waterboarding and sleep deprivation turned Khalid Sheikh Mohammed(KSM) into the C.I.A.'s best source on Al-Qaida.
KSM then provided information that led to the arrest of Lyman Faris, an alleged Al-Qaida sleeper agent sent to the U.S. to plan attacks on New York landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge.
The C.I.A. officer who interrogated KSM, Deuce Martinez, said he used traditional interrogation methods, and not the infliction of pain and panic.
Ali Soufan, a former F.B.I. agent who oversaw the interrogation of another major terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, says that Mr. Zubaydah talked before he was subjected to waterboarding and other abuse, and that "using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions."
Whom should we believe—Mr. Cheney, or the agents who did the interrogations? The answer seems obvious. However, we believe there's an even greater argument from principle to be made here. Even if torture were the most effective and reliable interrogation method possible, it would still be wrong to use it, both morally and practically.
We must not become that which we claim to oppose.
We must set an example for the world of how people should behave.
And we must count all the costs and risks to which we subject ourselves when we violate our own most sacred values.
The whole world now knows that the supposed "land of the free and home of the brave"…
Kidnaps people and sends them abroad to be tortured
Holds people in captivity without due process
Practices acts of torture for which it has prosecuted others
Does not practice what it preaches
Our hypocrisy has undoubtedly recruited far more terrorist candidates than have ever been caught by using torture. The Cheney-Bush policy was, and is, self-defeating, even if it could really be demonstrated that torture occasionally results in useful information. Sadly…
We here at DownsizeDC.org want to see our country once again become "the land of free and the home of the brave." Toward that end we've promoted our "I Am Not Afraid" campaign, through which we, as individuals, win our own personal war on terror instantly, simply by NOT giving the terrorists the fear they seek to provoke in us.
We are not afraid. How about you?
But for this lack of fear to have the most meaning we must also urge our supposed representatives to not be afraid on our behalf, and to reverse all policies that demonstrate fear. If you agree with our stance then we urge you to send an "I Am Not Afraid" message to Congress. Here's what the message says...
"I am not afraid of terrorism, and I want you to stop being afraid onmy behalf. Please start scaling back the official government war on terror. Please replace it with a smaller, more focused anti-terrorist police effort in keeping with the rule of law. Please stop overreacting. I understand that it will not be possible to stop all terrorist acts. I accept that. I am not afraid.
Here are the personal comments I added to this message in the letter I just sent to my representatives: "I was promised change, but there has been no change. Please repeal all the un-constitutional elements of Bush's war on terror, or I will start calling it the Bush-Obama war on terror instead."
Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how fast your Army is growing, please check out the Keeping Score report below my signature.
Your Downsize DC Army grew by 61 net new members yesterday. This brings our total growth for the year to 3,777. The Downsize DC Armynow stands at 28,126, nearly 13% of the way between 28,000 and 29,000.
We can also grow faster by spreading the word through the media. Please help us do this by starting a monthly credit card pledge – it can be as low as $5 a month (which is just 17 cents per day). You can start your pledge using our secure online contribution form.
Please let us know if its okay to advertise your support here:
If a tax deduction is important you can get one by contributing to the educational outreach efforts of the Downsize DC Foundation. Contribute at the Foundation's secure contribution form.
[1] It needs to be noted that Jim Babka did not write this subtitle, it was a contribution of yours truly, Editor Brian.
Let's put it this way, even if your earnings from your property or work were federally taxable—and they are not (thank you, Pete Hendrickson, America loves you!)—morally, most decent human beings will not submit to sending money to the US government for evils so obscene as its torture, rendition, false wars, false imprisonments,
or to fund the atrocities of other terrorist governments (as sort of a new Lend-Lease program for psychotic killers)... such as Zionist-Israel.
