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Mirriam-Websters definition of Torture:
1 a: anguish of body or mind : agony b: something that causes agony or pain
2: the infliction of intense pain (as from burning, crushing, or wounding) to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure
3: distortion or overrefinement of a meaning or an argument
I don't see how getting slapped counts as intense pain or agony. Ditto with everything else in the memo.
I think the interrogators were right to follow the directives/decisions from the Justice Department Lawyers. They were making detainees uncomfortable, but were not inflicting intense pain or anguish.
You can argue that what was done was not right, but I fail to see how the behavior meets the criteria for torture. To suggest that it does lessens the sacrifices of those who really are tortured...broken limbs, crushed bodies, etc.
And am I missing something in the Geneva conventions which makes them apply to non-signatories?
---------- Post added at 12:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 PM ----------
Also, I can tell you 100% that the military inflicts worse 'torture' on some of it's own troops during training.
If the methods outlined in the memos count as torture and are inexcusable under any circumstances, then the Military is going to have to explain why it is "torturing" rather than "training" soldiers.
And don't give me any nonsense about consent, because I promise you that no soldier is going to say "yeah, go ahead and slap the shit out of me."
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"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence
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