A Torturous Consciousness Raising

[Anasazi]

John McCain came up in polite conversation today and with American hostages presently in the hands of Iraqi militants and in full view of all the world (not excepting Al Jazeera) continued his pious crusade to shame America into giving up it's dispicable and heinousl addiction to the vicious abuse of helpless prisoners.

You're not just a Senator John, you're a saint ! God Bless you.



McCain Feeds Enemy Torture Propaganda

December 8, 2005



RUSH: All right, I just got a story here from our buddies at Newsmax, and I have to tell you I'm frustrated. I'm angry about this and I'm going to try to maintain my composure as I go through this. "Sen. John McCain claimed Wednesday that the U.S. is still torturing terrorist detainees, even as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits with European leaders to assure them that the practice is banned under U.S. law." McCain was on the radio yesterday saying, "We've got to stop this torture. If you torture somebody, they're going to tell you what they think you want to know in order to make the pain stop." Well, McCain himself once admitted that torture worked on him. He gave up more than his name, rank and serial number when he was in the Hanoi Hilton. "The maverick Republican senator said, 'The US can't win the propaganda war if people believe throughout the world that you are practicing cruel, inhuman, degrading mistreatment or torture on the people that you capture.'" Well, who is creating the notion that this is happening, senator? Democrats and you! Democrats and you are the ones that perpetuate the notion that we torture.

We've got the secretary of state running around the world telling people it's against the law; we don't do it. You're out there saying, "We've got to stop the torture." He said, "Right now we have prisons apparently set up in different places in the world where we're keeping people for years." Meanwhile, Dr. Rice said the US does not condone torture (story). She told a German audience this on Tuesday, "It's against US law to be involved in torture or conspiracy to commit torture and is also against US international obligations, and the president's made it very clear that US personnel will operate within US law and within our international obligations." Now, let me ask you a question, folks. Here you've got McCain running around -- and you know what this reminds me of? The same way he was running around heading up campaign finance reform. He was talking constantly about a broken campaign system. "We have to get the money out of politics! Money is polluting Washington, DC! It's corrupting decent men and women. It's the money that's the problem and we've got to get it out!"

He kept the drumbeat up; the media loved it, and he's now singing their song on this torture business while the secretary of state is running around trying to assure eastern and other European leaders that it's not happening. Now, my question is this. How is constantly accusing our government of torturing any different in terms of undermining the war mission than saying we can't win this war? How is what McCain is doing substantively different with what Howard Dean is doing? Howard Dean is out there saying we can't win the war. Our troops can't win it; we have no chance at winning the war. Senator McCain is out there saying we don't deserve to win the war. We're torturing people. We're not good people. You put these two together, and you feed right into the enemy's own propaganda. If it's the policy of the United States to torture, then those who make the claim -- including Senator McCain -- I think have a duty to the American people to put their case before the nation. If he's going to go on the radio and say, "We've gotta stop this torture," tell us where it's happening! Give us all the evidence. Make the case, if you're going to accuse the country of doing this, when you say "we."

"We've got to stop all this torture."


This reminds me, as I said, of McCain and his sky-is-falling arguments that led to the campaign finance reform disaster. What's going to happen is there will be this push to act because all this urgency is being created: "We're torturing. We're torturing!" Rice is running around saying, "We're not torturing," but McCain knows! Maverick John McCain says, "We've got to stop this torture, sailor! We've got to stop it. Stop it, see?" So everybody says, "Oh, we've got to be torturing, because McCain says it!" He'll be on Chris Matthews, he'll be on all the cable shows and the whole subject of torture will become the image of US Armed Forces, right? Just what Dick Durbin was trying to do with his comments about what went on in Abu Ghraib, just what Senator Kennedy has been trying to do. Just what any number of Democrats have been trying to do, and here is McCain feeding that beast. I'm telling you it is degrading to our men and women in uniform to buy into this terrorist propaganda about us committing torture and then passing a law based on this crap. We are stopping everything to pass a law based on torture. We're not going to torture when it's already against the law. All it does is heighten the focus on this as supposedly commonplace.

Now, if you talk to an ex-POW, Congressman Sam Johnson from Texas, he disagrees totally with McCain. I'm going to tell you something. Folks, if Howard Dean were running around saying this, we would be beating the hell out of him. If it were Howard Dean running around saying, "We've got to stop this torture," you know damn well that we would be all over his case. But somehow with McCain running around saying it, "Hmm, it's Maverick John McCain, Senator McCain!" Well, I'll tell you what. We have a guy that's every bit the hero that McCain is. His name is Sam Johnson. He, too, is an ex-POW. He had a story yesterday from the Dallas Morning News. "As an abused POW, Senator McCain knows what torture is, but so does a maimed Texas congressman who is afraid that McCain's bid to ban torture will only aid the nation's enemies. With the moral authority of a former prisoner of war, Senator McCain is pushing to ban torture. Now one of his former cell mates in the Hanoi Hilton, Representative Sam Johnson, whose mangled hand gives testament to the horrors he endured after being shot down in Vietnam, is working to block the measure.

