Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Congratulations, Barack: Torturer of the Month

Or, rather, the past four years and scheduled for the next four, if the ongoing commmentary of Nat Hentoff is correct.    So if you voted for Mr. Obama because he was going to close down Gitmo and end the practice of sending terror suspects to developing countries, I've got some news for you:

You've been had.

Yes, we're not waterboarding anymore, but we're still apparently sending prisoners to third world jails, and we're often choosing to kill suspects with drones instead of trying to capture them at all.  I'm not quite sure this is an improvement.

Regarding the topic of torture, it does seem as if we ought to have, at this point, enough evidence from the past 12 years to indicate whether measures designed to inflict disorientation, discomfort, pain, and injury actually get good information.  Yes, we have "expert testimony," but let's remember Deming (again)

In God we trust, all others must bring data.

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