They approved and advocated torture saying it works ...
This man knows torture does not work ...
Update on the topic and film (Zero Dark Thirty) kinda of showing that torture works and led to bin-Laden.
Headlines from the story: McCain says torture scene in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ inaccurate in leading to Osama bin Laden.
“Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) not provide us with key leads on bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading information,” McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, backed up McCain’s assessment that water boarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden.
Yet the "torture works crowd" won't trust or accept the facts — they prefer the TV Show 24 model — one that says and shows that torture works. Torture does not, it never has, and it never will. (BTW: I am a huge fan of "24..." but, it's TV, a show, it is not real).
A look back at recent history is very timely right now. Cite: In his book, "Decision Points," former President George W. Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with water boarding of KSM, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the United States. Mr. Bush writes that his reply to them was "Damn right." He further states that he would make the same decision again to save lives.
Mr. Bush previously had acknowledged endorsing what he described as the CIA's "enhanced" interrogation techniques — a term meant to encompass irregular, and harsh coercive methods — after Justice Department and other top aides assured him they were legal (the so-called John Yoo secret memo written from the White House OLC).
Even former Vice President Dick Cheney once said, "I was a big supporter of water boarding."
The Bush Justice Department later repudiated some of the underlying legal analysis for the CIA effort, but Mr. Bush still told an interviewer a week before leaving the White House that, "I firmly reject the word torture."
I surmise he would say that because to him torture was not torture because of that secret memo from John Yoo and approved by others in the DOJtold Mr. Bush is was legal.
It mattered not that the actions were unlawful, illegal, and a war crimes and had been for decades.
My summary: Why Americans do not demand justice in this matter is beyond my comprehension. However, it does show the power of the office and power of slick politics by powerful people in powerful positions (positions of trust in the country).
Imagine what that means for you if they suspected you of being a terrorist and decided to follow that "Bush model."
The bottom line: When does a legal opinon supercede written law?
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