"But I was just following orders"

From the department of we don't know what "ex post facto" means:

The Senate this week is considering legislation that will retroactively protect CIA interrogators from legal liability for using "questionable" interrogation techniques, including hypothermia and waterboarding, in which a person is taken to the point of drowning.

From the article:


"Through omissions and legal definitions, the proposal could authorize harsh techniques that critics contend potentially violate the Geneva Conventions, which govern the treatment of war prisoners. These methods include hypothermia, stress positions and "waterboarding," a practice of simulated drowning."

and:

"The proposal would apply back to 2001 the Bush administration's standards for treatment of detainees. That would shield CIA personnel from liability under a 1996 law intended to uphold the Geneva Conventions, since the fight against terrorism began and harsher interrogation methods were approved."

I don't want any more terrorist attacks on the U.S., and I want to find and punish the people that attacked us on 9/11. If we use these techniques, however, we are no better than the people we're fighting, and we probably won't get any useful information, either. People will confess to almost anything, if you put them in enough pain. Just look at John McCain signing a confession to war crimes as a POW in Vietnam, or this quote :

"It is "bad interrogation. I mean you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture's bad enough," said former CIA officer Bob Baer."

If that wasn't bad enough, now we citizens find out that we are going to have to pay for these officers' legal defenses, should they be charged with crimes. Apparently there is a government-funded insurance policy that will defend these guys if they charged criminally. Hey guys, if you think you're going to be in trouble for doing something, DON'T DO IT. I seem to remember that we hanged a bunch of guys at the end of WWII who were just "following orders".

Remember, if the government is willing to use these techniques on anyone, they will be willing to use them on YOU if they feel a need.