Sen. John McCain took to the Senate floor to denounce the torturous methods laid out in yesterday’s Senate Intelligence Committee’s report. Talking Points Memo reports:
McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said on the Senate floor that his personal experience has shown abused prisoners offer up more bad than good, or even deliberately misleading, intelligence.
“Most of all, I know the use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies,” he said. “Our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights which are protected by international conventions, [which] the United States not only joined but for the most part, authored.”
McCain did acknowledge that the CIA resorted to extreme interrogation techniques with the goal of protecting Americans, but argued the ends didn’t justify those means.
“I dispute wholeheartedly it was right for [CIA officers] to use these methods, which this report makes clear were neither in the best interest of justice, nor our security, nor the ideals we have sacrificed so much blood and treasure to defend,” he said.
TPM rounds up the “most horrific revelations” here. Andrew Sullivan live-blogged the breaking news here.
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2014.
…and here I thought it was the turbins and the masks over their faces that really distinguished them.
The Senate knew about this John. You are in the Senate.
Why didn’t you speak up then? Trying to protect Americans, or a career?
Rat,
Where were you in 2007? 2005? Or any other year McCain has talked about torture? McCain is only reiterating the same things he said while running for president and has said about torture his whole career.
You should not be typing about things you obviously know so little about.
Here are a few examples (by the way google makes it very easy to search for archive news article, you can avoid looking stupid in the future):
“I want to tell you. Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney all think it is O.K [torture] They have one thing in common. They don’t understand the military and the culture of this nation. If they did, they could never condone such behavior.” (McCain in 2007)
“You incline someone’s head and stuff a rag in their mouth and pour water and give one the total sensation of drowning, it was invented in the Spanish inquisition and was used by Pol Pot. It is now being used on Burmese monks by this military junta in Burma. I know how evil this enemy is, but this is really fundamentally about what kind of nation the United States of America is.” (McCain 2007)
In 2005 he lead the process of passing legislation through the senate to BAN torture, signed into law by Bush. The Bush administration was not happy with this at all and eventually secured an exemption for the CIA, which pissed off McCain. (A rift which reverberated throughout the Republican party during the subsequent nomination process)
You owe Senator McCain an apology.
First time, ever, I’ve agreed with McCain!
Sorry to upset you bean, but I was juxtaposing his comments with that of WH spokesman who said they are morally justified to kill them with drones based on ISIS tactics against others.
You don’t agree with Obama?
It looks like we have three sides to this argument. And then the Senate releases a report in which they never interviewed any of the accused?
What a mess. The Senate claimed that all they were informed about was “tummy taps?”
I’m not in anybody’s debt.
For the last six years Obama and the Senate could have passed legislation outlawing waterboarding…but they didn’t. McCain would have even voted with the democrats again…
In fact Obama could have used his favorite method, executive order to outlaw it, just like he changed immigration laws,…but he didn’t.
I can’t wait to hear you guys whine when the Republican President in 2016 kicks up the EOs a notch and outlaws abortion, requires public schools to close, and cuts welfare by 50%.
You are going to wish you had opposed Obama and his lawless antics.
What comes around goes around.
What a really want a liberal to explain here is just how killing is more humane than keeping enemy combatants alive to get info that saves many others.
Are you really for killing innocents by drones?
Detainee Treatment Act of 2006, sponsored by McCain signed into law by Bush, makes the use of water boarding illegal (Bush gave an exemption to the CIA). I am not sure how or why you would want Obama to do something that has already been done, that would be a waste of his time and our tax dollars. We do not need to pass the same law twice!
Obviously you suffer from substandard reading comprehension and communication skills, which is why you tried to change the subject. The problem with that approach is that the subject is YOU and you just provided the readers of this blog with more evidence that you are liar and lack the mental fortitude to admit when you are wrong.
No. What I wanted you to admit is that once again the POTUS has not enforced laws on the books but attempts to pass additional new laws while bypassing Congress.
Wait until this backfires on you.