Waterboarding John Ashcroft?
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, in response to a question as to whether he would be willing to be subjected to waterboarding, answered: "The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to do them to me, I would do," according to the Rocky Mountain News.
In response, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick writes, "The most telling thing about Ashcroft’s non-answer is that it lays bare the central fallacy in Bush administration thinking about how to conduct their torture: The relevant question for these guys is never 'what are the rules,' but 'how tough can I pretend to be while breaking them?'"
Last year, ACS released an issue brief entitled, "Finding Effective Constraints on Executive Power; Interrogation, Detention, and Torture," by Deborah Pearlstein. She argues that the primary reasons that the political system failed to prevent instances of torture and human rights violations at Abu Ghraib include "vague or unlawful executive branch guidance, inaction by civilian executive authority in the face of unlawful activity, and inadequate resources, training and planning for detention and interrogation operations."
Written By:onebrownmouse On November 29, 2007 2:39 AM Written By:onebrownmouse On November 29, 2007 2:39 AM
I was the woman who asked war criminal John Ashcroft the question about water boarding on 11-27-07 in Boulder.
I asked John Ashcroft "Since water boarding is no longer considered torture, can some of us here tonight water board you out back after your done speaking?"
Since he 'agreed?' (There seem to be many interpretations of his answer)
we went to water board war criminal John Ashcroft and all we got was this lousy video flog. Check out vflog.com to see what actually happened.
I was the woman who asked war criminal John Ashcroft the question about water boarding on 11-27-07 in Boulder.
I asked John Ashcroft "Since water boarding is no longer considered torture, can some of us here tonight water board you out back after your done speaking?"
Since he 'agreed?' (There seem to be many interpretations of his answer)
we went to water board war criminal John Ashcroft and all we got was this lousy video flog. Check out vflog.com to see what actually happened.