torture
palmd | January 20, 2009Make no little plans; they have no power to stir men's blood.
---Daniel Burnham
The last eight years have seen subtle and not-so subtle predations on the practice of medicine. Will the new administration be able to promote the kind of change we need? Let's review some of the challenges facing the Obama administration.
Ethical apocalypse
Bush's evisceration of the Constitution of the United States has affected health care professionals. For example, the military has likely always used psychologists to assist with interrogations, but the last eight years has seen a huge increase in the…
mikethemadbiologist | April 14, 2008Tristero, who is also disgusted by Bush's de facto admission that he authorized torture, writes (emphasis original):
I think bloggers should focus on the essential issue and constantly remind our readers what it is:
There is no longer the shadow of a doubt that the torture of prisoners was planned at the highest levels of the US government with the explicit knowledge and approval of the president. How do we know this? Bush himself admitted it.
What we also need to do is to remind people exactly what it means to torture, and that torture is profoundly immoral. Furthermore we should make it…
mikethemadbiologist | December 18, 2007Since torture seems to be under discussion by the A-list bloggers, I want to follow up on a point Helmut made in his Congressional testimony about torture. Simply, it is this: if torture is truly used as an interrogation technique, and not to fulfill a psychological need or as terrorism, it can not be an isolated event--it must be systemic and routine.
Take the case the pro-torture advocates constantly raise, the Jack Bauer scenario, where if torture were not used then TEH EVIL TERRORIST will level Los Angeles in five minutes and twenty three seconds*. Oh, I forgot: BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!
Are…
mikethemadbiologist | December 14, 2007Helmut is one of those bloggers who doesn't get the credit he deserves. Well, helmut spoke to Congress about torture which hopefully makes up for that (bold original; italics mine):
More likely than the time bomb case of torturing one person in order to save many is the case of torturing many innocent people in order to find the one [guilty] person. It is to torture in search of what might justify the act of torture, an act made even worse through the torture of innocents.
When we rearticulate the more realistic scenario, torture as an instrument of information-gathering collapses under the…
mikethemadbiologist | November 4, 2007Instead of focusing on partial drowning interrogation during the hearings for the attorney general, John Dean tells us what Congress should be doing. From Talking Points Memo:
Nixon's Attorney General had been removed (and was later prosecuted for lying to Congress) - a situation not unlike Alberto Gonzales's leaving the job under such a cloud. Nixon was under deep suspicion of covering up the true facts relating to the bungled break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate, not to mention widespread rumors that he had engaged in abuses of power and corrupt…
mikethemadbiologist | November 3, 2007I am in utter awe of the brilliant reframing of 'waterboarding' by the Kenosha Kid:
Waterboarding = Partial Drowning Interrogation
Fucking brilliant.
mikethemadbiologist | October 9, 2007In an excellent post about torture, Amanda Marcotte concludes:
On another blog, I had some right winger squeeing and questioning my patriotism because I supposedly want our country to "lose" the war in Iraq that I thought the President told us wasn't happening, what with the mission being accomplished and all. It's sort of an interesting conundrum, because I can't deny that I want us to pull out of every country where we don't have the consent of the people, I want us to shut down our gulags and torture chambers, and I want the current interlopers out of the White House and the Republican…
mikethemadbiologist | October 7, 2007The Washington Post has an excellent story about the WWII interrogators of high level Nazis. Unlike the minions of Little Lord Pontchartrain, they managed to gather intelligence without torture:
When about two dozen veterans got together yesterday for the first time since the 1940s, many of the proud men lamented the chasm between the way they conducted interrogations during the war and the harsh measures used today in questioning terrorism suspects.
Back then, they and their commanders wrestled with the morality of bugging prisoners' cells with listening devices. They felt bad about…
mikethemadbiologist | October 4, 2007...and you listen. maha writes why the U.S. won't do anything to aid the saffron revolution in Burma (italics mine):
...the West flaps about, issuing statements and maybe sending an envoy or two. Please note I don't believe an armed invasion is the only option or even the most desirable option. But I believe the West is too compromised to exercise any option.
One of those compromises: the $420 billion of U.S. debt held by China. Don't the Chinese know that Republican Vice President Dick Cheney declared "Reagan proved deficits don't matter"? Maybe decifits do matter after all....
(and, boy…
mikethemadbiologist | September 27, 2007Protester in Myanmar (from here)
I don't have much to add about the situation in Myanmar; maha has some good posts about it, along with AmericaBlog. But the above picture is a study in contrasts.
