Think Progress Has an Extensive Review of Torture Failures

Think Progress has an extensive review of torture, what some like to call "enhanced interrogation techniques", which shows the failures of each example that has been given by Cheney and all the others.

The review can be accessed here, and is a great listing of all the talking points given by the right and by the ones who defend the practices of the Bush Mis-Administration.

Among the many examples cited it uses this statement by none other than General David Petraeus, who some have held up as a person who could be the great white hope of the GOP in the future.

“Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. That would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone ‘talk;’ however, what the individual says may be of questionable value.” [Gen. David Petraeus, Letter to Multi-National Force-Iraq,

Just goes to show they need to be careful who they pin their hopes on, it may come back to bite them in the butt...lol

Another source they like to use, is that we train our military using some of these same techniques, called SERE so therefore it can't be torture. Well here is what one of the SERE Specialist's has to say.

“According to his testimony, ‘history has shown us that physical pressures are not effective for compelling an individual to give information or to do something’ and are not effective for gaining accurate, actionable intelligence.” [Terrence Russell, JPRA’s manager for research and development and a SERE specialist, testimony to Committee, 8/3/07. Senate Armed Services Report

Those are just a couple of examples from the extensive report they have done. There are many links, many statements with full backup, and much, much more that is worth the time to read and explore the examples they give.

Check out Think Progress Why Enhanced Interrogation Failed. Education, education. It is the only way we can make sure we can stay ahead of the right wingers and get the process done, so we can prosecute these criminals and get the real job of healing our nation done.

Hope and Progress for President Obama

This is OUR day...the day of HOPE for PROGRESS toward the future. We must remember that it can't be done with just hope, and with just depending on our president. We have to help, we have to work for that progress too.

We must start to learn how to live differently. We need to teach our children what the meaning of sacrifice and sharing is. We have allowed ourselves to become lazy, and forgotten the lessons of our parents and grandparents.

I am guilty of it. I did for my daughter, much more than my parents did for me, because I thought I was giving her things that were withheld from me. Now, as I have gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I see that I was really wrong. Oh, I didn't always just give her things...I couldn't. But, there were lots of times I did without so she could have toys she really didn't need.

I see things like that happening now. I hear some of the talking heads saying they see people lining up to buy $400 phones, $800 teevees and things like this so we can't be in a recession. Are they really serious?? I sometimes wonder if they are on the same planet I am on.

Yes, some people are spending money. It is probably money they have saved for a long time, or it could be they have put it on their credit cards. But this too will come back in the end.

We each need to look at our lives, think about our priorities and get them straight. We have been through 8 years of the worst kind of misery I can imagine. We have had a president that didn't care about our families, didn't care about our country really. He didn't care about much of anything except how he looked to his self, and evidently he liked what he saw when he had his picture painted, I thought it looked silly. Where is Dorian Gray when you need him??

We are ready to begin anew...this is an awakening for us all. So as we start a new administration, as we bring in a new president, lets start anew with purpose. With HOPE for the future, for PROGRESS of our Country and our lives.