Rush Limbaugh on torture

Rush Limbaugh responded yesterday on his radio show to the Obama Administrations release of four previously secret memos that outlined the Bush Administrations authorization of torture techniques.  Watch the video:

Summarizing Rush Limbaugh's points and my clarifications:

  -  The methods described in the memos can't be construed as torture. 

        Here's the question; if the methods outlined by the memos are no big deal, a slap in the face, some water on the face, why was a high ranking Department of Justice official writing 18 page memos to justify their use?  And if those methods were as insignificant as Limbaugh asserts, how the heck did they ever provide the evidence Limbaugh uses to argue that the methods worked?  Surely some toughened al Qaeda terrorist wouldn't spill the beans with a little slap or wetting his face.           

        The point is, of course, that the approved methods had been historically considered torture and the      purpose of the memos was to construct a cover your ass defense.

  -  Detainee Abu Zubaydah engaged in mass killings and decapitations.

        Abu Zubaydah may, in fact, be pure evil but he was also mischaracterized by the Bush White House.  The Washington Post reported Zubaydah was mentally ill, not a member of al Qaeda and served as a "fixer" for     radical Muslim ideologies.

        I can find no accounts of Abu Zubaydah ever decapitating anyone.

  -  The interrogation of Abu Zubaydah "worked"; providing valuable intelligence.

        In fact, the FBI conducted an internal investigation into the interrogation of Zubaydah and found he had provided information prior to his torture and no valuable information once CIA operatives began torturing him.

        From the Washington Post:

In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.

  -  Limbaugh cites a recent editorial by Michael Hayden and Michael Mukasey that refuted the argument that detainees lie under harsh interrogation.

        Ex-Attorney General Mukasey, as far as I can find, never served either in the military or as an interrogator. General Hayden, from what I've read, never served as an interrogator.  

        Many professional interrogators, on the other hand, have gone on record as declaring torture "unlawful,    ineffective and counterproductive".

        If I was going to have brain surgery, I would rely on the brain surgeon for treatment rather than the             orthopedic surgeon.

  -  Interrogation practice includes asking questions with known answers to ascertain the detainee is telling the truth.

        Once again, professional interrogators overwhelmingly acknowledge that torture is ineffective at providing worthwhile intelligence and most detainees begin providing what they believe the interrogator wants to hear when torture is used.  

        That Limbaugh believes a detainee could answer some questions truthfully and some falsely makes me believe either Rush Limbaugh is incredibly naive or has never had children.

  -  John McCain, on the one hand, admitted torture didn't work and, on the other hand, admits he was "broken" by his North Vietnamese captors.

        Senator McCain has said on numerous occasions that following torture he provided bogus information (the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line and a statement condemning U.S. actions in Vietnam) to his        torturers.  Rational people would regard that as proof of the ineffectiveness of torture.

        Finally, Rush Limbaugh argument that the U.S. should emulate and employ the interrogation techniques of the North Vietnamese should be enough to rule him out as, at best, a fringe element in any serious debate      about appropriate interrogation techniques.

Comments

[libhomo]

I gave up on Limbaugh acting with integrity years ago.

[Bill Anderson]

What do you expect from a neocon drug-addict?

[Jay McDonough]

Indeed.