Selective intelligence

[reality-hammer.livejournal.com]

I wonder why Obama didn't also release the results of the interrogations?

Or why people don't make the connection between Obama attempting to separate himself from Bush policies by releasing this kind of material all the while he continues the programs Bush established.

Then again, we should be surprised...this is the same person who spends $2 trillion and then attempts to counter that by cutting 1/20,000 of that amount...eventually.

So if the memos are Obama's $100 million in "cuts", what must his $2 trillion in spending look like? It will be interesting to see what becomes unclassified about the Obama administration in the years ahead.

Comments

[jblaque.livejournal.com]

"It will be interesting to see what becomes unclassified about the Obama administration in the eight years ahead."

Fixed that for ya, Private Pyle.

[texas-reddmann.livejournal.com]

You insulted Gomer, there. Even he would take offense to that comparison.

[mylaptopisevil.livejournal.com]

I wonder why Obama didn't also release the results of the interrogations?

I wonder why Cheney (Bush?) didn't.

In the end, though, the results don't matter. We shouldn't torture. Period. No "but in this case...!" situation. No "But it works!" to consider. We just don't torture prisoners.

[jessica-leah.livejournal.com]

+1

[psychomatt.livejournal.com]

If it saves American lives, I don't care what kind of "torture" terrorists are subjected to. We still treat them FAR better than they treat their captives, anyway.

(Potentially) thousands of innocent lives vs some suffering by those who would kill those innocent people is not a contest.

[drivebyluna.livejournal.com]

WOW....

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

And never has a username been more appropriate.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOOD GUYS

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THAN THEM

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT THEY DO

WE SHOULD NEVER STOOP TO THEIR LEVEL

LOUD NOISES

Not to mention you have no idea if they're actually a terrorist/enemy combatant/puppy kicker or not. Don't you have any idea about how they picked up these people in the first place?

[mylaptopisevil.livejournal.com]

America doesn't torture nor should we justify it.

Were you cool with Japan torturing our troops in WWII?

[weswilson]

Wasn't aware we could be "safe" OR moral... I thought those were on different axes.

[saint-monkey.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that Obama is being hypocritical concerning these harsh interrogation policies. I expected him to do the tough job and eliminate things like this, that pretty clearly put the black hat on our heads. I believe that McCain (had he been elected) would also have done the same thing, (both outing some of the methods of Bush, and continuing some of the same policies.)

It's becoming common to pin the 2 trillion on Obama, but 700 Billion of that started with Bush. I don't doubt McCain would have been more fiscally reserved, but I also don't think McCain would have realistically let AIG tank and take out the remainder of the insurance industry along with banking, so there would very likely have been a "compromise" in his ethics were he elected as well. And take a look at things, you can actually see some of this ludicrous money having an effect. TARP didn't work, but HARP seems to actually be taking hold. Re-finances of existing loans are up, and first time buyers with more "joe sixpack" like wages are entering real estate now. They were holding off before, because prices were too high, and unlike some folks getting loans over the last few years, they knew they couldn't afford the loan. But now they CAN. They wouldn't be doing that if the federal government weren't backing the refinancing. The banks wouldn't loan for fear of these marginal buyers defaulting, or the people wouldn't go for the loans for fear of losing the homes.

[weswilson]

Sane responses are generally frowned upon around here... :)

[madscience.livejournal.com]

Yep... 700 billion started with bush, and some economists estimate the recovery will cost SEVEN TRILLION based on the damage caused by Bush policies. Obama's simply doing what needs to be done. (Though I think he's doing it wrong... working on a cartoon of my own to illustrate that.)

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Yes. Let's hide from the truth like cowardly criminals. I mean, really.

Open the freaking casket already!

[blueduck37.livejournal.com]

Repeat after me...

[torasama.livejournal.com]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/225626/april-23-2009/shepard-smith-swears

(Start watching around 1:05.)

Torture? Fine! Swearing? OMIGOD YOU CAN'T DO THAT!

[blueduck37.livejournal.com]

PS- Glad we all agree that it is a mistake for Obama to be continuing any of Bush's policies.

[rumorsofwar.livejournal.com]

The results of the interrogations torture* was the Iraq War.

* fixed that for you.

[texas-reddmann.livejournal.com]

1). The releasing of the memos wasn't intended to make us safer. If anything, it will piss off people who are already committed to fighting us. At the same time, it's a win for the terrorists, since they've proven that our leaders were willing to ignore the values we've always claimed to follow. That's the goal of terrorism, and they did it, thanks to the weakness of our leaders and their inability to keep their morality intact.

2). The release of the memos will allow investigators to find those truly responsible, and punish them accordingly. Just as we've punished anyone who used these methods of torture against us for over a hundred years. As they fully deserve.

3). Anyone who believes that this set of methods provided reliable intelligence is off their rocker. Even the Library Tower incident that was alluded to in the memos, and by Cheney on television, was discovered through other, non-torturous means.

We are the United States of America. And we tortured when true experts in interrogation and information gathering told the bosses that it wouldn't work. They just decided to find some yes-men to give them what they wanted to hear. Our leaders compromised our values for no good reason, and despite the PR loss to our enemies we will be better for having gotten this information out there and the guilty parties dealt with appropriately. This isn't 24, this isn't a Hollywood movie, this is reality.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

it's a win for the terrorists, since they've proven that our leaders were willing to ignore the values we've always claimed to follow. That's the goal of terrorism, and they did it, thanks to the weakness of our leaders and their inability to keep their morality intact.

Indeed. Played like a harp.

[texas-reddmann.livejournal.com]

Now. For response to the statements of chuckleheadreality_hammer's comments.

Some of the results were in the memo: We got old intel we already had through other means. Already proven. And by the way: It's not interrogation, it's torture. Let yourself go through the procedure and tell me it was just an interrogation.

The policies that Obama will continue to use from the Bush administration are the ones that are legal and either will or have already worked. They've already admitted as much. The ones that are asinine, and/or illegal, I would hope ANYONE would seperate themselves from.

Once again: He's spending trillions of dollars to fix what Bush and co. screwed up. We've covered this before. His starting to cut down the spending that he can is going to be a slow process....they had better than 100 days to screw it up, it's going to take time to fix what was broken through years of greed. But a 100 million here, a 100 million there, pretty soon you're talking about real money.

How you can say the memos are Obama's $100 million in "cuts" reinforces the level of WTF we in this comm have come to expect from the poster.

We executed people for torturing our soldiers. We've never executed anyone for trying to fix an economy. Despite my dislike of how he's spending the money and on what, it's not deserving of criminal prosecution, like the memos prove of our previous administration. How you can equate the two only proves to me that you do, indeed, need some SERIOUS mental help.

[petdance.livejournal.com]

The cartoon intentionally ignores that the release of torture documents is not to make us safer. Not everything has to be about making us safer. In this case, it's about trying to prevent future atrocities.

didn't laugh....

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

It is cowardly to avoid the truth about oneself.

all the while he continues the programs Bush established.

Yes, that's fucked, but I suspect you don't agree.

Re: didn't laugh....

[thies.livejournal.com]

only Reagans programs are the holy truth