noteworthy wrote:
] The Bybee memo was prepared after an internal debate within
] the government about the methods used to extract information
] from Abu Zubaydah, one of Osama bin Laden's top aides, after
] his capture in April 2002. The memo, which is dated Aug. 1,
] 2002, was a seminal legal document guiding the
] government's thinking on interrogation.
]
] The memo concluded that a coercive procedure could not be
] considered torture unless it caused pain equivalent to that
] accompanying "serious physical injury, such as organ failure,
] impairment of bodily function or even death."
]
] To be regarded as torture, the memo said, mental pain must
] also be caused by "threats of imminent death; threats of
] infliction of the kind of pain that would amount to physical
] torture; infliction of such physical pain as a means of
] psychological torture; use of drugs or other procedures
] designed to deeply disrupt the senses, or fundamentally alter
] an individual's personality; or threatening to do any of these
] things to a third party."

Cool! So propping their eyes open with toothpicks and forcing them to watch the 700 Club 24 hours a day 7 days a week is ok? After a few hours of that hell I think I'd welcome the balpeen hammers.

I guess the Marathon Man, "Is it safe?" method is also okay as it doesn't present any issues the list above (even though it's really incredibly painful to have dental work done without anesthetic).

RE: Aides Say Memo Backed Coercion for Qaeda Cases