U.S. won't tolerate torture, Obama says

[Judi Lynn]

Source: UPI

U.S. won't tolerate torture, Obama says
Published: Jan. 9, 2009 at 2:25 PM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The United States will not tolerate torture and will abide by the Geneva Conventions, President-elect Barack Obama said Friday.

Obama was responding to a question about how the international community may view his appointments of Washington veteran Leon Panetta and retired Adm. Dennis Blair as CIA director and national security director, respectively, and whether they signal a reassessment of harsh interrogation techniques.

Of renouncing torture and abiding by the Geneva Conventions regarding detainees, Obama said, "I think it is important for us to do that not only because that's who we are, but also, ultimately, it will make us safer and will help in changing hearts and minds in our struggle against extremists."



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/09/US_wont_tolerate_torture_Obama_says/UPI-66191231529104/

[Jamastiene]

1. Yes!

K&R

[defendandprotect]

2. YEAH, YEAH, YEAH -- go Obama---!!!

[Hydra]

3. Well, the first step has been taken

Now lets see if he will release the people this policy destroyed.

Aafia Siddiqui comes to mind first.

[ShadesOfGrey]

4. Good news! Thank you Obama! nt

[Solly Mack]

5. It's a start

but if there are no penalties for torturing people(implementing,enabling, complicity, carrying out), then it really doesn't mean anything to say torture won't be tolerated

Bush/Cheney Inc belong in prison

[stillcool]

7. I am sure some of the lower levels..

(a few bad apples) involved in torture over the last few years will find themselves in jail. The rendition program which we have been doing for far longer, will never see the light of day. And of course, we will continue to torture, kill, and maim as we have done throughout our history..on the not so qt.

[Solly Mack]

9. Most likely

America will continue to pretend

[Zhade]

18. Indeed. Talk is cheap.

NT!

[superconnected]

26. The countries mindset is changing now. Torture won't be acceptable anymore

and that will help push policies against it.

Not that torture was ever really acceptable, but a whole lot of rednecks for bush thought it was a good idea. At least for the next 8 years they will be muzzled and the world will continue growing again to become more tolerant of others and humane.

[Solly Mack]

28. Uh..the same people who always thought torture was acceptable will continue to do so

because they will continue to lie and claim it wasn't torture and will, instead, continue to call it
"enhanced interrogation techniques"

and they will not be muzzled because they will continue to defend the actions of the Bush admin.

[superconnected]

30. No, it used to be okay to believe blacks belonged at the back of the bus,

and to believe blacks and whites shouldn't marry(it was against the law), as well as many other things. Gays used to not be able to come out of the closet for the sake of their life would be endanger. Men used to be allowed to beat women and rape them, if they were their wives. I've lived through all of that changing over.

We will continue to grow and get civil rights - for gays, against torture, etc. But we don't grow as fast when there's a republican in as opposed to a Dem.

We will start growing again, watch. Some will always hate everyone who doesn't think like them, but they will continue to be more and more a minority and they will feel very uncomfortable to speak up against the new political correctness. They'll be muzzled.

[Solly Mack]

32. No, it was NEVER ok to believe black people belonged in the back of the bus

at least not to people who weren't racists. Only racists believed that...and the whole of America did not embrace that warped thinking. Don't confuse the ignorance of some southerners with the whole world.

Racism, and any of its Jim Crow adaptations , WAS NEVER OK. Only bigots think it is or ever was..again, don't confuse the ignorance of some with the whole world.

I am from the south before anyone gets their knickers in a knot.

Anyone thinking it's OK to rape women is a sick piece of shit, and such thinking stems from misogyny and guess what? Misogyny WAS NEVER OK either. Well, unless they hate women...such people would think it was OK or was ever OK.

Torture was/is ALREADY banned. America had laws against torture(still does, actually..both federal and international). WTF do you mean by we will "grow" to be against torture?

America's laws are already against torture.

It doesn't matter a rat's ass if joe blow accepts it or not

[superconnected]

33. Correction, I didn't realize the whole US wasn't doing that.

I was about 4 when the blacks got to sit anywhere they wanted.

[Solly Mack]

35. It's still acceptable, for some, to discriminate

but just because some bigot finds it acceptable doesn't mean it has to be tolerated and it certainly doesn't mean that it gets codified into law. (though in the south racism was codified under Jim Crow...but they were wrong..all the way around wrong...regardless of how socially superior they felt in the doing)

Just like torture is wrong...regardless of who finds it acceptable.

[superconnected]

34. Hey, what made me a dem was I was a teen in the early 80's when the republicans

were on TV every night fighting the Dems about wether a man could be arrested for beating or raping his wife. They brought up - for weeks - that they didn't believe a woman could even be raped because she could close herself tight enough if she really didn't want it.

