Torturing Questions
News today that members of Congress, including Nancy Pelosi, failed to protest when they were briefed about waterboarding and other harsh techniques of interrogation five years ago recalls the disturbing Milgram experiments of the 1960s.
A Yale professor wanted to find out how much pain people would inflict on others for what they believed to be a good cause.
“Stark authority was pitted against the subjects’ strongest moral imperatives against hurting others,” Prof. Stanley Milgram reported, “and, with the subjects’ ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.”
We still don’t know the answer to that question, which was originally raised in an effort to see behind the Eichmann defense for Nazi atrocities during World War War II, “I was only following orders.” But we should keep trying to find out.
Today’s revelation about waterboarding further underscores how dicey individual morality can become under social pressure. According to the Washington Post, “officials present during the meetings described the reaction as mostly quiet acquiescence, if not outright support.
“‘Among those being briefed, there was a pretty full understanding of what the CIA was doing,’ said [Porter] Goss, who chaired the House intelligence committee from 1997 to 2004 and then served as CIA director from 2004 to 2006. ‘And the reaction in the room was not just approval, but encouragement.’”
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3 Responses to “Torturing Questions”
News today that members of Congress, including Nancy Pelosi, failed to protest when they were briefed about waterboarding and other harsh techniques of interrogation five years ago recalls the disturbing Milgram experiments of the 1960s.
Rather stinging indictment isn’t it? When the rest of the left was screaming bloody murder at this. When the democrats jumped ship and became antiwar. When Pelosi promised us the most ethical congress in history I constantly kept repeating my Mantra.
“Buh…buh….but they knew.” They were complicit. They agreed to what Bush was doing. They gave him permission. They said Go for it.” Over and over the facts kept coming to light but the democrats in their Teflon suits just deflected the blame to a Gung Ho Cowboy named George W. Bush.
They became antiwar. For one reason. To grab power and “BE ETHICAL?????????????” I dont think so. They backstabbed not only Bush and the Republicans but THIS country as well.
George Tenet the Bill Clinton CIA director who I believe was and is a good man…..Said it……”we told them…..we briefed them……….WE ASKED THEM FOR PERMISSION TO KEEP GOING……and they gave it.”
It is why the democrats have remained silent on it. Its why when the NSA wiretaps broke there was almost nothing coming from the democrat side….Because they knew…………WE AUTHORIZED THIS.
The great Oberfuhrer, King, Emerpor, Fuhrer, FASCIST, Christian NEOCON GWB was left as the scape goat because the Dems were more interested in power then in doing the right thing.
He continued as the RATS jumped ship. That perhaps is his biggest downfall. THEY empowered him with the believe he was doing the right thing and then pulled the rug from under his feet and laughed as he hit the ground. HARD.
And that facts is why I jumped ship. I was a democrat for many, many years but their behavior in all this had me embarrassed about ever being a member of the democratic party.
The final straw in a long line of straws for me was the day Harry Reid Proclaimed “The war is lost”. The next day I was at the courthouse changing my registration from Democrat to Republican in protest to the multitude of lies coming from the Democrats mouths all for one single solitary reason…………..POWER.
Power (and its exercise) is definitely at “work” here. Do you remember the Social Security farce? The Democrats offered no alternative to Bush’s plan, instead choosing do nothing at all, simply to be obstructionist — and to attack and defeat Bush.