Are the torture pictures a figment of the imagination? Or are the pictures real?

The UK Daily Telegraph has reported pictures DO EXIST showing raping of Iraqi women and graphic prisoner abuse, by American hands.

Now I am hoping this is not true and that this UK paper is just blowing smoke out of its "you know what", but criminal and horrendous things happen during the time of war.

We will see.

A former U.S. general said graphic images of rape and torture are among the photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse that President Obama's administration does not want released.

Retired Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the U.S. investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, told Britain's Daily Telegraph in an article published Wednesday that he agreed with Obama's decision not to release the pictures.

"I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one and the consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them," Taguba was quoted by the Daily Telegraph. "The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it."

Two Obama administration officials didn't immediately respond to e-mail requests for comment Wednesday night.

Took the White House more than 24 hours to respond:

The Pentagon on Thursday denied a British newspaper report that photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse, whose release U.S. President Barack Obama wants to block, include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Daily Telegraph newspaper had shown "an inability to get the facts right".

"That news organization has completely mischaracterized the images," Whitman told reporters. "None of the photos in question depict the images that are described in that article."

Thursday's Telegraph quoted retired U.S. Army Major General Antonio Taguba, who conducted a 2004 investigation into abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, as saying the pictures showed "torture, abuse, rape and every indecency."

The newspaper said at least one picture showed an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.

Now there is a reason for not releasing these "suspect photos" and I understand why Obama changed his mind on it. If these photos exist and this happened, it kills us overseas further as Obama is attempting to make inroads after the Bush Administration destroyed our international standing.

Again, things happen during war. For anyone to believe this possibly could not happen, take your rose colored glasses off. These things do happen and don't think we, the United States of America is above it all. After all, we waterboard, we did torture. This possiblity is not outside of the relm.

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Conservative Talk Host "Mancow" who got waterboarded on Keith Olbermann (Video)

What next? Will the Republicans disown Mancow for keepin' it honest?

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MEDIA: Stop enabling Liz Cheney. She is not an authority on torture.

I am doing a piggyback off of Al Rodgers diary which includes the confrontation between Liz Cheney and Lawrence O'Donnell.

Liz Cheney has been doing her media tour to help clean up her father's image, but from now on waterboarding is equivalent to DROWNING and if it is drowning someone, intentionally, it is TORTURE.

It is time for shows like morning joe or morning joke, to stop enabling the likes of Liz Cheney by allowing her to come on their shows with LIES, TALKING POINTS FROM DADDY and utter BULLSHIT. Enough. What happened to the truth?

I am damn angry and mad right now. After watching Liz Cheney in Al's diary, I am too over WTF, but at get these lying sacks of shits off the airwaves and I mean, yesterday!!

What really has catapulted this debate, in my opinion, is the revelations by Mancow on waterboarding is drowning. This comparison hit me, personally that Mancow almost drowned when he was a kid and said that is how waterboarding feels. Well, I almost drowned at 12 on a trip to Orlando, FL to Disneyworld. Playing rough and the other kids not knowing, I got into the deep part of the pool. They were playing while I was DROWNING. I had to be revived and I have been DEATHLY afraid of water until I decided to learn how to swim in my 30's. The main reason I learned how to swim is that I love to fish and we go out on the boat all the time. I am not the strongest swimmer, but I can save myself. So, I know EXACTLY how that waterboarding feels.

It is time for these so called, "talk show hosts, analysts" to do their fucking jobs and challenge Liz "I know everything about torture" Cheney and stop enabling her.

This country deserves to have the story told to us right and honestly. The media needs to get this right, not wrong like they did during the Bush Administration. The media FAILED us during that time, by not doing their jobs and investigating the obvious. Instead, they wrote what was given to them from the Bush White House as fact, they allowed themselves to be used by planted stories, they failed the American Public.

Don't do this again, media. Allowing Liz Cheney on these talk shows as an "authority" of torture is not only insulting it is ridiculous. She is spewing propped up talking points fed to her by her daddy. Does anyone in their right mind think Liz is an authority in this? When was the last time she was in torture camp? Or waterboarding school? She has never been near anything like this and the media needs to do their jobs and quit enabling her.

Every single expert who has been waterboarded or had experience in it has said it is torture. Why is Liz Cheney all over the television saying this technique is not?

Finally, everything written from now on in regards to waterboarding should be equated to drowning. See this issue has been muddled because it has not been explained properly, but thanks to the honesty of Mancow, we all can relate to what waterboarding is, drowning and if done intentional, again, torture. Just about everyone knows what too much water in your mouth and nose feels like, it feels like drowning. That is how this argument needs to be presented moving forward.

If it is intentional drowning, that means it is TORTURE.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Keith Olbermann on Mancow admitting waterboarding is TORTURE (Video)

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Conservative Talk Show Host "Mancow" got waterboarded and he said it is torture

One thing I know, for me, is that I don't need to get drowned to realize it is torture, but for those who are running around here saying it is not, do what Mancow did, get waterboarded. From Think Progress:

Via John Chait, it seems that conservative talk radio host Eric “Mancow” Muller decided it would be a fun stunt to have himself waterboarded in order to prove that it’s not really torture. Didn’t work so well:

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,”Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”

“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said. “They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’”

Seems like Mancow could not even last 10 seconds. From Daily Kos:

"The average person can take this for 14 seconds," Marine Sergeant Clay South answered, adding, "He's going to wiggle, he's going to scream, he's going to wish he never did this."

With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up.

Turns out the stunt wasn't so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

Well, again, you don't have to waterboard me to tell me it is torture. I am like Mancow, I almost drowned when I was 12 and it took me YEARS to attempt to learn how to swim. To this day, I am not a strong swimmer, but I learned for my own safety sake because you just never know. Why don't Cheney, morning joke, and all these blogviated noise makers out there running around saying, "it's not torture....we only waterboarded 3 people...", why don't they take the test since they are so FOR THE BUSH/CHENEY WE DID NOT TORTURE PROGRAM????

Yep. Silence is a bitch.

Want to see the video? Here it is.

Oh, since Mancow is from Chicago, here is the NBC-5 take on Mancow's admission.

Lastly, rememeber Christopher Hitchens who also ran around here for a bit and said it was not torture? Well, here is his waterboarding experience and he too, did an about face on the waterboarding is not torture, meme.



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In case you missed it, Jesse Ventura lit it up on Hannity (Video)

Yes, Jesse Ventura has been making the rounds talking about torture and slamming the Republicans and also Democrats. He gave Elisabeth Hasselbeck a cup of STFU, he schooled Larry King, now he went into the den with Hannity. Damn, why can't we get a Democrat to stand up and say the very things that former Governor Jesse Ventura has said about torture. Just a pity.



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Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View, got a cup of STFU from Jesse Ventura in regards to waterboarding (Video)

Ventura is a former Navy Seal, also former Governor of Minnesota. As he blasted Cheney on Larry King, he shuts up the sniping Hasselbeck from ABCs The View.



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Jesse Venture on Larry King, "...waterboarding is torture...Coleman is a hypocrite..." (Video)

Ventura is a former Navy Seal, he should know.

[Water-boarding] is torture... 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.

Source

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