I ended up a dem after that.

[Solly Mack]

36. I remember when that came to the forefront...disgusting wasn't it?

The excuses made for rapists..

[ReadTomPaine]

6. Let's hope that promise is retroactively applied...

and that those responsible are held accountable. This also means within our own prison system, where abuses occur every day that make Abu Ghraib & Gitmo look like resort vacations. That's where the model for those facilities was derived and tested before we shipped it overseas.

Let's also not forget to return the definition of torture to its pre-Bush standard. As it stands, nothing is torture unless it involves organ failure or death.

[blendermax]

8. Forget torture

what is Obama going to do about the epidemic of police gunning down AMERICAN citizens in cold-blood?

[Jamastiene]

10. I hope he moves quickly to stop that too.

It should not be tolerated, especially what happened on New Year's at BART. That was cold blooded murder.

[stillcool]

13. pfft..that's nothing new..

funny how people expect a President to control their own police forces. Damn. What happened to State governments?

[blendermax]

14. These cops need to be brought up on federal charges

you can't trust the police departments to investigate themselves,
which is essentially what the states allow them to do.

[stillcool]

15. Like let the feds take over..

because the states can't do it themselves? People in their own states can't get their own state government to do the right thing, but the feds will?

[blendermax]

19. A federal government with competent new leadership

can't do any worse of a job then the states are doing

[stillcool]

22. Why have a State Govenment?

Why not a dictatorship? I don't know where you live, but my State does an acceptable job as far as I'm concerned. And when it doesn't it is up to the people in my State to fix it, not the federal government.

[blendermax]

24. Why have a federal government, federal prosecutors, or federal prisons?

why have the FBI for that matter?

let the cops investigate themselves.

[stillcool]

31. Oy..I keep thinking about the RNC..

that was some nice joint operation there. Perhaps we just need the militias. As far as why we need federal prisons, federal courts..etc..Would you like to make all crime federal?

[blendermax]

38. what a dumb question

sorry, but I dont have time to engage in your nonsense.

you think cops should investigate themselves when they committ crimes, and I do not.

we'll agree to disagree.

[stillcool]

40. No. I think that the State Government...

is responsible, as are the people who live in each state.

[blendermax]

17. 'Nothing new'

I dont know about that.

I never heard of up to 5 police execution style shootings occurring on one New Year's before, have you?

[stillcool]

20. I don't know..I guess I would..

have to go look up newspapers for New Year's past. Do you think it would be unusual to find the police had shot 5 people on any given day?

[blendermax]

23. So your argument is

questionable police killings are so common, nothing new, so we should do nothing about it?

[stillcool]

29. Police shootings are common...yes.

How does saying it is not some new phenomenon, equate to nothing should be done? As far as choosing what to do..I don't know, but I sure can't see the federal government being the answer. The last incident that I remember in my area was regarding some students arrested for protesting. I did the very least I could do, by calling my state reps, the sheriff's office, wrote letters..the usual.

[EFerrari]

11. Two of the three Intel people he offered today have either been involved

in torture or have publicly embraced torture. :shrug:

[stillcool]

16. Nothing new is it?

I mean how many Phillip Agee/ Ray McGoverns are there? I think saying 'we don't torture', means that we no longer legally torture. But we all know, we've been killing, maiming, and torturing for generations. What we need is a few more "School of the America's" going..so that people know how to do that sort of thing without the added benefit of a silly law.

[The Second Stone]

12. This is not something to appluad

This is something that is at minimum expected on pain of trial in the Hague.

[blendermax]

39. As if not torturing people is some kind of amazing, revolutionary act

well, I guess we've finally caught up to the civilized world. lmao

(or so I hope)

[ZombieHorde]

21. I hope Obama is telling us the truth.

[superconnected]

25. I love you Barack! Now there's my guy!

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[WhiteTara]

37. what's Brennan all about?

I hope that we don't see Obama's mouth twisting from talking out of both sides like that. Please let him be better than that.

[goforit]

41. Yes Obama, Torture is not OK /yet behind our back, take advice from a pro-torturer.

Yes paint a picture for us to see and do the opposite......We had that with Bush for
8 friggin years you think you are gonna be let off the hook so fast????

OUR PATIENCE IS TRANSPARRENTLY THHHHinnnnnn!

[WhiteTara]

42. who cares what you think

Goforit. When I called the transition about Vilsack before his appointment, they said that "you and 10s of thousands of other people have called to object." So, alrighty then. Rick Warren? I'm sure it was millions, so again:

who cares what you think?

but if you think there's a chance here's the phone number.202 540 3000 this is the transition team press 2