As others have noted, if that “imminence” business shows anything, it’s that George Bush is incredibly careful with what he says. With that in mind, here’s some week-old news:
Mr Bush rejected claims that torture is being used in the terrorist detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, where Australians David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib are in their second year of imprisonment.
“No, of course not – we don’t torture people in America, and people who make that claim just don’t know anything about our country,” he said.
Incidentally, the reason US courts lack the jurisdiction to review the detention of Hicks and Habib is that Guantanamo Bay is “outside the sovereign territory of the United States“.
Roop,
Actually Bush might be being even more cute than you’re suggesting. It’s sometimes claimed that what the Americans are actually doing, at least with important captured terrorists, is allowing them to be kept for a time in the formal custody of a third world regime where torture is the norm and legal and practical protections against it non-existent. They’re only conveyed to Camp X-Ray after the most critical information has been extracted, whether under torture or otherwise. For example, alleged JI mastermind Hambali was recently captured in Thailand (I think). It might be instructive to know where he was detained thereafter.
What can I say, Bush wouldn’t know what his people are or aren’t doing. The Plame Game is a prime example. ’nuff said.
Roop and Ken
You two should be ashamed of yourselves. The United States government would never allow anyone to be tortured, either directly or by proxy.
To suggest that they would is nothing but disgraceful anti-Americanism. It’s the sort of thing that Margo would say.
If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go live in North Korea?
God bless America.
They should just do what they did in WW2 to enemy agents: catch them, extract the information from them, then take them down a back alley and blow their fucking brains out.
“They should just do what they did in WW2 to enemy agents …”
The “theys” who did this in WW2, were Hitler’s Gestapo and Stalin’s NKVD.
Now there are some role models for us to emulate!
who’s threatening western civilisation again?
C’mon, Dave, WWII provides more role models than those two.
Oooh, feel that? These blackshirts are made of beautiful material…
Nice point re the Gestapo and NKVD. I can’t resist adding that one of the most successful Britisdh Intelligence operations of WWII involved catching them, extracting the information from them, then turning them into double agents to feed false intelligence back to the German High Command.
Mark,
“Oooh, feel that? These blackshirts are made of beautiful material…”
They ought to be, bud — they’re Hugo Boss after all.
http://www.thethirdrail.com/hugo/news.htm
[Apologies for the URL, I have no idea how to make links.]
“George Bush is incredibly careful with what he says.”
First time I’ve ever heard someone say that.