Why Did Obama Stop Enhanced Interrogation?
Scott Brown Says “Waterboarding Is Not Torture!”.
Scott Brown ran against the Ma. Democratic machine and won last night, and during the campaign he not only declared that he would vote against the proposed Health Bill if he won, but said about waterboarding, “I do not believe it is torture. America does not torture … we used aggressive, enhanced interrogation techniques”, and he also argued that the Christmas Day bomber should be interrogated as an enemy combatant, and not be given the right to remain silent.
There is an obvious lesson here for both Republicans and Democrats here, and they need to ask, “If an outspoken supporter of waterboarding can win in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, then just imagine how the issue will play in the rest of America?”.
By limiting all terrorist interrogations to the techniques in the Army Field Manual, Obama has actually ensured that captured terrorists receive better treatment in the interrogation room than common criminals being questioned at a local police precinct.
And what is more, is that under his administration the United States is no longer trying to capture the leaders of al Qaeda alive but is killing them instead, meaning that CIA is no longer able to gain important information about future attacks.
Why Did Obama Ban The Techniques?
Enhanced interrogation techniques are not nice, but their effects are for the most part psychological rather than physical, and the knowledge gained from them already prevented, amongst other things:
Plots
- To blow up the U.S. Consulate in Karachi.
- To blow up the U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti.
- To fly hijacked airplanes into buildings in London and Los Angeles.
How Often Were The Enhanced Techniques Used?
The simple answer is, “Very rarely”.
More than 80,000 individuals were captured in the so called War On Terror and around thirty were subjected to enhanced interrogation and only three were waterboarded.
How Do Americans Feel About The Use Of Enhanced Interrogation?
Polls taken over the last several months indicate that the public is increasingly opposed to the Obama administration’s policies in general, and to certain of them in particular.
They are, for example, becoming increasingly open to the arguments of those who support restoring the CIA’s ability to effectively question high-ranking terrorist leaders.
Some Polls
A Resurgent Republic poll in May 2009 found that:
- A majority of Americans believe enhanced interrogations were effective 55 to 39%
- The majority of Americans believe that the Obama Administration has tied the hands of the CIA in fighting terrorism by limiting interrogators to the Army Field Manual 51 to 42%
- The majority of Americans believe that the Obama Administration made a serious mistake in releasing memos from the Bush Justice Department on enhanced interrogation techniques 54 to 41%
- And they massively oppose criminal investigations of those responsible for authorizing or conducting those interrogations 62 to 32%
A recent Rasmussen poll found that 58% of Americans say waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques should be used to gain information from the terrorist who attempted to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day and just 30% were opposed and what is more, 49% of Americans would be willing to accept the use of enhanced interrogation techniques more frequently than they were actually employed.
A poll carried out by Pew Research using the word torture instead of Enhanced Interrogation in July 2005 indicated that 43% were in favor whilst 53% were opposed, but in April 2009 the statistics were 49% in favor and 47% opposed.
Often, Sometimes, Rarely Or Never?
Pew went so far as to ask, when if ever “torture” should be used.
In April 2009;
- 15% of Americans said they should be used “often”.
- 34% said “sometimes”.
- 22% said “rarely”.
- 25% said “never”.
So a full 71% of Americans believe that enhanced interrogation techniques should be used under certain circumstances.
Obama has said on several occasions that he doesn’t want the U.S. to be a hegemony, but wants it to be just another country, and the voters in Ma. just told him very clearly what they think of his policies.
Scott Brown won yesterday and loud bells should be ringing in Washington, and the hope is that Democrats in general and Obama in particular are listening.
Obama was a member of the communist party just 13 years ago, and whether or not he is a closet Muslim or not I can’t say.
The people voted for a change that they could believe in, but so far he has delivered changes that they don’t believe in, and if he continues to walk his path then even the now terrified Democrats will cease to support him.
Last 10 posts by Michael Redbourn
- The End Of Many Democracies Is Near - March 9th, 2010
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- The Dubai Liquidation - February 27th, 2010
- The Fiscal Stimulus Package Of 2009 Was A Failure - February 23rd, 2010
- Liberals Turn A Blind-Eye To Reality - February 17th, 2010
- Are You Being Tracked? - February 14th, 2010
- Australia's Kevin Rudd Gets It Right! - February 11th, 2010
- How Many Personal Assistants Does Michelle Obama Have? - February 9th, 2010
- This Is The Slowest Recovery From Any Postwar Recession - February 5th, 2010
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