Opinion: Obama news conference: ‘Waterboarding is torture’
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In answer to a question about waterboarding and whether it violates the Geneva Conventions, Obama is unequivocal: “Waterboarding is torture.”
He adds: “Waterboarding violates our ideals and our values. I do believe it’s torture. That is not just my opinion; it’s the opinion of many who have examined the topic.”
He offers a history lesson to bolster his view:
We could have gotten information in ways that are consistent with our values, with who we are. I was struck by an article I was reading the other day; the British in World War II when London was being bombed to smithereens … Churchill said, we don’t torture. When the entire British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat, and the reason was that Churchill understood: you start taking short cuts over time that erodes what’s best in the people, it erodes the character of a country. I strongly believe the steps that we’ve taken to prevent these kinds of enhanced interrogations techniques will … make us stronger over the long term. Part of what makes us still a beacon to the world is that we are willing to hold true to our ideals even when it’s hard, not just when it’s easy. At the same time it takes away a critical recruitment tool that Al Quaeda has used to try to demonize the United States and justify killing civilians.
-- Robin Abcarian
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