Obama has given dozens of speeches in which he stated, "Waterboarding violates our ideals and our values. I do believe that it is torture. That's why I put an end to these practices. I am absolutely convinced it was the right thing to do, not because there might not have been information that was yielded by these various detainees who were subjected to this treatment, but because we could have gotten this information in other ways".
And now information regarding the killing of Osama bin Laden has surfaced saying that terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gave the US the name of Osama’s courier when he was.......waterboarded.
The Star Tribune reported, " Officials say CIA interrogators in secret overseas prisons developed the first strands of information that ultimately led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Current and former U.S. officials say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden’s most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed’s successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania. The news is sure to reignite debate over whether the now-closed interrogation and detention program was successful."
If Obama did stop the practice of waterboarding, recent information regarding the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, in Yemen and the killing of Osama bin Laden would seem to produce a very ironic position from a moral, ethical, and intellectual standpoint. If waterboarding violates Obama's ideals and values, using Hellfire missiles from multiple Predator drones to kill al-Awlaki and putting a lead bullet through the head of an unarmed bin Laden must cause Obama severe gut-wrenching angst.
I wonder what the real truth is? Does Obama really despise waterboarding and approve of using Hellfire missles and putting bullets through the head of unarmed terrorists? Or does he really privately despise both methods but is publicly approving of the killings simply as a means to boost his poll numbers?
You know what I believe, but it would appear that, from behind the podium, Obama believes water is bad and bullets and missiles are good.
In these instances, I personally approve of both methods (and have no angst in telling you so).
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1 comment:
My wife asked me what Campfire Chronicles was about. I said, "Obama's ethical dilemma with water boarding and killing people with bullets and missiles." She said, "If you don't have any ethics, why would you have a dilemma?"
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