tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22165230.post3513818623386709103..comments2023-12-16T16:50:25.810-08:00Comments on The Heart of the Matter: ISIS Employed Lawful Enhanced Interrogation Techniques on American DetaineesBarry Eislerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17785333622697500192noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22165230.post-8217494532475158572014-09-05T09:46:11.875-07:002014-09-05T09:46:11.875-07:00(taking the conversation in a different direction)...(taking the conversation in a different direction)<br /><br />I never know what to make of Haas. He's a regular on Global GPS, maybe the smartest political and foreign affairs show on TV, and he always appears to be the stern, unsmiling face of the nurse who's there to tell you which bitter pill to swallow--it's good for you, really, no matter how bad it tastes. He's fairly cogent in his arguments.<br /><br />In recent appearances on the show, however, he's made it clear that he thinks Iraq has ceased to exist as a nation and the best we can hope for is to set up an Iron Dome around Kurdistan, replace al-Malaki with someone not quite as bad, and stay the hell out of the Mad Max badlands in between. <br /><br />Not the most inspired strategy, but with Ukraine blowing up and domestic troubles at home, he'll find plenty of sympathetic listeners.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22165230.post-22466302044661963062014-08-31T23:49:55.049-07:002014-08-31T23:49:55.049-07:00Agreed, letting a government determine whether peo...Agreed, letting a government determine whether people it imprisons are "combatants" for purposes of what kind of trial they get -- or whether they can be tortured! -- is problematic in the extreme. Likewise trusting the government's say-so in general in lieu of recognizable due process. Not sure what the journalist part means -- it's okay to torture non-journalists?Barry Eislerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17785333622697500192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22165230.post-63646525465062517112014-08-31T12:08:53.385-07:002014-08-31T12:08:53.385-07:00Without making a judgement on whether or not the w...Without making a judgement on whether or not the waterboarding of Foley by ISIS was "legal" compared to what we did to any detainees we held, we should remember that Foley was not a combatant, he was not armed (as far as we know), he was a journalist whose aim was to report the truth. Evidently ISIS had a problem with that.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05331368761887080168noreply@blogger.com