Letter to the editor: No excuse for torture

December 17, 2014
Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney

OPINION By ALLAN COOPER

Listening to Dick Cheney defend torture on “Meet The Press” is akin to hearing Idi Amin justify cannibalism.

Imagine that you are one of the 26 innocent detainees who was confined for 29 hours in a box that measures 21 inches wide, 30 inches deep and 30 inches high, you can neither stand, sit nor lie down for 29 hours. Imagine being literally immobilized in a closed coffin for 266 hours. If this isn’t torture, I don’t know what is!

Initially, many of the other less innocent detainees provided useful “intel” to trained interrogators without resorting to torture. But these trained interrogators were fired and Cheney and company brought in unqualified “contractors” to take over the “interrogation process” using torture. No subsequent useful “intel” was obtained.

How would one best describe this sort of behavior? Depravity.

Allan Cooper is a retired Cal Poly professor and a member of Save Our Downtown.


Loading...
99 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

What was done by the CIA over ten years ago (waterboarding stopped in 2004) bother some people. The same people are not demanding President Obama stop using unmanned drones from annihilating terrorists. If you don’t believe we should be using torture or drones then you ignore the dangers in this world. I am also a realist. It can be an ugly world beyond our borders. The current danger principally comes from maniacal Islamic terrorists. And we do face the possibility of other 9/11s. The President should be empowered legally to use any extraordinary measures to protect us. So be it.


awe…..the military industrial complex promoting fear and uncertainty to get you to pony up….


There is a phrase for what ales many of you and it’s called “A 9-10 mentality” . It’s sad to see because we will get hit again and again and again until we decide to engage the enemy with everything we have. I’m sure the next time we’re attacked the do nothing members of the house and senate will march over to the capitol steps to sing God Bless America. And the president will give a moving speech; and all of you that have obviously forgotten or was born after 9-11-01 will go on as if nothing has happened, intoxicated with your Naiveté.


we have met the enemy and he is us


the mentality of chuckelhead … the sky is falling


My post is to rambunctious …