Americans voted for Change

[OneFootInTheGrave]

And change it is!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/23/obama-rendition-torture

Barack Obama embarked on the wholesale deconstruction of George Bush's war on terror, shutting down the CIA's secret prison network, banning torture and rendition, and calling for a new set of rules for detainees. The repudiation of Bush's thinking on national security yesterday also saw the appointment of a high-powered envoy to the Middle East.

Obama's decision to permanently shut down the CIA's clandestine interrogation centres went far beyond the widely anticipated move to wind down the Guantánamo Bay detention centre within a year.

He cast his scrapping of the legal apparatus set up by Bush as a way for America to reclaim the moral high ground in the fight against al-Qaida.

"We are not, as I said during the inauguration, going to continue with the false choice between our safety and our ideals," Obama said at the signing ceremony. "We intend to win this fight. We are going to win it on our own terms."

this is what is so great about the US, after 8 years of buffoon president, you elect someone who means business and three days later WOW!

This is FAST... and impressive...

let's hope that someone does not whack him any time soon, as his start is almost too good to be true... feels like fall of communism a bit.

[Elok]

When torture is outlawed, only outlaws will torture.

[Boris Godunov]

And we also got the absolutely clear statement from his AG nominee that waterboarding is torture, and Obama prohibited it.

How any moral person could see it otherwise is beyond me.

[Wiglaf]

It'll take another 9/11 to rain on this love fest and restore Bush's legacy. Why do people need to be woken up every seven years. I hope your highly gay "Pride in america" is worth another 3,000 lives

[notyoueither]

When torture is outlawed, only outlaws will torture.

So where do you think the CIA will move the operation?

[SlowwHand]

Europe, as has been said, assuming there are takers.

[Wiglaf]

MY BACKYARD :grr: :Gruff: issedof: :hardass :

[Pekka]

Surely Europe takes people to torture. I think one of the biggest myths is that there is no torture in Europe. It's not a myth anymore though... or that there is more than one country willing to do it, and that almost every single country allows the usage of their land/air to transport people for torture.

So no, Europe really has no moral high ground. That is the pinnacle of naivete. At least it gets talked about when it happens by US, but when it happens in here, it's hush hush or "yeah well but it's the easties...". Sure... what ever makes the recipe for a good night sleep.

[Naked Gents Rut]

I guess this means America is going to go back to good old extraordinary rendition, like in the Clinton years. Sucks for the terrorists who are going to get their fingernails pulled out in Egypt rather than being sleep deprived by the CIA in Romania, but Obama had to throw his base a bone.

[DaShi]

More of the same.

[Elok]

I guess this means America is going to go back to good old extraordinary rendition, like in the Clinton years. Sucks for the terrorists who are going to get their fingernails pulled out in Egypt rather than being sleep deprived by the CIA in Romania, but Obama had to throw his base a bone.

Do you mean to tell us that Obama has just outsourced American jobs during a recession?

No, wait, I meant Why the hell would he want to torture anyone, when these past several years have seen a barrage of veteran interrogators writing "it's not just immoral, it's counterproductive and therefore stupid as a means of extracting information" op-eds?

[SlowwHand]

Not more of the same. According to NGR's theory, there will be banging on the doors of Guantanamo to get back in. OOPS, that's right, nobody home.

[DaShi]

And there will be a terrorist attack! Texas? Nope, already self-destructed.

[SlowwHand]

Another brain-fart, DaShi? Other than that, yes indeed, there will be an attack. I would bet it. Want to bet?
Put your money where your mouth is?

[Naked Gents Rut]

Why the hell would he want to torture anyone, when these past several years have seen a barrage of veteran interrogators writing "it's not just immoral, it's counterproductive and therefore stupid as a means of extracting information" op-eds?

Why did Clinton approve extraordinary rendition? And Bush? And Reagan? The fact that people think they understand effective interrogation techniques because they read an op-ed in the New York Times is incredibly annoying...