And now for some REAL torture ...
 

Boy, all you gotta do is take a look at this al-Qaeda "how-to" torture manual they found, and you realize that there's nothing the US has done ... in Iraq, Gitmo, or even the depravity at Abu Ghraib ... that qualifies as torture.

When Bush says "we don't condone torture," this is what he's talking about. Waterboarding is child's play.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275341,00.html

That is a pretty dishonest position, don't you think? I think most people will agree that what al-Qaeda does is worse than what the US is reported to have done DIRECTLY. But how do you then reach the conclusion that only one of the groups can be engaging in torture?

The proper measure of our standards should never be al-Qaeda. I would hope everyone, including yourself, would expect a little more than that from our government.

This doesn't even raise the issue of extraordinary rendition that MW pointed out.

Torture is such a broad, ill-defined, emotion-evoking word, and the Left uses it so carelessly, I thought a little context would be in order.

Does Mike really believe the US uniformly uses torture or whether an organization consisting of millions of employees may have a few rogue employees?

Mike has consistly acted as if the US is a large organization uniformly engaging is gross torture of mass numbers of persons. He has never provided evidence thereof, except a memo written which makes a legal argument to support some questionable activities.

Why is this a hot button item?

The US won't really be in the business of torture, it won't cost you money and it's not reflective of how the US routinely operates.

Hmmm....lets see, I think I remember seeing a thread on here....

"Does evil exist?"

Context is fine, but that isn't what you are doing. You are stating that what al-Qaeda does is torture (no dispute here) and therefore what the US does is NOT torture (which conclusion, based on your statements alone, has no logical basis).

I think it takes big cognitive cahones to thumb through those detestable drawings and then come back to the US list of interrogation techniques and call any of them torture. It'd be like trying to argue that a flashlight and the sun have roughly the same level of brightness.

And again, I didn't say it was. I'm talking about definitions, not justifications.

I'll try this one more time. I'm saying outright: one is torture, the other is not. And I'm amazed at how a person could confuse one with the other, ever.

Then what do you call it Tex. I don't see why both would not be torture to varying degrees. You are correct, it is not as bad as what those terrorists do. So what. Yes, we are not as bad.

In regards to waterboarding. Nice to know that it is child's play. I think that comment alone lets me know just about well you understand things.