The foreground speaks for itself, but if you look at the upper left background, you'll see an advertisement for the movie 300. To my mind, 300 represents a juvenile, fantastical crusade for freedom from dictatorship. But unlike 300, most struggles against dictatorships and juntas during the last century have not involved smashing things, bellowing, and rippling abdominals, but ordinary people,…
mikethemadbiologist | May 16, 2007Last night, the Republican presidential candidates were asked what they would do in a "24" situation. Intelligent Designer help us, but McCain (and Paul) were the only sane ones.
McCain noted that the "24" scenario is ridiculous. He also pointed out that torture causes us to lose our moral credibility. Doesn't McCain realize that morality is to be applied only to fetuses and prayer in schools? Giuliani and Romney went Full Metal Bauer, as digby notes:
I think it's clear that this group has come to fully understand that winning the GOP nomination is all about the codpiece. These guys have…
mikethemadbiologist | January 8, 2007Suppose you were a very large media corporation, and you found out that some of your radio subsidiaries were espousing specific acts of violence toward other people (last I checked, that's called terrorism). You would:
1) Fire the offending parties.
2) Offer some mealymouth bullshit explanation ("If anyone was offended...").
or...
3) File a lawsuit against the blogger who posted mp3s of the offensive clips.
Well, the Disney corporation picked option number three. Disney-owned California radio station KFSO, in its effort to capitalize on right-wing hate radio, gives a microphone to some…
mikethemadbiologist | November 18, 2006Maybe they won't beat us in prison if they think we're white, not Latino
I was going to update this post about the Houston police who used horses to break up a peaceful union demonstration. But the way the police treated the union members once in custody is so awful, it deserves its own post. According to Texas organizer, Anna Denise Solis (italics mine):
We sat down in the intersection and the horses came immediately. It was really violent. They arrested us, and when we got to jail, we were pretty beat up. Not all of us got the medical attention we needed. The worst was a protester named…
mikethemadbiologist | October 18, 2006Did you ever think in 1999 that Congress would pass a bill, and that a President would sign a bill that eliminates habeas corpus at the whim of the president? I sure as hell didn't. This is why the utter warping of our political system by the mindless Christopath Uruk-hai, the anti-gay bigots, and the blastula liberationists is so devastating: because it allows other forms of extremism such as the Federalist Society and those who believe in the 'unitary executive' to flourish unchecked.
From Keith Olbermann:
OLBERMANN: Does this mean that under this law, ultimately the only thing keeping…
mikethemadbiologist | September 29, 2006Over at Hullabaloo, tristero argues that the moral argument against torture, rather than the utilitarian one, is the argument to use. It reminds me of something Hunter wrote about the use of white phosphorous in civilian areas:
And I know it is true, there is some confusion over whether the United States was a signatory to the Do Not Melt The Skin Off Of Children part of the Geneva conventions, and whether or not that means we are permitted to melt the skin off of children, or merely are silent on the whole issue of melting the skin off of children.
But all that aside, there are very good…
mikethemadbiologist | September 27, 2006Many of my fellow ScienceBloglings have discussed the six foreign healthcare workers (the 'Tripoli Six') who are falsely accused of infecting Libyan children (Jake, Orac, Tara, Razib, David, coturnix, Kevin, Janet, Revere, John, Abel). Apparently, some have 'confessed' to doing this. Why did some of the six foreign healthcare workers in Libya claim that they exposed children to HIV when there is no evidence that they actually did so?
Because they were tortured.
(That rumbling noise you're hearing is the sound of conservative fear-based ideology cracking under the blows of reality).
If you…
mikethemadbiologist | September 1, 2006
Here's what the mayor of Salt Lake City, UT said yesterday. You would think he's one of those Northeast liberal elitist, latte-drinkin' types...
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Jackson:
A patriot is a person who loves his or her country.
Who among you loves your country so much that you have come here today to raise your voice out of deep concern for our nation - and for our world?
And who among you loves your country so much that you insist that our nation's leaders tell us the truth?
Let's hear it: "Give us the truth! Give us the truth! Give us the truth!"
Let no one deny we are patriots. We…
mikethemadbiologist | July 12, 2006
So, an evangelical group has come out against the National Religious Campaign Against Torture because it's focusing on Guantanamo, and not repressive regimes. There are several reasons why that's an idiotic argument to oppose the NRCAT:
Just because another country does more torture or more awful forms of torture does not excuse our behavior.
If your country is engaged in torture, ultimately it's your responsibility to stop it, particularly if you live in a democracy.
Like most of the batshit loopy 23% percent, they do not actually state what should be done about Guantanamo--except to deny…