"Johnson is also a Republican. He circulated the letter to colleagues arguing that the McCain proposal which sailed through the Senate 90-9 would needlessly hamper counterterrorism efforts, a stance that has surprised human rights advocates. Mark Ensalaco, director of the international studies and human rights program at the University of Dayton said, 'I can't imagine what he's thinking. America should never do to anyone even our worst enemies what the Vietnamese did to McCain and Sam Johnson.'" Some guy from Human Rights Watch said that. "Johnson defended his position after avoiding requests for two weeks to explain his views on the McCain proposal, which he called 'well intentioned but unnecessary and potentially dangerous.' He said, 'I feel very strongly about this because I know what torture is. Torture is already against the law, and John's proposal doesn't make it any more illegal.'" You know, it's sort of like hate crimes. We've already got crimes against these crimes, and then you add, "That's a hate crime." So we're going to take what is already a bad thing, and we're going to make it even worse because of the attitude that accompanied it.

So if you hated somebody when you were robbing a bank, if you hated somebody when you did whatever you did, we're really going to hammer you, pal, because we're going to penalize your attitude, we're going to call it a hate crime. Well, that's what Johnson says this is. Torture is already against the law. McCain's proposal doesn't make it any more illegal. Now, who is Sam Johnson? Well, you don't hear about him because he's not a media darling. He spent seven years as a prisoner of war. He left the service with two Silver Stars, three Purple Hearts, Flying Ace, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and a Bronze Star. "He argued that federal law already bans torture, and the proposed language which also rules out cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign prisoners, would arm enemy fighters with tips for withstanding interrogation. He said, 'I'm afraid John's proposal will drastically diminish our ability to gather intelligence.' It rules out cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of foreign prisoners."

I look at all this, and I tell you, if it were Howard Dean saying what McCain is out there saying, we would be pummeling the guy. It just feeds this notion that we are the barbarians. We just had an American hostage killed today, claimed to have been killed today by some Iraqi terrorist group. Now, what are we doing? We're sitting around debating how we treat people! We're not debating it. We have a senator out there saying it's true, it's conclusive: we torture people and we've got to stop it -- and the natural extension or conclusion of this is, "Well, we're losing these people. They're being beheaded and they're being slaughtered and they're being executed precisely because of our torture," and that's just flat-out wrong. Americans have been killed. Americans have been mass murdered, other innocent people around the world have been blown up and destroyed by these people long before torture ever became part of the public lexicon, yet that's what's going to be said.

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RUSH: I'm not through with this torture business here. There's something about this that just grates on me. Going on the radio and saying, "We've gotta stop this torture." Well, prove it. Where is it? I want to see where all this torture is. I want to see where it is the signature procedure of US prison operations. I want to see where that is written. I want to see where this happens, because McCain is out there saying this. Everybody, as long as this goes on, as it keeps going on, people are just going to accept it, because he's Maverick John McCain -- and what he's doing out there, he's using left-wing and enemy propaganda. This is exactly what the Abu Ghraib people are saying. This is exactly what the Al-Qaeda people are saying. They're trained that, "If captured, claim you're being tortured. Claim the Koran is being flushed down the toilet. Claim this." So we have enemy propaganda, American left-wing propaganda being echoed here, and what is it? "Our armed forces are being accused of torture." For what? To do what? Curry favor with the left! To curry favor with the Europeans! What's the point of this? From McCain's perspective, what's he trying to do? He's obviously trying to curry favor with somebody here.

This is obviously oriented toward his presidential aspirations. It's to curry favor with the media. He does consider them to be his base. It's to curry favor with the Europeans. This is not how you set war policy and interrogation policy. You know, we need to see all the evidence that we're authorizing the torture of people. I want it defined, as opposed to "aggressive interrogation." You know, what are we talking about here? Let's have it specifically defined, and let's see evidence of where it's happening -- and don't tell me Abu Ghraib, and don't tell me Club G'itmo. Abu Ghraib, that was punished under existing law. The system worked there. That was not "torture." I don't care what anybody says about it, that was not torture. It was illegal under military law, but it was not torture! It might have been humiliation; it might have been demeaning, but it wasn't torture. So Abu Ghraib is not an apt example. What we need, if we're going to have a US senator who has presidential perspirations running around saying, "We've got to stop the torture," well, we need to know what it is.

