Bush to Veto Waterboarding Ban

It comes as no surprise that he'd veto it.

However, it still amazes me that he'd call it "one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror", which is pathetic.

If this is so valuable, why don't we cut the military in half and just go out and buy a bunch of torture devices? Of course I'm being facetious.

This method of torture supposedly has a "proven track record of keeping America safe". Really? Where's the proof? I doubt they'll show us, so his argument doesn't "prove" anything to us. We're just supposed to trust him. Just like we did with the stores of WMD hidden in Iraq.

If we, as the American government, take this approach then we have no leg to stand on when we complain of human rights violations or bad leadership in other countries.

Imagine if we were a small country in the Middle East. Would some country invade us and claim that we were a danger to the region, had bad president that believes in torture, and had a questionable election of the current leadership (think Kerry/Bush and Florida). We may be the ones in the shoes of the Iraqis.


Bush Announces Veto of Waterboarding Ban

 

Let's say Al-Qaeda took hostages and were threatening to kill them. Then we raided and captured the Al-Qaeda right there and took them away. At that time, we may be trying to get more information and to see if they have additional plans or details. At that point, if they want to waterboard the Al-Qaeda members, I certainly won't lose any sleep over it. What I have a problem with is waterboarding or any other torture without some strong proof of guilt. Under normal circumstances, citizens have a right to a fair trial, the right to remain silent, the right for legal representation and even if found guilty would still be required to be treated with some measure of dignity. So I guess it is not the waterboarding itself that disturbs me, I just do not want it used if the person has not been proven guilty.

 

Herein lies the problem... Who is overseeing the agencies to make sure they only torture the proven guilty?

 

You have the military that makes some decisions in certain situations, then you have the CIA, then the FBI can and does investigate the CIA. Who all are supposed to operate under the guidelines of executive orders. I don't think lack of overseeing agencies is an issue. To be honest, I have no idea who they would choose to waterboard and who they wouldn't. According to news sources on internet, it is a very uncommon practice.

 

I'm glad he veto'd it. Waterboarding is much nicer than beheading someone. Plus we get information out of it.

 

You believe the FBI would launch an investigation into a waterboarding incident that occurred in the middle east? I doubt that... If this kind of thing is going to continue, it should be make so there's no chance an innocent person is getting tortured... An agency should not be left to govern itself with this kind of thing...

 

It's amazing how Bush has been capable to regress the USA so far away...It's amazing because he's so stupid, I can't imagine how he did it...

 

I do not think he even knows how he did it. I just can not watch him my blood pressure goes up when he talks.

 

He's a disaster.

It is amazing that he can veto things almost on a whim.

All but the most stupid of people know that torture is wrong. How the hell can any confession be deemed as valid if it was bought about through torture?

What a sorry state of affairs it is when torture is deemed acceptable according to Mr Bush.

 

Much of his power has come from Chaney.

See Chaney's Law

 

Interesting article, PBS is extremely reputable as well. In your opinion, what drives Cheney? Do you think it is actually fear from 911, are they just power hungry, or?

 

Cheney seems to be driven by this 30 year desire to have the the President be a "more effective" force in government. He feels, under certain circumstances, the presidential power should be virtually absolute. This is a scary scenario, especially if there we are threatened by some perceived enemy.

Believe it or not, I think Cheney is far worse than Bush, and I think Bush is a horrible leader. Bush may be an idiot and a puppet, but Chaney is intelligent and evil.

Like many presidents, including Clinton, he'll probably pardon a lot of people and pass some very controversial rulings in the last few days of his presidency. What do you think those will be?

 

He's already on vacation. He did Africa last month and in between, he's at his TX ranch...But when he must work -ie. welcome McCain for example - than he dances on the stairs...I still can't believe he got re-elected in 2004...pfff..
Even my wife, who do not care whatsoever about politics, when she saw bush on TV for the first time back in 2000, she had a senseful reaction by saying right away: "wow, this guy is an alcoholic, I won't trust if I was American"...So, I guess it was pretty visible...

 

Me too I was spending 7 days in the Bahamas the other week "for business". I was looking everywhere on my beach if I could find any "business". Didn't find any...

 

Its not that his power hungry, but the president shouldn't be a puppet either, after nixon congress come in an took away powers from the president and Cheney wants to get those powers back.

 

Please stop making excuses for these scumbags.

 

The CIA says it waterboarded only three people. all high ranking terrorist. I believe the CIA should have that option open to water board who they need to, in order to get the information that they need to protect American lives.

Al-Qeada members are trained in our interrogation ways, they know were not allowed to hurt them, having waterboarding on the table throws them off. It's a tool that protects US citizens.

As for the track record of keeping us safe, we haven't be attacked on our soil in almost 7 years since 9-11. That's a pretty good track record so far.

 

I'm not making excuses for the, the Ron Paul crowd likes to run around and yell the constitution, well the constitution gives the president certain powers, and some of those powers were taken away by congress after Nixon's ordeal why not give them back.