New York State Senator Greg Ball (R) took little time after the Boston bombing to call for the torture of 19-year-old Dzokhar Tsarnaev. Ball went to Twitter to call for the teenager to be tortured in the name of all of the values we hold dear as Americans.
Ball sent out a tweet stating “So, scum bag #2 in custody. Who wouldn’t use torture on this punk to save more lives?” It is the new normal in America. Ball feels entirely comfortable in speaking of torture in the most casual terms. It also shows how torture is always the answer since you cannot say for sure that there are not more bombs after an attack.
Later, Ball dismissed notions that torture (which is a federal crime and a violation of international law) is wrong: “If people find that offensive, they’re going to have to check their own conscience,” he reportedly said.
Later his office issued a statement:
“Terrorists play by a different set of rules by manipulating the greatest strengths of our open society against us. One of the questions to be asked is this: is “torture” ever justified in the war against terror, if it can save lives? I am not shy in joining those who say yes, and I believe we must give those tasked with protecting us every constitutional and effective tool to do so.”
“Every constitutional and effective tool” for Ball includes a tool long defined as a war crime. I have previously written about the corruption of American values on torture.
The willingness of politicians like Ball to embrace torture is a product not simply of the Bush Administration’s legitimation of torture but the Obama Administration’s refusal to prosecute anyone for torture. As I have written before (here and here), the Obama Administration has destroyed some of the core Nuremberg principles, particularly in its revisal of the “superior orders defense” to excuse U.S. officials. The failure to prosecute has allowed those who ordered the torture program to continue to speak out in favor of torture. It has destroyed any credibility of the United States in demanding prosecutions in other countries and given support for politicians like Ball to rally supporters behind a banner of torture.
Ball’s bio states that he “grew up on the family estate of Stephen and Jean Kennedy-Smith, sister of President John F. Kennedy, where his parents were both caretakers. He is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security, and Military Affairs.” He is a graduate of United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) and is currently completing his Thesis for his Master’s of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in International Affairs from Georgetown University.
Source: Raw Story
I think Senator Ball will like this one…
A suggestion for how to torture Tsarneav or Umarov… From Tony Scott’s movie “Man on Fire (2004)” – ex CIA Contractor (i.e. “mechanic”) Creasey (played by Denzel Washington) inserts a 5m low-level explosive suppository in a corrupt Mexican cop’s wazoo. Creasey sets his DS&T supplied R/C digital watch to 40s. He tells the cop what is going to happen next.
The corrupt cop begs Creasy “One last wish, please, please, PLEASE!”. Creasy responds while walking away at around 2 seconds left: “Last wish? I wish you had more time…” b-o-o-m! (of course the cop gave up some actionable intel BEFORE this)… 🙂
@Blouise – I love all of the Scott brothers films. I’m watching *Kingdom of Heaven (2005)* right now while I’m typing:
http://megashare.info/watch-kingdom-of-heaven-online-TWpBMw
The music alone is awesome, even in Spy Game (2001) too. The music scores are by Harry Gregson-Williams. “My Name is Tom” is simply mesmerizing, especially the Gregorian chant near the end. Can’t tell if the language is Latin or Gaelic. But is quite beautiful. Its in the scene where Brad Pitt (Tom Bishop) meets Catherine McCormack (Elizabeth Hadley).
I remember the Redford/ Pitt movie. In fact, just rewatched it recently.
“If most of his alphabet soup characters are FBI why send it to the CIA?” (chuckle)
I just figured out WHY Joe Weisberg isn’t writing in more CIA (and maybe NSA) roles in his Cold War TV Show *The Americans (2013)*. The NY Times article I cited above said he is sending EVERYTHING to Langley (CIA) for full vetting. I think the unofficial nickname is Operation Hollywood. If most of his alphabet soup characters are FBI why send it to the CIA?
I get your angst but you need to read a great book from a CIA officer assigned to the Ben Laden desk. He says we (USA) hands are not clean either. Sen Ball’s comments are reprehensible. However, the bad guys are just as human as you are. Before passing judgement try and not use so much hubris and see what their issue(s) were. Being a knee-jerk American is just another “ugly American” trait.
The book is: Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror by Michael Scheuer.
@Blouise – The article says Joe was a CIA Case Officer. That means he was with Directorate of Operations (DO) aka National Clandestine Service (NCS). If you want to see a great movie that depicts what a CIA Case Officer does in the field and the total B.S. that goes along with it, then watch this Robert Redford/Brad Pitt movie online for free right here: http://tinyurl.com/c9t8abw
I love this movie but it can be depressing. It’s over 2 hours long. Their technical adviser was ex-DEA agent Don Ferrarone. But the director was Tony Scott. The British guy who jumped off the bridge in San Pedro CA last year.
