FEOS wrote:
Berster7 wrote:
Who's talking about US citizens?
The post I was responding to.
Read the context of the reply before you get your panties all bunched up.
I did read the context of the reply.
Spearhead wrote:
Braddock wrote:
usmarine wrote:
sux to be you then. most people just dont get picked up for going grocery shopping you know?
Don't they? That's funny because
Gerry Conlon spent 15 years in prison for nothing at all. Or did I just imagine that?
It actually happens all the time.
Just that lazy ass conservatives who don't want to be "soft" on prisoners are fucking up the system of due process.
Above is the post you responded to. The only person mentioned or referred to is Gerry Conlon, who is Irish. Perhaps you misunderstood the context. It could loosely be taken to mean anyone, but is by no means exclusively referring to US citizens.
FEOS wrote:
Berster7 wrote:
In any case, what is the relevance of them being US citizens? Why should nationality make any difference whatsoever? They are people.
The relevance, in terms of US citizens, is that US citizens have rights under US law that non-citizens do not. Additionally, the capture of a US citizen by US authorities (civil or military) requires that they be remanded to US law enforcement. There is no equivalent requirement for capture of non-US citizens during a conflict.
Yes there is. It's called the Geneva convention, which the US has ratified and so is essentially a part of US law. Which does require that anyone detained under the terms of the convention be given a trial in "a regularly constituted court", not a military tribunal, a civil trial - which is the same thing essentially - apart from provisions regarding internment, which of course are not especially relevant to the debate since the convention also requires that prisoners be "in all circumstances be treated humanely" and not be subject to "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment". So for all intents and purposes regarding torture - from a legal perspective, being a US citizen or not, no matter the circumstances, should make no difference whatsoever.
FEOS wrote:
Berster7 wrote:
So it doesn't count as torture under the international definition straight off. In any case, ignoring sleep deprivation as a form of torture flies in the face of the opinion of experts on these matters and so could quite justifiably be considered to be taking an extremely foolish viewpoint.
And psychologists (those experts you reference) also theorize that incorrect potty training can lead one to become a serial killer. Excuse me for having some skepticism. Having gone through sleep deprivation myself, under similar circumstances, I can tell you that it's not torture.
I suppose that, according to you, anything other than tea and crumpets and asking "pretty please" is torture. Thank God you're not in a position to act on that absurdly naive viewpoint.
Forgive me for taking the opinions of people who are recognised as experts in the field over you, with no relevant psychological training or experience.
You may consider it an absurdly naive viewpoint and be glad I'm not in a position to do anything about it - but, and this may come as a shock to you, all European nations follow the guidelines for classification of torture as I have laid them out. They are also supported by BOTH the major US presidential candidates. So, the people in power (or soon to be in power - i.e. not the Bush administration) also take my absurdly naive viewpoint. Strange that, isn't it.
FEOS wrote:
Berster7 wrote:
No. The first reason being that she was not doing it for: "such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."
So if some guy decides to randomly strap you down and peel your skin off with a scalpel, you're not being tortured? He's not trying to get information from you or anyone else, he's not attempting to intimidate or coerce you, and he's not acting in an official capacity. According to your definition above, you're not getting tortured.
But you get wrapped around the "definitions" axle, so I guess not. Have fun with that.
In the legal sense, no, that is not torture. Because I've been using purely legal definitions throughout this debate.
FEOS wrote:
Berster7 wrote:
But then I've already seen that you don't care much for literary definitions and would prefer to make up your own. So international, legal and expert definitions are unlikely to be of any interest to you either.
Why should any of us care about "literary definitions"? Shouldn't we be more concerned about "legal definitions" in this debate?
Of course we should only really be concerned about legal definitions in this debate - which is why those are what I have provided.
Definitions are what things are. They are standards so people can be properly understood and which can provide a concise legal framework.
In debates like this legal definitions are exceedingly important, before they state what is, rather than simply what people believe to be the case. But since your personal opinion is so much more important than international and domestic legal definitions, then I guess we can just ignore all them.