Jesse Ventura's take on torture

[USRufnex]

Jesse Ventura on Larry King Live 5/11/09

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/jesse-ventura-you-give-me-water-board-dick

VENTURA: ... he's the worst president in my lifetime. So Barack Obama, President Obama inherited something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. You know? Two wars, an economy that's borderline depression. So it's far too early to judge him 100 days in. I think if you have me back about two years from now, I can give you a much better of how he's doing.

VENTURA: (on waterboarding) It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

KING: Even though you know it's not going to happen -- even though before it, you know you're not going to drown.

VENTURA: You don't know it. If it's -- if it's done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. You could do a whole bunch of stuff. If it's it done wrong or -- it's torture, Larry. It's torture.

VENTURA: I don't have a lot of respect for Dick Cheney. Here's a guy who got five deferments from the Vietnam War. Clearly, he's a coward. He wouldn't go when it was his time to go. And now he is a chicken hawk. Now he is this big tough guy who wants this hardcore policy. And he's the guy that sanctioned all this torture by calling it enhanced interrogation.

[Hoss]

 I addressed this as a reply here

But yeah, I'd listen to him over Cheney or other non-military types.  Especially since he went through the SERE training and knows what it feels like.

[Townsend]

and...AND...

Who's got time to bleed?  He ain't got time to bleed.

[Conan71]

So, this guy is the new foreign policy whiz?

[rwarn17588]

I'm not inclined to mock a former Navy SEAL. Those guys could kill you with an eyebrow.

[guido911]

So, this guy is the new foreign policy whiz?

awesome pic.

I wonder what these folks' take on torture would be had we had someone in custody that had information about the impending 9/11 attacks:



Or how about a little closer to home:



Tell me again about how horrible waterboarding and caterpillering someone is?

[Conan71]

I'm not inclined to mock a former Navy SEAL. Those guys could kill you with an eyebrow.

I don't have to mock him, he does that well enough himself.  Actually he was a UDT, not a SEAL.

[Hoss]

I don't have to mock him, he does that well enough himself.  Actually he was a UDT, not a SEAL.

True, but UDT's are allowed to use SEAL as a title by Navy edict because of the fact that the UDT's were actually a historical precursor to the SEALs but there was some overlap.  UDTs were discontinued in 1983 but started in WWII.  SEAL teams started in 1962.

[YoungTulsan]

Ventura's point, which he specifically stated during that Larry King interview, was that waterboarding and torture doesn't work because people will say anything to make the torture stop.

If you are being tortured, you will say what you think they want to hear in order to make them stop.  Hence, his claim he could make Cheney confess to some murder he obviously had nothing to do with.

Guido, do you presume to know the opinions of 9/11 or Murrah building victims?

[Hawkins]

Can we get him to move to Oklahoma?

Maybe get him to run against Inhofe?

I know that would be like replacing Odie the dog with T.R., but hey, I can dream, can't I?

[Breadburner]

Troofer+Professional Wrestler= No Credibility....

[Hoss]

Troofer+Professional Wrestler= No Credibility....

I'd give him a helluva lot more credibility than 'Dick' Cheney....when has 'Dick' ever submitted to the SERE?

Never?

You neocons never cease to amaze me.

[tim huntzinger]

Intent is the key.  Whether or not the prisoners are uniformed members of a signatory to the GC is also key.

[guido911]

Guido, do you presume to know the opinions of 9/11 or Murrah building victims?

I have to presume...they are freakin dead.  FAIL.

[Conan71]

I'd give him a helluva lot more credibility than 'Dick' Cheney....when has 'Dick' ever submitted to the SERE?

Never?

You neocons never cease to amaze me.

I wouldn't put that much weight on the opinions of someone who A) mis-stated or over-stated his SEALs career according to others who were in the service with him.  (Oh no! Conan is Swift-boating "The Body")  B) Has never participated in a national security briefing.  I'm quite well aware of the UDT lineage.  It sounds better for him to say he was a SEAL than a frog.  I'm not disparaging his service to the country, I appreciate he served, but saying someone who served in the SEALs or other special ops 40 years ago gives them more credibility than a VP who has been out of office for 3 months is total moronic BS.

I suspect we've gained quite a bit of information from "torture" that has kept us safe than we will ever be allowed to know.  Playing political football with interrogation methods that protect our national security interests is bed-wetting at it's absolute worst.

We've got far bigger problems in the country right now than worrying about a few hundred asshat renegades being water-boarded.  Why are we taking a limp-wristed approach to national security interests?