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Here is the question for Dick Cheney. Is waterboarding the robbery suspect from Iowa to get "the truth" OK?
Really that is the only question he needs to answer. Because you know, that sheriff in Arizona is eventually gonna decide to waterboard a suspect in a robbery or drug case to get a confession.
How he answers this question is all we need to know.
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And you know, Face, that sheriff could argue that top DOJ lawyers agree with him that it is legal.
From Zelikow's FP piece
"The underlying absurdity of the administration's position can be summarized this way. Once you get to a substantive compliance analysis for "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" you get the position that the substantive standard is the same as it is in analogous U.S. constitutional law. So the OLC must argue, in effect, that the methods and the conditions of confinement in the CIA program could constitutionally be inflicted on American citizens in a county jail."
http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/21/the_olc_torture_memos_thoughts_from_a_dissenter
That's not to say that current practices of local police are all that civilized, but it sure doesn't help that 8th amendment rights have been diluted to nothing at this point...
May 13, 2009 6:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm surprised to see you taking that approach Obey.
I think Zelikow mostly has it right, but not on that point, and he's too well-informed to just have got it wrong by accident, so I have to accuse him of dissembling in the paragraph you reference.
"Opponents should not overstate their side either. Had a serious analysis been conducted beforehand (it apparently was not), my rough guess is that it might have found that physical coercion can break people faster, with some tradeoff in degraded and less reliable results."
Interesting implicit justification there.
May 14, 2009 2:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obey,
Can't wait for some to ask DICK this question.
May 13, 2009 7:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
this will be an even better question when the photos come out showing more than 3 prisoners were waterboarded.
May 13, 2009 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
bj,
True.. if those pictures ever do get released. Remember the destroyed video tapes?
May 13, 2009 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah, i was just gonna add a "never mind" to my comment.
May 13, 2009 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Only south of the Mason/Dixon Line; I think.
I mean I am just answering your question here.
May 13, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe US police (sheriff?) have been convicted of such things already.
But there is a legit question as to what methods are permissible in which circumstances.
May 14, 2009 2:25 AM | Reply | Permalink