Torture Won’t Be Solved On Cable News

Torture Won’t Be Solved On Cable News

By Carlos Watson | May 20th, 2009


You may have heard that Joe Scarborough and I got into it a little bit yesterday on Morning Joe. For those of you who missed it, here’s the clip (the fireworks start at the 3:25 mark):

Video at link~

Clearly, Joe believes that waterboarding has saved lives. Dick Cheney has been loudly saying the same thing for weeks. Now, I don’t know if the former VP is right. But if he has proof that “enhanced interrogation methods” were responsible for keeping Americans safe, then I’m glad he’s speaking up. I give him some credit for defending what he honestly believes was right and just.

Of course, Cheney has proven before to be less than accurate—and some would even say less than honest. So I also take that into account.

Nevertheless, the real issue here is that no matter what memos Joe or Cheney have read, the public doesn’t know for sure what to believe on waterboarding, or whatever else American forces have done in our name. Yes, torture is illegal and waterboarding has now been banned. And yes, we have heard that waterboarding was ineffective or counterproductive from FBI Director Muller and former FBI agent Ali Soufan. But we have also heard from Cheney and others who suggest otherwise. Fair-minded people simply don’t have the data they need.

I am proud to be an MSNBC anchor. But real clarity on torture—on what we did, on what was legal, and on what was moral—is not going to be found through a cable news slugfest. While the Obama administration is hesitant—just as Bush’s was about the 9/11 commission—I think we need public torture hearings. Answering these questions should not be left to incomplete arguments shouted across a TV set. It’s time to be bigger than that, even it is painful and politically risky to do so.

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http://thestimulist.com/torture-wont-be-figured-out-on-cable-news/

Forcing the guys in Gitmo to watch cable news around the clock, they'd probably confess to impregnating the OCTOMOM to simply make it stop, my GOD, make it STOP!!!

Cable news is not real "news." Someone reads off a blurb from the wire services, and then a bunch of assholes "opine" on it. And we know what opinions are like.

you're only one step away from torturing anyone, all they have to do is claim "It was to save lives."

I believe Cheney/Bush know/knew torture produces unreliable evidence; but that's what they wanted.

They wanted false testimony to be used as a fig leaf to wage war with Iraq, in order to enrich their corporate benefactors.