We need examples of where our brave men and women fighting this war are torturing, and we want to know how McCain's amendment will change anything towards stopping it. Otherwise, it just looks like a media stunt to me -- and it's the same kind of buildup that led up to campaign finance reform, and what did we get from that? We got restrictions on the First Amendment! We got more money in politics -- and again, I'm just telling you, if it were Howard Dean saying all this, he would be being creamed. We would be pummeling Howard. You've got Sam Johnson -- POW, Hanoi Hilton -- trying to say, "This is a bad idea; it's going to end up hampering our efforts." Nobody is listening to him. It's understandable

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Final Part -

How about this new president of Iran? He says Israel should be moved to Europe? Move Israel to Europe, and there was no holocaust. He says, "Now that you believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price? Why did you come to give a piece of Islamic land and the territory of the Palestinian people to them? You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want. We would support that." Just get 'em outta here. "So Germany and Austria, come and give one, two, or any number of your provinces to the Zionist regime so they can create a country there, which all of Europe will support and the problem will be solved at its root. Why do they insist on imposing themselves on other powers and creating a tumor so that there's always tension and conflict?" And he went on to express doubts about the holocaust, saying anybody who comes up with evidence it didn't happen is destroyed. So this is the guy, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, good old Mohammed ElBaradei, they are, what, months away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon. Now, good old CIA said not long ago, "Don't worry about Iran, they're ten years away." Thank you, CIA. ElBaradei is saying we're months away, and what are we doing about it? Diddly-squat. We are engaging in diplomacy. The Iranians laughing at us, and now they're talking about moving Israel out of the Middle East to put them in Europe somewhere. Jesse in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Welcome to the program, sir. Nice to have you with us.

CALLER: Thank you very much, Rush. Dittos to you and merry Christmas to you and everyone at EIB.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: I just wanted to say, sir, that these leaks that have been coming out in the media about the prisons that we supposedly have in Europe, John McCain yesterday on the radio -- one thing that these stories are doing and for sure is they've sent a message that although bound by civility, international law, the US will do -- if you have ties with Osama bin Laden or suspected of being involved with terrorists in any way, we will hunt you down. We'll grab you when you least expect it. We'll shove your head in a bag and we will fly you to a foreign country in Europe and torture you until you tell us what we need to know. Now, I heard a guy on the news yesterday talking about how there are massive security concerns around Osama bin Laden. That's why he hasn't sent us a video love note lately, and, you know, I think Bush has shown that our military and him are not poll-driven, even though the polls say that the main concern of detractors and international communities are torture, they're going to go ahead and they're going to do what they need to do to protect this country. I mean, the American Airlines flight, what happened yesterday, that's a perfect example of it.

RUSH: All right. So if I understand you, you're not that concerned about McCain running around saying what he's saying because the fact that he's saying it means we're doing it, which is sending a chill up and down the spines of the bad guys?

CALLER: Well, I'm not necessarily saying that it doesn't bother me. It does bother me, but there is a possible positive side effect to it. I mean, you know, your useful-idiot theory is perfect in this situation. I mean, if these guys aren't going to show enough courage to stand up and be Americans or they're not going to show willingness to stand with Americans, we might as well use their ignorance and their spinelessness.

RUSH: Well, see, that's the thing. I think that the message here is: this war on terror is, by definition, going to be a very long and protracted thing and the message that's being sent is we're not really willing to fight it. We're willing to handcuff ourselves and we're willing to tie our arm behind our back, and in some cases half of our brains, and we're not really serious about this. Now, you can sit there and say that all this talk might convey the impression that, yeah, we're doing this and, hey, you don't want to get captured by these guys because they're going to really mistreat you and take you away to a foreign country and you'll never be heard from again -- and while I concede that, you know, that might be one of the reactions that some of these terrorist leaders might have, at the same time there are people sitting around, these same people, watching the efforts being made by the American Democrats and some Republicans to stymie this effort.

So all they've gotta do is hold out. Hold out, support the McCain Amendment. Let the McCain amendment pass. Let the Americans continue to beat themselves up. Let Senator Durbin and the rest of the Democrats continue to hamstring our efforts in dealing with these people. Just hold off awhile. Don't get caught. Don't engage any hostilities anywhere where you're going to get caught, unless, you know, some of these fleabags in Iraq that the terrorists don't mind losing. But in other operations, just sit back until Senator McCain accomplishes what he wants to accomplish, and Senator Durbin accomplishes what he wants to accomplish. Sit back until maybe they impeach Bush, sit back until Howard Dean actually prevails. Sit back until we get Saddam out of jail and give him his country back, just sit back and wait, is the message being sent. The message being sent by all this is that we're pansies. The message sent by this is that we still don't get it, that we are not willing to do what's necessary -- and I'm not talking about torture being necessary. This goes beyond torture because it isn't being defined.

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