What an embarrassment to America to have an elected official representing the greatest country on earth make a statement that Hitler would have said about the people he exterminated. Shameful. Reading the vast majority of comments make me realize that as a country we are above such horror and justification. Does this mean I do not think every terrorist should be blown off the face of the earth….of course not. They are sub-human and should not exist!
@Blouise –
“The Dark Stuff, Distilled
As head writer for “The Americans,” Joseph Weisberg makes good use of his time in the C.I.A.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/fashion/joseph-weisberg-uses-his-cia-time-in-the-americans.html?smid=pl-share
Blouise – April 25, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Here ya go:
Joseph Weisberg is a former CIA officer who grew up in Chicago and currently lives in New York City.
Well, CIA … that explains the unsympathetic characterization of FBI Agent Beeman
Very good Blouise! I would have never figured Joe for a spook… Yes that does explain a lot. The agency people refer to FBI as Phoebe or FeeBee in a quasi-derogatory way. I don’t think the agency feels too sympathetic about Hansen and TRW’s Christopher Boyce (who’s dad was FBI). But they had Ames (et al) so they really can’t talk.
Watch episodes of The Americans (2013) right here:
http://vod.fxnetworks.com/watch/theamericans/25241155620
Here ya go:
Joseph Weisberg is a former CIA officer who grew up in Chicago and currently lives in New York City.
Well, CIA … that explains the unsympathetic characterization of FBI Agent Beeman 😉
You and I think alike. As I was just reading my NY Times link about the 2010 Russian spies I started thinking the same thing as you. We need to OSINT data-mine this Joseph Weisberg (creator of The Americans) a little huh? He must have an interesting back-story? (LOL)
Interesting article from NYTIMES about Tsarnaev parents (who are American ex-patriots now) and the alleged idea that FBI & CIA screwed up. Also speaks to Russian FSB/SVR dummying up about Tsarnaev’s radicalization by Umarov (i.e. Caucasus Emirates terrorist group – extremist Chechan Muslim group)
http://nyti.ms/Y6Q1ej
sonofthunderboanerges,
re the NYTimes link
I wonder if that’s where writers got the idea for the series.
@Blouise – Here is a REAL life “The Americans (2013)” circa 2010 only three years ago!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/europe/29spy.html?_r=0
Am I hearing things right or what? I just heard that Dzokhar Tsarnaev ADMITTED to his involvement BEFORE being Mirandized by FBI??? WTH is going on here? They now can’t use ANY of that testimony in court. With Jay Carney’s totally F’d up remarks the other day and now this fakakta B.S. What are they trying to sabotage the case against Dzokhar? And why? I wonder what AG Eric Holder is saying right now.
Yeah Noah is a good actor. I wonder if Joseph Weisberg is going to work him into a FBI agent Robert Philip Hansen character. Not sure but the plot-line seems vaguely similar. I’d sure like to see if they work in Nosenko, Golitsyn, and Kalugin (a few very notable KGB defectors – out of many).
To show you that the Cold War spy games have not ended yet just Google: Stanislav Borisovich Grusev. Albeit, it was 14 years ago I assure you Putin’s men & women are still busy little beavers. However, not as busy as another so-called “friendly” young nation does to US.
Oh no I’m not on the TWL (I hope). I meant the NFL. I heard the late Sen Ted Kennedy got on a NFL and didn’t care who he said he was. But that’s the TSA falks for ya’!
I haven’t flown in a while; I think the last aircraft I was on was an old Bell helicopter back a few years ago. Then I stepped foot on a Black Hawk once but we never took off. Last time I was on a commercial flight was to San Diego pre-9/11. Since then I drive or take the bus. I like trains but haven’t been on one of them for awhile either.
I’ve got one of those John Smith kinda’ names so I must be on their somewhere. I just hope that if I have to fly again there’s someway to prove I’m not THAT John Smith…
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BTW – thanks for the link to the 3 murdered druggies. However, I don’t think Tsarnaev did it. It looks like something Whitey Bulger might have ordered. I mean the hitter left a load of marijuana and $5 grand behind. I don’t think Tsarnaev would have left that behind. Sounds like a message was being sent out by some kingpin. Anyway, wasn’t Tsarnaev in Russia at that time?
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Hey now I see the Tsarnaev parents are in Russia? What gives? I thought they became naturalized US citizens a couple of years ago. And then go BACK to Russia? WTF?
I’ve known both. I knew this old Belgian concentration camp guard who worked for a photo dept at a department store. He went AWHOL to the Russians (stole a uniform) then onto to the Allied lines to defect to the Americans. And I’ve known a few survivors too. I told one of them about the old guy and she was not very happy about my story.
What gets me about The Americans (2013) is that they show the FBI involvement in that Cold War mess of that time period (1980’s) but they show very little CIA and NSA involvement which was much more intense then the FBI’s. What tickles me is that John Boy’s part (Richard Thomas) as Bill Webster. Boy do they seem alike. Bill is now our Homeland Security Advisory Council chairman. He was DCI once too just after FBI.