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April 23, 2009 6:45 AM

McCain: Torture Probe Will Be A "Witch Hunt"

Posted by Sean Alfano
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Sen. John McCain warned that a pursuit for charges against Bush administration officials who helped design harsh interrogation tactics used on terrorist suspects would turn into a "witch hunt."

Speaking on CBS' The Early Show, the former Vietnam POW and Republican opponent of President Barack Obama in the 2008 election, said there is no evidence that he knows of that shows the officials who approved the tactics weren't giving plausible legal advice.

This will have a "chilling effect on legal counsel," McCain said.

McCain, who was himself tortured as a U.S. soldier by his North Vietnamese captors, was a vocal critic of the Bush administration's treatment of terrorism suspects.

"To go back on a witch hunt that could last for a year or so is bad for the country," he said.

On Wednesday, McCain and Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., sent President Obama a letter expressing strong concern over his decision to leave the door open to the possible prosecution of officials who crafted controversial Bush administration policy on detainee interrogations.

"Pursuing such prosecutions would, we believe, have serious negative effects on the candor with which officials in any administration provide their best advice, and would take our country in a backward-looking direction at a time when our detainee-related challenges demand that we look forward," the letter said.
Tags:
torture ,
mccain
Topics:
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by SigSat09 April 26, 2009 11:31 AM EDT
Sen. McCain is mistaken when he posits the notion that an investigation would necessarily be a "witch hunt". The truth is that Judge Jay Bybee was the man who was responsible for saying NO. He failed in his responsibility because he was bowing to the political winds coming from the White House. His refusal to do his job must have consequences.
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by SDIMASTER April 24, 2009 2:37 PM EDT
Spies, Terrorists, Saboteurs, etc. unless dressed in the uniform of the country they are fighting for; are not covered by the Geneva Convention. Others, like Al Quaida, who are fighting for a secret organization are not covered even if dressed in the uniform of some country.
Therefore anything less than a firing squad; even water-boarding, is legal, when they are captured.
Reply to this comment
by alanrobisch April 23, 2009 9:52 PM EDT
In a global economy, we are ALL in this together
Posted by oldwhiteguy1 at 5:19 PM : Apr 23, 2009

You mean like Iran's determination to destroy Israel or North Korea's despots who invaded south korea or Iraq's invasion of Kuwait ofr the soviet's invasion of Georgia all unprovoked
Reply to this comment
by cmp271 April 23, 2009 9:34 PM EDT
BTW-What is going to happen in the next four years. It is so easy to prosecute the past, remember it will be YOUR TURN NEXT-keep it clean....watch your back!!!
Reply to this comment
by alanrobisch April 23, 2009 9:34 PM EDT
What was done was necessary to protect our country in a time of war. I wonder whether all the high minded people here would have not have done the same if they thought they would protect themselves or there loved ones from death. I might suggest that we have done much worse in times of war where only civillians died such as the bombing of Hiroshima or the fire bombing of dresden
Reply to this comment
by cmp271 April 23, 2009 9:32 PM EDT
WAKE UP AMERICA....THIS IS A PLOY TO DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION FROM SOMETHING REALLY WICKED THE OBAMARAMA PEOPLE ARE PLOTTING. THEY ARE THE EVIL EMPIRE.

The Republicans are not witches.

If people are prosecuted for doing their jobs, our country will be a mockery. No other country ever aplogizes for torture practices, you do what you have to do to get information. Obama is a socialist, believe me he is leading us down the path to what the Russians lived through.
READ HISTORY IDIOTS....NAZI GERMANY....STALIN'S REIGN OF TERROR AND MURDER!

WE HAD THE RIGHT TO DO WHAT WE NEEDED TO DO.
)o(
Reply to this comment
by alanrobisch April 23, 2009 9:31 PM EDT
Is this what you call persecution or is it an attempt evade their own responsibility for governing. Fascinating among the very people who knew and and approved this policy that protected us and uncovered plots to attack us are now claiming they knew nothing and used the anger against it to get reelected even though they knew full well what was done and agreed to it.
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by alanrobisch April 23, 2009 9:27 PM EDT
ifind it interesting that the democrats who are now wanting to prosecute the creators of the policy were informed of the policy and concurred in the use of it yet now they want to prosecute the lawyers that did it. This is much worse than hypocrisy. It really does come close to the show trials put on by stalin and the revision of history by each soviet administration when they took over power
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by Corejob April 23, 2009 9:23 PM EDT
McCain needs to read some history, stating with the Nuremberg trials. Specifically, The United States of America vs. Josef Altstötter followed by the Nurenmberg principles:

Principle IV
The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.
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by oldwhiteguy1 April 23, 2009 8:19 PM EDT
If our government would just stop the "holy-er" than thou" approach to the world and its leaders, life would be good!
North Korea, Iran, Iraq,Venezuela, Afghanistan and the rest are trying an age old strategy of "saber rattling". They have something to say. They're trying to get their story heard. They are sovereign countries who don't want to be told how to live...especially by the neighborhood bully.
Obama is correct, to offer to listen.
People all over the world have the same wants and needs that we do. A roof, safety, food and a better life for their children.
In a global economy, we are ALL in this together
Reply to this comment
by searingtruth April 23, 2009 5:16 PM EDT
I have to go now fellow citizens.

And I must say, I am extremely heartened by the many patriots on this forum fighting to restore our Constitution, and bring all those who have subverted it to justice.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin are looking down upon all of you now and they are well pleased. Very well pleased.
ST


"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
George Washington, Circular to the States, May 9, 1753

A Future of the Brave
Reply to this comment
by searingtruth April 23, 2009 5:09 PM EDT
"...searingtruth ...Every epoch of international crisis has had this type of person. They were the brown shirts of the Nazi era and the renegade Jew whispering to the gestapo where other Jews were hiding. They were the Soviet fanatics arresting and torturing in the name of national security. They were the MaCarthy fans totally convinced that Hollywood was littered with Communists wanting to use the screen to influence Americans. Now they are the neocons and they use the same faceless, bleached mentality to march to the drum of an administration that has written its own history in shame and disgrace. We can investigate and punish, but where will we end it all? The leaders who became criminals stood upon the support of those equally guilty and we see them here writing their own indictments."
expatriate2


Eloquently stated fellow patriot expatriate2.

And we will end it all by justly trying all those, from all Parties, and all government organizations, at all levels, for treason and crimes against humanity. And justly punishing any found guilty.
ST


"Torture is not confusing at all. The stench of the vomit and blood and urine and feces expelled by its victims, and their wrenching cries for mercy or death, are clear evidence that abomination is working its evil will.

No one can deny, or claim ignorance, of its stain.

And its stain upon America will never be erased.

There are some things that you can never take back."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave
Reply to this comment
by hakori April 23, 2009 5:02 PM EDT
Torture is a crime--war crime--under US and international law. The Bush adminstration orchestrated and carried out torture. It's that simple conservatives! If anything like this had been done under a democratic president, you republicans would be shouting from the rooftops...and rightfully so. But since it was a republican president, you want it to be swept under the rug. The hypocrisy is starting to wear pretty thin at this point. If you want to defend torture, maybe you should reconsider what country you'd like to live in. What Bush did to America was treasonous!
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by johnfrank April 23, 2009 4:57 PM EDT
It is interesting that McCain can speak out torture and even get something passed in congress, but when it comes to fighting and hoping people people accountable (the law), he is a COWARD.

McCain COWARD on enforcing Torture
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by pensacola8-2009 April 23, 2009 4:24 PM EDT
US Military Personnel have been charged, courtmarshalled, convicted and incarcerated for torturing prisoners since the prosecution of the Iraq war.

Where was VP Cheney and Secretary Rumsfield when these military personnel were prosecuted?

VP Cheney has released many statements alluding his condoning and support of using torturing techniques.

Senator McCain needs to tell us how VP Cheney can just throw US Personnel " under the bus" when they were prosecuted, while the former Vice President of the United States was talking out of "Two Side" of his own mouth about torture.
Reply to this comment
by searingtruth April 23, 2009 4:08 PM EDT
"...When our democracy embraces the use of these tactics against their enemies, we risk having our government identifying us as enemies and using those tactics on us. Torture an\d tyranny go hand-in-hand."
flreason


Awesome post fellow patriot flreason. Thank you for standing up for our Constitution and great nation.
ST


"Tyranny and tyrants do not change, nor does the character of those who defeat them."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave
Reply to this comment
by flreason April 23, 2009 3:49 PM EDT
When I read the tactics that were being used, it was like reading Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago all over again.

What is at the heart of this discussion is whether we are to be a nation that respects the rule of law. When the Soviet Union used these tactics during the Stalin era, we were unapologetic about denouncing them. We should not, and cannot, justify their use because it is expedient. If Al Qaeda, or Iran, or any other entity with whom we have issues breaks international laws, we are within our rights to respond...within the law. When we use their barbaric acts , whether acknowledged as torture or disguised by a euphemism like "harsh interrogation", we open ourselves to international condemnation, and we cheapen the moral high ground that Americans--regardless of political identification--seek to claim.

When our democracy embraces the use of these tactics against their enemies, we risk having our government identifying us as enemies and using those tactics on us. Torture an\d tyranny go hand-in-hand.
Reply to this comment
by searingtruth April 23, 2009 3:32 PM EDT
"We became evil to fight evil, assuring its victory."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave
Reply to this comment
by ianlou April 23, 2009 3:29 PM EDT
This is not a Witch Hunt.

This is an exposure of dirty little secrets....

perpetrated by members of a dirty little political party.
Reply to this comment
by noloyalisti April 23, 2009 3:27 PM EDT
McSame is just useless. He is obsolete just like the rest of his failed party of death and spending.
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