Ashcroft and Evans call it quits

[wolf]

You left out "took Halliburton money."

[Kitsune]

Have we all gone insane? Torture is wrong. Period. The USA is not supposed to be one of the evil countries that tortures its prisoners.

The Geneva Convetions never made any sense to me. Listen: you are killing people in a war. You are resorting to the very last resort you have by throwing lives towards a cause, just or not, to kill other human beings. You are taking the lives of other people. And someone wanted to apply rules to this? I am reminded of the revolutionary war in which the British were shocked to find the opposing forces fought by using the dastardly tactic of hiding behind trees -- someone finally got it in their head that standing in a line, while considered heroic and fair, was fucking stupid. Or during the civil war when someone got the bright idea in their head to attack at night and take advantage of surprise to kill the enemy to save their own lives. Of course, at the time, none of this was considered honorable to do in battle and objection to it ran high but, honestly, why have rules to something so atrocious, anyways? You can paralyze a person with a bullet by shooting them in the spine, but mustard gas mames too much to be legal? You're welcome to use a genade to blow someone's limbs off, but use of fragmenting rifle rounds is off-limits? You can send someone home to their family in bag(s) but you can't kick the hell out of them to get them to talk? We're free to place sanctions on a country and starve their people into submission, but we have to feed prisoners we take? We certainly wouldn't want anyone to suffer during battle, would we?

Its war, people. We have enough missiles warmed and ready to obliterate the entire planet and doom all of humanity to a slow, painful, toxic death. Applying rules to it doesn't make any sense.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

Its war, people. We have enough missiles warmed and ready to obliterate the entire planet and doom all of humanity to a slow, painful, toxic death. Applying rules to it doesn't make any sense.

You make some sense about the absurdidty of the rules of waging war, but I would say that once you captured someone and removed them from the battlefield, you are now in a more calm environment, and can take the time to make a thoughtful decision about their fate. Their treatment at that point becomes indicitive of how evil you are.

Gonzales's legal opinions haven't had anything to do with how to wage war, they are about how to treat prisoners.

[Cyber Wolf]

Originally Posted by glatt

You make some sense about the absurdidty of the rules of waging war, but I would say that once you captured someone and removed them from the battlefield, you are now in a more calm environment, and can take the time to make a thoughtful decision about their fate. Their treatment at that point becomes indicitive of how evil you are.

If by 'calm' you meant 'quieter', I might agree. However, I'd imagine being captured by the people you're trying to kill, then taken away from your home and country and people, stuffed in a cell which can't be all that big couldn't be very calming to the prisoner. Sure, it might be quieter and slightly less life threatening, but you're alone and surrounded by strangers who hate you. That's a pretty stressful situation. From that point on, it'll then depend on the individual, whether or not they fall into cooperation and introspective reflection, outward cooperation while nursing a grudge and planning revenge or remain flat out rebellious.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by wolf

You left out "took Halliburton money."

Care to elaborate?

[wolf]

Originally Posted by glatt

Care to elaborate?

From lewrockwell.com, not always a source of unvarnished truth, but better regarded than World Net Daily.

quoted from the article

But he was heavily criticized for accepting large contributions from Halliburton, which was then headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, and then ruling in favor of the company instead of recusing himself from any cases in which the giant construction firm was involved.