God Damn This Country.

I've often (in my darker moments) have considered that this country isn't worth trying to save.

It just seems like one big sham/farce, all at taxpayer expense.

charges against the W terrorist organization?

If he or she were prez?

Would Bernie?

I have to be honest, nope, none of them would...

I can understand the reasons they wouldnt, but at the end of the day, what happened to this country and others when the SC stole that election, was horrible, from torture to the annihilation of our economy

Post 9/11 and Anthrax attacks, I do not know.

You don't know that. We all thought in 2004 that if Kerry had won, things would be different. I imagine that if you asked people in 2008, whether Mr. Hope and Change would continue torturing and murdering people, an awful lot would have bet their home that he wouldn't.

taking office in 2009 was an Executive Order banning the use of torture by any U.S. personnel.

I understand that force-feeding the hunger strikers at Gitmo may qualify as 'torture' under some definitions of the word. But the practices outlined in the Senate Summary came to a shrieking halt as of Jan 20, 2009. (I actually think they ended in practice back in 2006 after the Dems took office and RummyDummy resigned, so Obama's EO was something of a formality.)

Now, having written that, there's simply no excuse for our gross abrogation of our obligations under the Geneva Convention on Torture to investigate and prosecute credible allegations of torture. That failure can and should be laid firmly at Obama's feet and one can argue that is almost as bad as ordering torture itself. But a refusal to prosecute torturers from the ancien regime is not the same thing as actually ordering torture.

Whatever the outcome of the report, public transparency has at least been given some credence. By elected officials of that same government. I think the report is a forceful, damning recount of what happened in our name during that period, 2001- 2008. Don't discount that.

I'm glad the report is out and I think we should take our lumps for what occurred. But is it any worse than forced genital mutilation? Any worse than beheading strangers?

I keep hearing how America is not so special, after all. And I agree. This only confirms it. But to think that our travesties are worse than anyone else's still seems to play into the narrative that America is somehow 'above' everyone else.

We aren't.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

President greatness Obama put a stop to the evils of Cheney the asshole who should die soon

We should be ashamed of what was done. But 'God damn this country' seems a bit too much, IMO. Do we hear other countries say that when they show their own travesties?

America is not special and so God's wrath (whatever that is) is not reserved for us alone.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

"But 'God damn this country' seems a bit too much..."

No... it seems rather tame given the actions of a nation that holds itself as an example, a beacon and a refuge. It also seems a rather appropriate visceral reaction to the actions, regardless of one wrings their hands in prognostication of its assistance in "only help the GOP"

It seems to be a peculiarly American trait to see ourselves as 'more worthy'. Sure, I'm quibbling but 'God damn this country' does not apply to you nor to my daughters nor to anyone else I know.

The blame -and the damnation- is solely on Bush, Jr. and his minions.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

sacrificed any moral high ground we had.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

so much!

Now with no other superpower to be compared to, here we are. There's a reason empires/centers of power do bad shit. A) Because of course they can if they want to, B) there is no objective truth, and C) it's not easy running the show. Morals are subject to time and place. They can change slowly, or on a whim.

some people thought that releasing this report would encourage people to hate America.

"and to think some people thought..."

They would then be the same dogmatic half-wits who rationalized the original actions, yet criticize its new-found transparency.

Anyone who can talk about torture as a necessary 'technique' or call it anything but what it is, i.e. TORTURE, not 'enhance questioning' or any other BS - should be ashamed of themselves.

most definitely pay in the next. But it is hard to believe in anything now so I do not know.

I mind like that won't hold up to how pissed off all of us are. He was the first to try to spin it. FAIL.

And a lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots. Obama

“We’re fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the CIA serving on our behalf. These are patriots and whatever the report says, if it diminishes their contributions to our country, it is way off base.”

G.W. Bush


There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men. Lord Acton

what a dumbfuck.

without embarrassing themselves

It's God Bless America®

But your condemnation of this country is totally out of historical and global context.

It's extraordinarily rare for criminal leaders to face accountability, and gets rarer the more powerful the country involved is.