[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/76691000/jpg/_76691290_76691289.jpg[/img]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28616553[/url]
[quote]President Barack Obama has defended CIA Director John Brennan and acknowledged the US tortured prisoners after 9/11.
His comments come as the Senate prepares to release a report on the CIA's interrogation programme.
"We tortured some folks," Mr Obama said. "We did some things that were contrary to our values."
He said Mr Brennan had his "full confidence" despite admitting the agency had searched Senate computers during the investigation.
Mr Obama has previously said the methods used by the CIA on al-Qaeda prisoners at secret "black sites" outside the US amounted to torture.
In April 2009, he said that he "believed that waterboarding was torture and, whatever legal rationales were used, it was a mistake".[/quote]
There's an eerie nonchalant tone to that wording. 'Tortured some folks'.
Not entirely unexpected. But it is a bit unnerving to hear the President actually confirm it, especially with that wording.
he calls everyone folks as far as i've seen
it's kinda odd
[QUOTE=matrix_1995;45566168]There's an eerie nonchalant tone to that wording. 'Tortured some folks'.[/QUOTE]
with a cattleprod
[QUOTE=Medevila;45566182]
idk I call folks folks it's a regional dialect get over it[/QUOTE]
just making an observation but okay then
He's trying to make it seem as casual as possible and like it was "just after 9/11" to try to minimize the outrage over torture, or Obama's potentially hypocritical stance on it by making it seem as less severe.
[QUOTE=Medevila;45566283]That's a pretty deep reading of the comment and I believe we've seen outrage reach whatever maximum it was ever going to reach
the US turned a blind eye to its covert armies in the aftermath of 9/11 and we've witnessed the fallout over the past decade+[/QUOTE]
In the past, Obama has made it clear he is against torture and yet here he is standing up for someone's decision to torture people and carry out hacking towards Senate computers.
He's going to make it seem as acceptable/unoutrageous as possible. Not saying there is going to be siginificant impact because of it, but that's why he chose that 'chill' wording.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;45566247]He's trying to make it seem as casual as possible and like it was "just after 9/11" to try to minimize the outrage over torture, or Obama's potentially hypocritical stance on it by making it seem as less severe.[/QUOTE]
I don't think he would have added "We did some things that were contrary to our values." or "It's important for us not to feel sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job those folks had." if that had been his goal. That said, if that wasn't his goal, I still don't know why he used the word "folks", usually these speeches are much more precisely written to avoid misinterpretations like these. But consideration the context of his other quotes mentioned in the article, I'd say it's not unlikely a journalist picked the mistake to make the headline hotter.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;45566319]In the past, Obama has made it clear he is against torture and yet here he is standing up for someone's decision to torture people and carry out hacking towards Senate computers.
He's going to make it seem as acceptable/unoutrageous as possible. Not saying there is going to be siginificant impact because of it, but that's why he chose that 'chill' wording.[/QUOTE]
Not going to have a significant impact? Ok, should he be super upfront about it then?
"yeah, we tied down them terrorists and drowned them, beat them, humiliated them, deprived them of sleep and zapped them until they were extra crispy, but rest assured, we only did it because we had to"
Not surprised at all, seeing how terrified America got with terrorism.
probably worse than that we tortured some people was that we sent people to countries with implicit instructions TO torture them
Fuck these guys. I don't trust any government to carry out torture "for the greater good". Mistakes happen all the time in the world of espionage and war. I'm positive plenty of innocents suffered horribly because of this.
[QUOTE=Kardia;45566558]Fuck these guys. I don't trust any government to carry out torture "for the greater good". Mistakes happen all the time in the world of espionage and war. I'm positive plenty of innocents suffered horribly because of this.[/QUOTE]
Yep
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri[/url]
[QUOTE=matrix_1995;45566168]There's an eerie nonchalant tone to that wording. 'Tortured some folks'.[/QUOTE]
i dont even live in america and I know that obama calls everyone folks.
[QUOTE=Kardia;45566558]Fuck these guys. I don't trust any government to carry out torture "for the greater good". Mistakes happen all the time in the world of espionage and war. I'm positive plenty of innocents suffered horribly because of this.[/QUOTE]
the world isn't covered in rainbows, every government has tortured people at some point or other, every government has also done some form of genocide at some point in time
[QUOTE=Sableye;45566793]the world isn't covered in rainbows, every government has tortured people at some point or other, every government has also done some form of genocide at some point in time[/QUOTE]that doesn't mean it's right or that we - or anyone else - have to tolerate such acts. the world isn't covered in rainbows because no-one ever really does or gets to do anything about despicable stuff like this
[QUOTE=Empty_Shadow;45566788]i dont even live in america and I know that obama calls everyone folks.[/QUOTE]
Doesn't make it sound any less fucked up
[QUOTE=Starpluck;45566247]He's trying to make it seem as casual as possible and like it was "just after 9/11" to try to minimize the outrage over torture, or Obama's potentially hypocritical stance on it by making it seem as less severe.[/QUOTE]
i don't think you understand how completely monumental it is to have a head of state - let alone the president of the US - actually publicly announce that their government has tortured individuals. while, yes, his wording was less than ideal, the fact that he took responsibility for it as an individual instead of just casting it off as an anomaly of the bush administration demonstrated that he recognizes that this is a long-running problem and is attempting to be more open about it. it's been a public taboo to admit that information in any sort of official capacity (aka why pentagon officials who are not up for election tend to be the ones to admit it). to have the highest office of the US say not only did we do it but our legal justification for it was inappropriate is massive.
[editline]1st August 2014[/editline]
his choice wording to use "we" is huge and puts himself right on the chopping block. he's basically demonstrating that the DOJ/DOS run along the same choice path across presidencies
Nothing but sugarcoated words, what a coward. He is just admitting what everyone else already knows.
[QUOTE=Sableye;45566793]the world isn't covered in rainbows[/QUOTE]
[I]I'm sure if I torture you enough, I'll convince you otherwise.[/I]
[QUOTE=Sableye;45566793]every government has tortured people at some point or other, every government has also done some form of genocide at some point in time [/QUOTE]
You assume that I only condemn America for this sort of behavior.
Fuck all the governments that allow this shit. The individuals that ordered such acts, should be held accountable and not protected by a corrupt system.
[QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;45566446]Not surprised at all, seeing how terrified America got with terrorism.[/QUOTE]
Well its not like they didn't torture people before 9-11...
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