It Depends On Who Does It

(Here is link for more information on this picture and waterboarding.)

Rudy Giuliani finally, in a clear, succinct manner, answered a question that explains why it's ok to take away habeas corpus, civil liberties, spy on Americans, eavesdrop, torture, invade, nation build, pre-emptive wars, etc, etc, etc.
He said, "It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it." Read the whole article from the New York Times here.

There will be a firestorm over this comment. There already is:

Laws Are for Other People

Whether he intended to or not, at a town meeting in Iowa last night Rudy Giuliani offered what may be the most honest defense of torture I've seen from an American politician. It is also, of course, a deeply immoral one. Asked whether waterboarding constituted torture, he replied:

It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it.

What the United States is doing isn't torture because it's the United States doing it. I suspect this is the way a lot of torture apologists feel, but give Giuliani credit for being (I think) the first to come out and say it.

--Christopher Orr

And this from Alex Massie

October 25, 2007
The Indefensible in Support of the Unspeakable
Rudy Giuliani in Iowa:

Asked at a community meeting here whether he considered waterboarding torture, Mr. Giuliani said: “It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it.”

I think what that means is that if the Iranians were to waterboard a captured US pilot it would be torture but if the Americans were to waterboard a captured Iranian intelligence officer it would not. Such is the moral clarity of our times.

And Andrew Sullivan posts this:

Giuliani On Waterboarding
25 Oct 2007 02:55 pm

He tells the truth about what Bush and Cheney believe. Asked in Iowa last night whether he believed that waterboarding was torture, he replied:

It depends on who does it.
If the Khmer Rouge does it, it's torture. If the United States does it, it's not. This man cannot be allowed to be president of the United States. He believes that the United States is above morals and the president of the United States is above the law. He is a tyrant to the depths of his being.

I can't help but feel that Bush and Cheney have the same opinion as Giuliani.

The death of habeas corpus.

More on waterboarding here.