Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Cubs Combat Casino
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
How To: Simple Salad Dressing
Properly Sauced: Auditorium Cocktail
Yesterday on his radio show, Eric "Mancow" Muller volunteered to be waterboarded on his show, thinking it wouldn't be a big deal. The average person lasts 14 seconds. Here's how Mancow did.
Late last night, the Trib's Phil Rosenthal reported that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann would donate $10,000 to Veterans of Valor, the charity run by Sgt. Klay South, the man who actually performed the waterboarding of Mancow. According to Rosenthal:
Previously, Olbermann has said he would make a donation of $1,000 for each second Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity lasted while being waterboarded if Hannity followed through on his offer last month to undergo the process for charity. But Olbermann said Friday he is withdrawing his offer to Hannity, whose syndicated radio show also airs on WLS-AM.
Here is what Olbermann had to say. The full Olbermann segment on waterboarding is after the jump.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I wouldn't have let him get up that easily.
Ahhhh...Olberman....so dramatic, and even though Mancow is a douche, at least he stepped up to the plate. And he did admit it was torture BUT what he did not say is that it has to be a gazillion times worse for prisoners actually undergoing the process by their captors.
Muller had the benefit of knowing that he was surrounded by professionals who would step in if something went amiss with his health, he had the knowledge that he could call 'stop' at any time he wanted and he didn't have the water going up his nose either.
So, basically, he got the 'baby waterboard' treatment....or maybe he was just interrogated with enhancement. Ever so briefly.
He should have been strapped down and given the full treatment, not just a splash. I think the one of the reasons he freaked is because they thought it would be appropriate to put a little vinegar in the water for him.
Muller has no credibility and I don't give him any credit for stepping up to the plate. That asshat would do anything to get his name out there. That was just a cheap stunt.
I agree with Ingrid's comment that Mancow "had the benefit.." of a number of things, especially the knowledge that it would last only a few seconds if that's how long he wanted it to last.
Nevertheless, Mancow did do more to learn about waterboarding than most other commentators.
Is it torture? I think so. Maybe not horrific torture or mutilating torture, but it is still torture.
Was it ethical to do this torture? I think so. Lives were saved. Waterboarding was only done on a few prisoners who gave up important information as a result of the waterboarding.
It's not ethical to torture.
It's just not.
I don't buy the 'lives were saved' argument. Thousands of people in this country die every day, just to give one example: from our abysmal health care system.
Do you ever hear Cheney talking or pretending to care about those lives?
I care about the integrity of our country. We must not, under any circumstance, defy what is in the Geneva Convention. We went after the Japanese for waterboarding American prisoners. We should go after Cheney and Co too. If anyone here were waterboarded, and I mean truly waterboarded, you (and me too) would admit to being the Queen of England. I would last a half a second before I admitted to having nuclear bomb material in my basement (and the only 'lethal' thing in my basement is 80 year old tile made with asbestos!)
I want to scream every time I hear Cheney go on about how under Bush's watch, he kept the country safe when under his watch one of the biggest travesties in history happened. The way that administration and every other wingnut twists and turns with the semantics makes me crazy.
I'm with you Ingrid. The thing that pisses me off the most is that this video is just a radio stunt for nothing other than ratings and I'm betting that it doesn't even come close to re-enacting the real event. I would also tell them anything they wanted to hear.
I'm still trying to figure out what is up with cheney. He must have had some kind of reconstructive work done. How else could he stay out of his bat cave for this long?
The only thing those clowns did of any lasting significance is provide us with a lovely threat level warning system that only changed once. During an election week.
That administration failed so miserably on everything they did it was amazing. Perhaps cheney and his little sock puppet should pay more attention to how things are done in South Korea.
Ethical to torture? You might want to head to your local library and check out a book on ethics.
Any lives that are saved from information gleaned from torture are a pittance in comparison to the number put in danger as the world sees the abysmal way the United States is willing to treat other human beings.
There is invasive, mutilating, injurious torture and there is non-invasive torture. I put waterboarding in the latter category. When you have the opportunity, in very specific and limited cases, to save hundreds-and possibly thousands of lives---by waterboarding someone, I will support the use of waterboarding.
It is very easy to sit on a high horse and say "No torture--EVER." It takes a little more thought to say, "These people want to kill as many of us as possible. What can we do to prevent this horror?"
That's cool, Ward. You and your ilk talk a great game about "supporting the troops". The argument that we only used this technique on a handful of "high value" prisoners and that information saved lives is great until American soldiers are captured abroad by hostile enemies and tortured. You and yours will be up in arms about the travesty, vow revenge on the perpetrators and make a huge stink in the international community. Nevermind that those captors will have thought "if the United States does this...."
If the United States won't stand for liberty, democracy and the rule of law, then what do we stand for?
Ward,
I don't think it's considered 'high horse" to insist that we value our integrity and abide by the Geneva Convention.
You're doing nothing more than spinning now.
Kevin Robinson is right...if we won't stand for liberty, democracy and the rule of law, then what do we stand for?
We MUST stand by the Geneva Convention. It may protect the most vile of humans, but because of that, it will also protect our soldiers. That's just the way it works.