Lefties Still All Wet on Waterboarding

by Austin Rhodes   The mysterious master spy in charge of the team that used controversial, aggressive interrogation tactics against captured foreign terrorists, until President Obama banned such, has written a book. Jose Rodriguez makes a solid case for his policies as the CIA’s former director of National Clandestine Service. In his book “Hard Measures,” the veteran black ops specialist scoffs at critiques of his actions as partisan in nature, ignorant of the true record (much of which is still sealed) and hideously naive. Watching Lesley Stahl’s “60 Minutes” interview with Rodriguez this week (available for review online, with my strongest recommendations) showed a man confident in his abilities, comfortable with his record and proud of his results. As we have come to expect, the questions, tone and body language of his mainstream media interviewer showed plenty about her as well. What has followed is an interesting return to our national conversation about what measures we should employ to stop those who want to wipe America off the map and eradicate western culture as we know it. Many of the comments go straight to waterboarding, and how only “barbarians from Hell” could employ such tactics on “helpless prisoners.” Bullshizzle. I addressed many of these concerns years ago in this space… allow me to correct the hysterical wussies yet again: 1. It is unconstitutional. — Really? So are handcuffs, if used improperly. So is jail time, if given inappropriately. So is a body cavity search, if administered randomly. However, under the proper conditions, all are legal and all are used regularly. Besides, our Constitution was not written to protect foreigners with designs on destroying our country. 2. It is cruel and unusual punishment. — Actually, waterboarding is not punishment at all. Used properly, it is an interrogation tool, and from what I have seen, heard and read, a pretty damn efficient one. Misused, obviously waterboarding would be cruel and unusual. Then again, you can misuse a garden hoe doing serious and painful damage as well. 3. It doesn’t work. — Say what you want to about CIA interrogation experts, but as a rule, they have never been accused as a group of being frivolous or inefficient. If waterboarding doesn’t work, why bother using it? And don’t invoke this garbage about the technique being used to procure confessions. The CIA doesn’t care if you say you did it, they want to know who did it with you, where they are hiding and what they have planned next. Getting false confessions doesn’t aid them in their cause. The CIA has never been about punishment, they are about information and extermination. 4. President Obama, and great heroes like Senator John McCain, say waterboarding is torture and that we shouldn’t use it because it makes U.S. the bad guys. — First off, these men are politicians, and if you think they always say what they really think or believe, you are nuts. Because of his personal experience, McCain’s protests seem to come from the authority on torture. Actually, had McCain only been waterboarded every day of his five and a half years as a POW in Vietnam, he would have none of the serious scarring and permanent disabilities so evident to all who meet him. McCain was tortured, and after his first few weeks of imprisonment, that torture was about nothing other than punishment, invoking fear and the pure sadistic pleasure of his captors. The claim that waterboarding makes us as bad as the captors who flippantly burn flesh, break bones and pierce skin is total BS and should be regarded as such. I am just enough of an optimist and a patriot that I believe the men and women working to save American lives through their work in the CIA and Special Forces military units are not misusing the waterboard any more than they are misusing their tanks, pistols and hand grenades. I will also say this: I am not (nor are most of you) trained or experienced enough in these matters to know when those tools are specifically needed, how they are needed or when they are needed. And I also know this: The people using these tools believe they help save American lives, and if waterboarding does that, may they waterboard in good health with my blessings and salutations. If we really have curtailed all such aggressive interrogation practices, then I suggest we put all the captured terrorists on a plane back to the Middle East. When that plane is over their homeland, we can fly it full speed right into the side of a fully occupied high-rise building. God forbid we “torture” anyone.You Might Also Like: