House Passes Ban On Waterboarding

Approves Intelligence Bill Outlawing Harsh CIA Interrogation Techniques

(AP)  The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an intelligence bill that bans the Central Intelligence Agency from using waterboarding, mock executions and other harsh interrogation methods.

The 222-199 vote sent the measure to the Senate, which still must act before it can go to President Bush. The White House has threatened a veto.

The bill, a House-Senate compromise to authorize intelligence operations in 2008, also blocks spending 70 percent of the intelligence budget until the House and Senate intelligence committees are briefed on Israel's Sept. 6 air strike on an alleged nuclear site in Syria.

The 2008 intelligence budget is classified, but it is more than the $43 billion approved for 2007.

Most of the bill itself also is classified, although some portions were made public. One provision requires reporting to the committees on whether intelligence agency employees are complying with protections for detainees from cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. Another requires a report on the use of private contractors in intelligence work.

It is the first intelligence authorization conference bill Congress has produced in three years.

The White House threatened to veto the measure this week in a lengthy statement, highlighting more than 11 areas of disagreement with the bill.

The administration particularly opposes restricting the CIA to interrogation methods approved by the U.S. military in 2006. That document prohibits forcing detainees to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner; placing hoods or sacks over detainees' heads or duct tape over their eyes; beating, shocking, or burning detainees; threatening them with military dogs; exposing them to extreme heat or cold; conducting mock executions; depriving them of food, water, or medical care; and waterboarding.

Waterboarding is a particularly harsh form of interrogation that involves strapping down a prisoner, covering his mouth with plastic or cloth and pouring water over his face. The prisoner quickly begins to inhale water, causing the sensation of drowning.

The CIA is known to have waterboarded three prisoners but has not used the technique since 2003, according to a government official familiar with the program who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified. CIA Director Michael Hayden prohibited waterboarding in 2006. The U.S. military outlawed it the same year.

The intelligence authorization bill also creates a new internal watchdog to oversee all the intelligence agencies. It requires Senate approval for the first time of two agency heads the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages the nation's spy satellites, and the National Security Agency, the outfit that conducted warrantless wiretapping on American phone and computer lines in what the White House calls the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

Separately on Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected legislation that would have protected telecommunications companies from civil lawsuits over helping the government eavesdrop on Americans' communications without court orders. The legislation would have made the government the defendant in such lawsuits, rather than telecommunications companies. The 5-13 vote sank the measure pushed by Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican who hoped it could be a compromise in the dispute over whether to immunize the companies from lawsuits.

In competing legislation written in October, the Senate Intelligence Committee granted legal immunity to telecom companies. The House passed a bill that does not protect the companies. The White House has also threatened to veto that bill.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell was briefing the Senate in a closed session about the matter on Thursday.

[denn034]

Torture is wrong. Congress was right to do this.

[poopusbuttus]

Torture is wrong, yes.....waterboarding is not. Keep waterboarding the Al-Qada thugs.....

[tcoleman12]

What are we going to do with terrorist prisoners now, restrict them to "Time-Out" when they don''t tell us what we want?
This method has proven effective and has provided valuable information in a short amount of time. Our own soldiers go through this during specialized training.
How about put them in a room with a bunch of smelly, doosh-bag hippies trying to have us all just "get along" and the terrorists will come screaming to tell us everything in a matter of hours max.

[hmikem]

All of our current combat pilots get waterboarded in their training. More people are killed in Ted Kenndys car than die from waterboarding.
thanks jmho

[poopusbuttus]

"The White House has threatened a veto."

One would think that if Bush was serious about the US not engaging in torture that he would be thrilled with this ban. I guess he''''s lying again. He said they don''''t torture however he won''''t approve of a ban on torture.


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Posted by jh6379


Shut up....dummy

[l8c6]

So a law against something that was not technically illegal? What were the practices of the nazis? Visits to the former nazi concentration camps are gruesome eye openers.

How did the U.S. get in this place when 60 years ago the U.S. and the allied forces defeated the axis.

[l8c6]

"The White House has threatened a veto."

One would think that if Bush was serious about the US not engaging in torture that he would be thrilled with this ban. I guess he''''''''s lying again. He said they don''''''''t torture however he won''''''''t approve of a ban on torture.


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Posted by jh6379


Shut up....dummy

No never you steaming pile of sh*it. NEVER. This is a legitimate question and the voices screaming at trash like you are going to blow your ear drums sky high.

[hmikem]

jh6370 Do you want to win the war on terrorism?
If you do, then why limit our guys ability to win it?

[baghdadshere]

"House Passes Ban On Waterboarding
Approves Intelligence Bill Outlawing Harsh CIA Interrogation Techniques"

I"m totally against torture except when it is used to know the truth.

[feelfree1]

Re: "The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an intelligence bill that bans the Central Intelligence Agency from using waterboarding, mock executions and other harsh interrogation methods."

These activities constitute torture, and torturing people is already illegal, aside from being useless, counterproductive and subhuman.

Passing more laws criminalizing what is already illegal, is yet another futile act by our Congress. This action implies that these actions were somehow acceptable prior to this point. They were not.

Enforcement of the already established laws is what is called for here. Those who have conducted or have been complicit in these activities should be tried for these heinous crimes. I would support leniency for any suspect that provides evidence leading to the conviction of any of the Regime members or their stooges.

The CIA is largely an arm of corporate terrorism, and should be disbanded, with terrorists and traitors like George Tennet, George Bush Sr., and A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard tarred and feathered, and tried for their oversight of various terrorist operations.

[gkc99]

"I"m totally against torture except when it is used to know the truth. "--Posted by BaghdadsHere


Does that apply to Bushit?

If so, there will be a whole new meaning to the term "spanking the monkey"!

[DocD--2008]

If Bush wants to veto it, I say fine go ahead, and don''t bring it up again this session, then he gets zero dollars to work with. Either that, or any type of treatment he wants to allow, he must endure first.

[walt1944-2009]

It has been learned that the Great Emperor has vetoed 6 bills this year from the Whimp-ocrat Congress while in the prior 6 years, he had vetoed on 1 (and no one remembers when that was!). It is expected that the Great Emperor Bush II will veto this coming bill as well, not because he really approves of torture (which he does), but because he loves to veto any kind of bill from the Whimp-ocrat Congress.

Vetoing such bills gives the Great Emperor a "rush" of confidence and supremecy and continually reinforces his claims of being "The Great Decider"!

Of course, one could argue that Adolph Hitler felt that way in Nazi Germany too, until the Red Army and Allies showed him different!

There is an old saying that bullies think they are the toughest there is, until someone shows up who is a lot tougher and doesn''t hesistant to knock them on their arse!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!

[marcodele]

Waterboarding is unnecessary. It would be far more effective to make the subject listen to Bush mangling the english language. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

[poopusbuttus]

poopusbuttus said:
"Shut up....dummy"


Are striving for the ''''caveman'''' reputation?
Posts like this will earn it for you in no time!
No wonder you like bush...your IQ levels must be similar :)



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"The White House has threatened a veto."

One would think that if Bush was serious about the US not engaging in torture that he would be thrilled with this ban. I guess he''''s lying again. He said they don''''t torture however he won''''''''t approve of a ban on torture.


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Posted by jh6379

Again....shut up...dummy

[hmikem]

The individual who testified before congress the other day said that water boarding one detainee yielded 12 positive leads and 8 more possible leads.

[poopusbuttus]

No never you steaming pile of sh*it. NEVER. This is a legitimate question and the voices screaming at trash like you are going to blow your ear drums sky high.


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Posted by l8c6


Shut up...dummy

[feelfree1]

Re: "The 222-199 vote sent the measure to the Senate..."

The 199 pro-torture traitors in the House should be detained at Guantanimo until they can appear before a judge for betraying our Constitution.

[poopusbuttus]

Re: "The 222-199 vote sent the measure to the Senate..."

The 199 pro-torture traitors in the House should be detained at Guantanimo until they can appear before a judge for betraying our Constitution.



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Posted by FeelFree1

Shut up...dummy

[notblue]

Good job DEMS now the terrorists can breath easier, excuse the pun.

[feelfree1]

hmikem,

Re: "The individual who testified before congress the other day said that water boarding one detainee yielded 12 positive leads and 8 more possible leads."

Sounds like probable B.S.

Shall we simply ignore the rule of law, and surrender our dignity, where it becomes inconvenient?

How many "possible leads" must I claim before it would be acceptable to torture your friends, your family, or yourself?

[cbs_oliver]

The 199 pro-torture traitors in the House should be detained at Guantanimo until they can appear before a judge for betraying our Constitution.

Posted by FeelFree1 at 04:50 PM : Dec 13, 2007

Just a short stop before they roast in hell.

[notblue]

The only people happy about this are the terrorists, FeelFreetobomb1, and jihad6379

[poopusbuttus]

The only people happy about this are the terrorists, FeelFreetobomb1, and jihad6379


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Posted by notblue


Agreed. Forgive us father, for these 2 dummies know not what they do....

[baghdadshere]

The CIA is largely an arm of corporate terrorism, and should be disbanded, with terrorists and traitors like George Tennet, George Bush Sr., and A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard tarred and feathered, and tried for their oversight of various terrorist operations.

