Back Tracking on "Torture Policymakers"

Today, President Obama executed some fancy footwork as he backed off a statement made by his Chief of Staff on the Sunday talk shows. Originally, Rahm Emmanuel said the President was not interested in prosecuting the former Justice Department lawyers who defined "torture" for the Bush administration. This morning, the President says "well, whether we prosecute these people is up to the Attorney General...yada yada yada."

I'm interested in what law says that it is illegal to draft a legal opinion for the President. Who wants to work on that white paper now? Anyone? Can we stretch this logic and prosecute idiot lawmakers for passing what becomes "bad legislation" in hind sight? Oooooh pah-lease! Can we prosecute the Congress and the President's economic advisors for larceny? They're stealing money from hard working Americans to blow it on earmarks and pet projects.

My position on the "torture" techniques used on Abu ZipDideeDoDaa and Khalid Sheik Bedhead (do you remember that great picture of him in his tighty-whities with his hands zipped tied behind his back?) remains, what is good enough for our troops is more than good enough for the terrorists. Several hundred military pilots and aircrewmen are waterboarded at SERE School(Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) after being denied sleep and placed in stress positions for hours or even days.

Psychologists say the conditions that our troops experience at SERE school are not the same as what terrorists face, that there is a way out of SERE school at the end. I find a different opinion. SERE school is a requirement for these pilots if they want to remain pilots. You can opt out, but you have to find another career in the military. Is that really a choice?

If you talk to guys who have been to SERE school, they will tell you how real it felt. They are so tired and hungry that its hard to remember what is real and what is training. My friend Scooter (name withheld to protect the guilty) described having strong hallucinations. This is serious training folks.

I would like to talk to a doubting psychologist who experience SERE school tell us what they think after going through it first hand. Because there is no experience like first hand experience.

Do I see a problem with waterboarding KSM 180 times? No. In fact, the high number illustrates how fanatical these terrorists are. I would talk a lot sooner than, maybe after the 10th waterboarding. At that point, why fight it. Everyone breaks eventually.