McCain on Waterboarding and Release of Torture Memos
John McCain, asked by Fox News to respond to the report (by the New York Times’s Scott Shane, who picked up the story from Marcy Wheeler) that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times and Abu Zubaydah 83 times (emphasis in original):
…”It’s unacceptable,” McCain said, adding:
One is too much. Waterboarding is torture, period. I can ensure you that once enough physical pain is inflicted on someone, they will tell that interrogator whatever they think they want to hear. And most importantly, it serves as a great propaganda tool for those who recruit people to fight against us.
McCain later reiterated his point, “The image of the United States of America throughout the world is a recruiting tool for Islamic extremists.”
At the same time, though, McCain thinks Pres. Obama made a “serious mistake” in releasing the torture memos. Go figure.
April 20, 2009 at 8:46 pm
As one of the few leaders in the USA who has received “torture”, I think we need to listen to him with that background. It certainly gives him a more personal view of torture than the views of those who have not been on the receiving end of the infliction of pain.
As to his comments on Obama, McCain makes another good point. What he is not saying, but is implying, is that all Obama was trying to do was show the world how bad America was under Bush and how good America is going to be under Obama. Just like McCain pointed out, Obama delivered a recruiting tool to the Islamic fascists. It was a self-serving attempt at self-aggrandizement by putting down others.
I personally think that McCain is correct when you consider the information that you get from a single victim of torture is not very reliable. However, when you add that information to all of your other intelligence, it can confirm suspicions and facts. As a single act, torturing one individual is probably just fun for a sadist and pain or terror for the victim. As a part of a complex intelligence gathering process, it becomes something more and may even be effective.