Posted by FeelFree1 at 04:42 PM : Dec 13, 2007

FellFree1....Stop bashing CIA buddy. Anything used against terrorists may be considered legal. When terrorists take an airplane to strike a building they do all kind of torture against the passengers including beheading.

[hmikem]

Feelfree1, if someone, in custody, knew of people planning on killing your family and yourself and would not talk, would you be ok with that? I wouldn%u2019t.

[edward1975-2009]

ReelDumb1: See your playing that sad old record again. CIA was established beyond the scope of the law that bound the FBI. It was established to do the little things that no one wants to admit happens. And every intelligence gathering agency in the world, does the same thing. So hurry up break out the slurs, start tossing the Constitution in, a document you clearly have never read, and telling yourself your right. And always blaming others for the miserable life you lead.

[poopusbuttus]

Do the ladies call you poopusbuttus?


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Posted by jh6379


The ladies call me by my name...

[baghdadshere]

Shall we simply ignore the rule of law, and surrender our dignity, where it becomes inconvenient?

How many "possible leads" must I claim before it would be acceptable to torture your friends, your family, or yourself?

Posted by FeelFree1 at 04:53 PM : Dec 13, 2007

FellFree1....Tell Osama to follow the rule of law buddy.

[poopusbuttus]

FellFree1....Tell Osama to follow the rule of law buddy.


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Posted by BaghdadsHere


BAGHDAD -- He/She doesnt care about Osama following the law. It''s not important to them. THat is the flaw in their stupid brains.......

[feelfree1]

Edward1975,

Re: "CIA was established beyond the scope of the law that bound the FBI. It was established to do the little things that no one wants to admit happens."

Good points. In other words, it was established as an anti-Constitutional terrorist organization, one that enforces the will of Western terrorist Corporations, and they should be disbanded.

Its present and former leaders should be tried, so that we can establish the nature of their crimes, for the record, and sentenced with the appropriate penalty for terrorism and treason.

Thank you for helping me to make this important point.

[poopusbuttus]

Its present and former leaders should be tried, so that we can establish the nature of their crimes, for the record, and sentenced with the appropriate penalty for terrorism and treason.

Thank you for helping me to make this important point.



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Posted by FeelFree1

Never gonna happen.....dummy

[poopusbuttus]

Where''''s Osama?


Bush has shown the world that you CAN blowup major buildings, kill 2000+ innocent people AND get away with it.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by jh6379


He''s in P@kistan. Next question.

[hmikem]

How about we and the terrorists sit down and if they won%u2019t lob any more heads off, we agree not to water board?

[feelfree1]

BaghdadsHere,

Re: "When terrorists take an airplane to strike a building they do all kind of torture against the passengers including beheading."

Sadly, it is not surprising that a former Saddam Hussein employee would use this behavior as a standard of how you would conduct yourself.

The bar does not seem to go low enough for your taste.

One thing is for sure: you have clearly surrendered any standing to accuse anyone else of being a terrorist.

[feelfree1]

hmikem,

Re: "Feelfree1, if someone, in custody, knew of people planning on killing your family and yourself and would not talk, would you be ok with that?"

I don''t surrender my integrity in exchange for a false sense of security for any reason. If we can''t live by the rules that we have set for ourselves, then we have already surrendered anything worth defending, in my opinion.

Again, how many "possible leads" must I claim before it would be acceptable to torture your friends, your family, or yourself?

[feelfree1]

BaghdadsHere,

re: "FellFree1....Tell Osama to follow the rule of law buddy."

I don''t look to former(?) CIA asset, Osama bin Laden, as a standard for acceptable behavior. If you do, then you certainly have no place in criticizing him.

[searingtruth]

Unbelievable.

The torture and murder of prisoners has always been, and will always be, illegal in America.

The problem is that treasonous elements of our government, and we now know they consist not only of the Republicans, but almost the entire leadership of the Democratic Party, have knowingly violated the law and subverted The Constitution of the United States of America.

Trotting out yet another "law", which Dictator Bush will merely attach an illegal "signing statement" to exclaiming he is free to ignore it, is an insult to the intelligence of the American people.

If the Democrats were serious about restoring our Constitution they would immediately move to impeach Bush and Cheney, and try all their henchmen, including Feinstein, Rockefeller, Pelosi, and all of his other Democratic enablers, for high treason against The United States of America and crimes against humanity.
ST


"Our government is no longer American, thus, as in the beginning, the people must suffice."
SearingTruth

"We became evil to fight evil, assuring its victory."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[feelfree1]

SearingTruth,

Re: "If the Democrats were serious about restoring our Constitution they would immediately move to impeach Bush and Cheney, and try all their henchmen, including Feinstein, Rockefeller, Pelosi, and all of his other Democratic enablers, for high treason against The United States of America and crimes against humanity."

