Is the UK being blackmailed by the US over torture evidence?

Interesting article came out today about the US stance on torture practices.

"There is no other terms for what the US intelligence services are doing than blackmail," he said.

"It is simply incredible that the US government would have halted intelligence co-operation with the UK if this information had been made public."

news.bbc.co.uk...

The claim is that the US intelligence service would halt cooperation with UK intelligence services if they published a report from one of the detainees.

Question. We have all been made aware of waterboarding, but this implication suggests there was much more,

and furthermore, if you torture an individual for information, who's to say they wouldn't just tell you what you want in order to stop the torture.

Is this the way Americans want to be viewed around the world??

It sickens me that any American soldier would torture anyone.

Remember how we looked down upon the Japanese and Vietnamese soldiers for torturing our soldiers, yet when the ball is in the other court, it's OK for us to do it??

Shame on them. I hope this is all revealed, and they fry in hell for it.


[edit on 4-2-2009 by doctordoom]

Yes those evil Americans are blackmailing the poor UK. And I'm sure the poor little UK has nothing in its dark past or present of doing anything like this...

Every country in the world tortures people. They can say they don't but that's because they are liars. And guess what, I'm not even that against torturing because it would be hypocritical for me to say that if I knew beating the snot out of somebody could possibly save my wife or family I would in a heartbeat. Its not pretty but its reality.

Go ahead and say stuff like well you hope it doesn't happen to you or what not and your right, I hope it doesn't. People will call me evil or what not but when it comes down to it I bet any of us would barely flinch if we had to torture somebody we don't know to save somebody we love.

So flame away!

reply to post by whoshotJR


The problem is not whether the US or UK torture people but when it becomes public knowledge and common currency everyone and his dog will do it.

Torture is not the same as ill treatment, being beaten up or being denied your freedom. It is a sustained and personal attack intended to physically and mentally break an individual. You can only make someone talk when you change their world view. The tools used happens to be pain and a slow accumulation of irreparable physical harm on this occasion. Normally sex, drugs or blackmail is used but the neocon preferred cruder methods for their psychological needs.

The average person doesn't think too much about these dark matters until they or those near them get at the hands of the police, security services and the military, then they think about their human rights and ethic. You see, torture spreads.

Oh by the way torture is snotty in the early stages, later on the victim gets semi-conscious and hallucinates. One reason why torturers give victims breaks and medical attention like intravenous glucose.

reply to post by whoshotJR


I think the problem with places like Guantanamo Bay is the lack of fair trails and proof before these people are taken away. Once there only they know what goes on inside. These people have been tortured and held for many years and without evidence and they were innocent. But for the grace of god go you or I???

reply to post by sueloujo


I hear what your saying and I agree completely about the trials that never happened are very wrong. I just don't think any country should begin pointing its fingers at another 1 because the UK does the same things also. The OP seems to me to try and point the blame without realizing he has fingers that are pointing right back at himself.

reply to post by doctordoom


There not American citizens they are armed combatants and there rights are not afforded to them under the constitution but under the Geneva convention. The Geneva convention does not allow physical abuse to occur to any prisoner of war. Your not suppose to break bones cut off fingers ect.

However there is no restrictions on playing with there mind. Water boarding plays off the fear of drowning. Theres also other methods that are used such as sleep deprivation. Being placed in dark cell and may have audio hidden in the cell of someone breathing ( experienced this one my self while in the military and even though I knew there was no one there your mind starts playing tricks on you).

There is also the reward system the use of drugs and let us not forget convincing them your there friend. A trained interrogator will try to use your fears, hopes dreams or aspirations to get want they want. Information gained through beating is very unreliable however information gained through psychological methods is highly accurate.

Now Im not going to make an ethical call of right and wrong that depends on the circumstances involved. If they have a suspect that planted a nuclear bomb in say Washington DC is it ok to try to coerse this information to save thousands?



[edit on 2/4/09 by dragonridr]

reply to post by dragonridr


The person in question in this issue was not a combatant of any sorts. He was an innocent civilian (as were many others) who had gone to visit his family in Pakistan. One Uk citizen is actually blind in one eye now due to his torture and he travels around the uk giving talks on what happened to him. Its the sort of behaviour we only come to expect from the very regimes we are supposed to be stopping. Surely there can be no excuse for this...the way that particular system works is very wrong.

Originally posted by sueloujo
reply to post by dragonridr

 

The person in question in this issue was not a combatant of any sorts. He was an innocent civilian (as were many others) who had gone to visit his family in Pakistan. One Uk citizen is actually blind in one eye now due to his torture and he travels around the uk giving talks on what happened to him. Its the sort of behaviour we only come to expect from the very regimes we are supposed to be stopping. Surely there can be no excuse for this...the way that particular system works is very wrong.

Im not sure where you got your information from but what he stated in court documents was quite different

According to Mr Mohamed, he wanted to kick a drug habit and get away from familiar haunts in London.

He says that he also wanted to see whether Tale ban-run Afghanistan was a good Islamic country - a path followed by other young Muslim men who were fascinated by events in that war-torn region.

So was an Ethiopian moved to London a year later converted to Islam then decides to go to Afghanistan one of the largest drug producing countries in the world to get clean. But wait doesn't stop there!

Then the reason he hung out with the tali ban was to see if they were good Muslims Boy people believe anything now a days. Id bet he did work in orphanages while he was there too huh?

I was tortured in 2 different US jails for four months, then dumped at Heathrow, no charges....I lost everything i worked for for 20 years....

and no lawyer will touch my case. I am not a christian or a muslim or anything else, just someone who had applied for their greencard and waited an extraordinary length of time for resolution, like millions of others to moved to america for a better life....all the while contributing to the tax and social system there, financially.

They are doing this rampantly, yet with any govt the madness is that they spent probably at least half a million dollars, more than I could make in 20, to do this to me.

Here in the UK I cant get any lawyer to help me....at all.
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