you misquoted me, aka you quoted the wrong portion of my post in order to twist my words.

    And for the millionth time, you have yet to disprove anything I have said. It makes you look like a whiney baby. I quite enjoy it :)

  14. That they agree with me is evidence that I am telling the truth.

    False. All it is evidence of is that these sources are all repeating the same claim that Derek is parroting.

    Evidence that there were indeed a second round of attacks planned is shown by their presentation of the information.

    What information was presented that supports the claim that a second attack on the Library Tower was planned? None whatsoever. All that is presented is the bare claim, with no supporting factual evidence.

    Derek is asking us to believe that simply because a website says that X is true, it must be true. Why not? He is certainly that credulous. He sees no reason why the rest of us should not be, as well.

    A respected news source, along with the CIA, are both sources of information and can be counted as evidence.

    What “respected news source”? CNS? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    I never said that you attributed something to me that I did not say (even though you have done it before straw man).

    And Derek Foley craps out yet another pile of steaming horseshit. When did I attribute something to Derek that he did not say? Derek stumbles away from that claim without even a glimmer of awareness that it requires factual evidence.

    I said you misquoted me, aka you quoted the wrong portion of my post in order to twist my words.

    Get a load of this, folks. Derek now claims that “quot[ing] the wrong portion of [his] post” (where “wrong” means anything random thing tha Derek wants it to mean) is a “misquote”.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    In other words, I quoted Derek’s exact words — but because he doesn’t like the fact that I quoted those words, it must have been a “misquote”.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

    Really, Derek could not be doing a better job of proving his utter lack of any intellectual integrity if he was following a script I’d written. Well done, litle shitstain. Well done.

  15. “All it is evidence of is that these sources are all repeating the same claim that Derek is parroting. ”

    Exactly. Evidence.

    “All that is presented is the bare claim, with no supporting factual evidence.”

    So really, anything I present can be said to be a claim, and not proof. Hence why your argument is illogical, as it uses the moving goalpost fallacy. You have to believe someone, but by your standard, we can believe no one. At least so long as I am using them as a source.

    “When did I attribute something to Derek that he did not say?”

    Go back through the comments and look for where I addressed you as “strawman”

    “quoted Derek’s exact words — but because he doesn’t like the fact that I quoted those words, it must have been a “misquote”.”

    The fact that you tried to use my quote as proof of something, that I didn’t say there was a second attack planned, it was a misquote. You neglected to post the portion where I talked about the second attack.

  16. Exactly. Evidence.

    Yes, folks. Derek Foley really is this stupid: He thinks that he can take a single word of one of my statememts and claim that it is proof of his claims.

    So really, anything I present can be said to be a claim, and not proof.

    Which is, of course, not what I said — but then, Derek has already proven his intellectual dishonesy many times over. One wonders why he feels the need to keep piling on new evidence of his own mandacity.

    Go back through the comments and look for where I addressed you as “strawman”

    Evasion noted. When did I attribute something to Derek that he did not say?

    The fact that you tried to use my quote as proof of something, that I didn’t say there was a second attack planned, it was a misquote.

    Translation: I quoted Derek’s exact words, just not in the exact way he wanted to be quoted. And because I didn’t follow his wishes in this matter precisely, I must therefore be guilty of “misquoting” the poor widdle feller.

    News flash for Derek Foley: The universe does not revolve around your pitiful little wants and needs, mewling brat. Grow up.

  17. “He thinks that he can take a single word of one of my statememts and claim that it is proof of his claims.”

    Not your word, but that others are repeating the same info I am. You have yet to show that my information was proven false by anyone else, and you have yet to repudiate the claim by your own means as well. If you think I am lying, you must also accept that they are lying as well.

    “Which is, of course, not what I said”

    It is what you were eluding to. There is absolutely no way I could provide the amount of information that you require for my claim to be accepted as truth. Regardless of my reasoning, which you continue to ignore, you demand that I provide nonexistent studies to back up my claim, even though I already explain that I do not need to.

    “Evasion noted. When did I attribute something to Derek that he did not say? ”

    No evasion, I am merely noting that you can read and I told you where to go through. I have called you strawman more than once.

    “I quoted Derek’s exact words, just not in the exact way he wanted to be quoted.”

    You quoted the wrong words and claimed they were proof that I didn’t mention the second attack. A few sentences later in my post, you can see that I did in fact mention the second attack. You deliberately chose to quote the part that didn’t mention the second attack to try and weasel your way to a point.

  18. Not your word, but that others are repeating the same info I am.

    In Derek Foley’s muddled, confused little mind, when someone else says the same things you do, that’s proof. Actual facts are not required — only repetition of an unsupported claim.

    You have yet to show that my information was proven false by anyone else…

    That’s because Derek Foley hasn’t provided a single scrap of “information” to support his claim that there was a second plot to fly a plane into the Library Tower. All he has done is to demonstrate that others have repeated that same claim — also without providing a single scrap of “information” to support the claim.

    It’s not my responsibility to disprove Derek’s claim. It is his responsibility to prove it. And that is what Derek is running from.

    There is absolutely no way I could provide the amount of information that you require for my claim to be accepted as truth. Regardless of my reasoning, which you continue to ignore, you demand that I provide nonexistent studies to back up my claim, even though I already explain that I do not need to.

    Let’s review:

    1) Derek Foley made a very specific claim about the frequency of laryngospasm.

    2) Derek Foley admits that he has no proof to back up his claim.

    3) Therefore, Derek says, we should all accept his claim as Revealed Truth — just because he says so!

     

     

    No evasion…

    Derek is lying again. Of course he is evading the question.

    When did I attribute something to Derek that he did not say?

    Watch him evade this question again, folks.

    You quoted the wrong words

    Why were they “the wrong words”? BECAUSE! DEREK! SAYS! SO!

    Derek still cannot explain why quoting his exact words is a “misquote”.