Good call!

Hear, hear!

[notblue]

FeelFreetobomb1, if waterboarding a KNOWN TERRORIST could potentially save lives then bring on the water. If a family member had info that would save lives then bring on the water. If a U.S. citizen had info thatcould save lives, then bring on the water. Waterboarding while terrifying does not cause the permanent damage beheading at the hands of your brothers does.

[one_american]

Well now. Al Qaeda can claim a victory now, thanks to the Democrats pandering to the terrorists.

And now Al Qaeda can be sure they will be pampered while in captivity, thanks to the squeamish liberal terrorist sympathizers.

Is it any wonder why Americans are coming to realize that Democrats are out to destoy this country?

[drivelphobe]

Great! The House has time to pass this ridiculous bill and sits on their rear ends regarding issues of significance.

There have only been 3 incidents of CIA waterboarding. They have not used waterboarding since 2003. We have 20 million illegals running rampant and destroying our country, and they spend their valuable time and energy, at tax-payers'' expense, on this and ignore their responsibility to serve the public.

Big changes need to take place and soon.

[searingtruth]

"FeelFreetobomb1, if waterboarding a KNOWN TERRORIST could potentially save lives then bring on the water..."
notblue


I''m curious.

What would make someone believe that the anonymous American and foreign citizens we have illegally abducted and indefinitely placed in secret prisons without charge or representation are terrorists?

I mean, by definition, we have no idea who they are, and they haven''''t even been charged with a crime so even if we knew who they were we couldn''t know if they were guilty or not.

For all we know we''re holding an innocent group of political prisoners, girl scouts, rabbits, aardvarks, bats, pieces of wood, or whatever, in these dark holes.

That''s why we used to have the rule of law, and consider prisoners innocent until proven guilty, and charge them with crimes, and then provide them counsel to defend themselves against those charges.

That''s why The Constitution of the United States of America was written, and embraces the rule of law it does. So that the innocent could not simply be proclaimed guilty, and stripped of every human right in existence.
ST


It''s not "You have nothing to fear unless you''re doing something wrong."
It''s "You have nothing to fear unless the government is doing something wrong."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[baghdadshere]

Sadly, it is not surprising that a former Saddam Hussein employee would use this behavior as a standard of how you would conduct yourself.

Posted by FeelFree1 at 05:16 PM : Dec 13, 2007

FellFree1....How long are you going to call me ex-Saddam employee just bcause I built a railroad for him? Did you know that in 1980 80% of workers in Iraq were foreign? Besides that construction was made for the welfare of the Iraqi people.
About terrorists behavior I have no comment except that terrorism must be combated with terrorism not flowers.

[taddles-2009]

It''s simple, we don''t need to torture, we are better than that. Torture is the method of incompetence.

Torture does not get results, it never has. It gets you anything you want to hear but not the truth. The argument of "if you knew he had such and such info" is a fallacious argument to begin with. All torture does is make us as morally corrupt as they are.

If you want to be as bad as the enemy than you''re not worthy of being called an American.

[feelfree1]

notblue,

Re: "If a U.S. citizen had info thatcould save lives, then bring on the water."

The fact that you are so eager to torture U.S. citizens in order to appease your own cowardice, and to subvert imaginary threats, says a lot about you.

If you have this much contempt for your fellow citizens and for our Constitution, then you certainly have no business fouling our shores with your presence, and you should stay out of the U.S.

Their are other lawless terrorism embracing societies in which you would fit much better. Israel might be a good candidate for you, for example, or Uzbekistan.

[notblue]

Searingtruth, when an enemy combatant is captured on the battle field in Afghanistan screaming death to America one can assume he is a terrorist. What does it matter to you anyway, since you are obviously not an American citizen anyway.

[feelfree1]

BaghdadsHere,

Re: "that terrorism must be combated with terrorism"

Again, it is hardly surprising that a former Saddam Hussein employee would be a proponent of terrorism.

[notblue]

FeelFRee1, too funny! you are a true terrorist sympathizer and once again your colors are showing.

[taddles-2009]

"Searingtruth, when an enemy combatant is captured on the battle field in Afghanistan screaming death to America one can assume he is a terrorist.

Posted by notblue at 05:37 PM : Dec 13, 2007"

Then why not treat him like a prisoner of war and imprison him for war crimes. Or charge him with international terrorism and lock him up. Why hide him away so no one can ask the question "what did he do". Why send him to countries that have no human rights to be tortured in our name.

When you treat others as less than human you become less than human yourself. The Nazi''s treated everyone that way...you seem to want to follow in those same footprints.