Comments on: The kind of thing you wish were false

By: Liam

Liam — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 23:13:53 +0000

My only scepticism is that cops believed anything coming out of the ‘intelligence’ community enough to rush. After the 911 ‘surprise’ and Iraqs elusive WMD, surely cops would know better.

Blind Freddy in Baku knows that the US tortures men, women, minors, the mentally disabled, you name it, and has been doing so for years. Any shock-horror on the part of anyone in the english speaking world is simply evidence of RightThink induced brain damage.

By: Kevin Donoghue

Kevin Donoghue — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:03:04 +0000

According to a commenter at Obsidian Wings, the actual text is: “Thousands of uniformed men and women raced in a panic to each flavor of target”.

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:09:16 +0000

In fact, as y81 and functional will no doubt point out next time Suskind is cited, the very fact that he used the word “thousands”, even though the first news report produced by Google has no numbers proves that he is objectively pro-Al Qaeda. Any any “facts” that he reports can be put in scare quotes and excluded from the official Republican universe.

By: Uncle Kvetch

Uncle Kvetch — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 21:14:19 +0000

I think we are all losing track of the point here

Nonsense. It’s not the policy that matters, it’s the words used to describe the policy. If there were only hundreds of police/soldiers involved, not thousands, and if they didn’t literally “race” to the scene, then the torturing of a mentally ill flunky by the US is completely inconsequential. Just like Amnesty using the word “Gulag” to describe G’tmo and other places of its ilk instantly rendered all of those places, and everything going on within, utterly insignificant.

So watch what you say, hmm?

By: Wax Banks

Wax Banks — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:11:40 +0000

Excellent cover design on Suskind’s book, memorable and vaguely archaic-sounding title, great press so far, and Suskind’s a trusted name. A lot of things have been done right here! It awakens hope that intra-government action will result from an expansive new conversation about these revelations. (…if only hope.)

@Nick S: I believe I’ve read in a couple of places that Tenet was a source for the book, yeah.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:47:13 +0000

I don’t know about thousands of armed men, but Zubaydah is listed over and over and over again and the source of the allegations of people we’re detaining indefinitely, including:
1. Jose Padilla (who I guess we’re no longer detaining without charge)
2. Benyam Mohamed, Padilla’s supposed accomplice, who has rendered to Morocco, allegedly tortured there, then sent to a CIA prison & to GTMO, where he remains
3. The Yemeni “high level Al Qaeda terrorist” who just killed himself at Guantanamo.

And many many more than that; that’s off the top of my head.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:10:24 +0000

I think we are all losing track of the point here, which is, apparently, that the US was torturing a guy with a mental handicap, and then apparently acting in some form on the highly dubious information produced. Moreover, the implication of the post is that Bush knew the guy was being tortured and didn’t care.

This makes the President of the United States a torturer, and it also (presumably) opens him up to the threat of legal prosecution.

Discuss.

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 07:46:03 +0000

Nah, they wouldn’t race for sure, too heavy for that. Which, of course, makes the whole story totally implausible.

By: Belle Waring

Belle Waring — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 06:16:29 +0000

right, because everybody knows the NYPD doesn’t employ thousands of officers, and no police officers in NYC would possibly ever race in a panic to a NYC landmark which the feds had told them might be in imminent danger of a catastrophic terrorist attack. that’s just crazy talk!

By: Functional

Functional — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 01:46:20 +0000

“New York police immediately bolstered security” = “thousands of uniformed men and women raced in a panic to each . . . target.”

Suuuure.

By: luc

luc — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:47:26 +0000

Even in May 2002 this Zubaydah and the truth thing wasn’t taken that seriously. Here’s the entertainments bizz take on “Operation Rent-a-Movie”: Godzilla Links To New Terrorist Attack.

“You’re not going to let me lose face on this, are you?” “No sir, Mr. President,”

By: nick s

nick s — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:18:17 +0000

And if you’re going to quibble on ‘thousands’ or ‘racing’, then you really do need to take a dip in the cold bath of priorities.

By: nick s

nick s — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:10:34 +0000

y81: you may be aware of a website called Google.com. Use it.

I find, for instance, this from May 2002:

The FBI also heightened anxiety levels in New York yesterday by advising officials that landmarks there could be terrorist targets. Officials said the advisory was based on the same kind of uncorroborated information that has led to other notices to law enforcement in recent weeks about threats to banks, nuclear power plants, water systems, shopping malls, supermarkets and apartment buildings.

The latest warning came from captured al Qaeda fighters detained at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials said.

New York police immediately bolstered security at the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and other landmarks.

Fuckwit.

By: Rrose Sélavy (s.e.)

Rrose Sélavy (s.e.) — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 22:45:43 +0000

My AutoFill function seems stuck on dada mode

eh…

By: Rrose Sélavy

Rrose Sélavy — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 22:43:41 +0000

“which day was that that there were thousands of armed men rushed to the Brooklyn Bridge? And which day were thousands of armed men rushed to the Statue of Liberty?”
It’s called overtime for the NYPD you fucking idiot.