Fmr. US Attorney General John Ashcroft gave a speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois yesterday - and established exactly why current government officials do not stand for public questioning.
Elsinora: ...This other document is a section from the judgment of the Tokyo War Tribunal. After WWII, the Tokyo Tribunal was basically the Nuremberg Trials for Japan. Many Japanese leaders were put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture. And among the tortures listed was the "water treatment," which we nowadays call waterboarding...It gets worse - read the whole thing, or just Emptywheel's tidy excerpt.
John Ashcroft: (interrupting) This is a speech, not a question. I don't mind, but it's not a question.
Elsinora: It will be, sir, just give me a moment. The judgment describes this water treatment, and I quote, "the victim was bound or otherwise secured in a prone position; and water was forced through his mouth and nostrils into his lungs and stomach." One man, Yukio Asano, was sentenced to fifteen years hard labor by the allies for waterboarding American troops to obtain information. Since Yukio Asano was trying to get information to help defend his country--exactly what you, Mr. Ashcroft, say is acceptible for Americans to do--do you believe that his sentence was unjust?
John Ashcroft: (angrily) Now, listen here. You're comparing apples and oranges, apples and oranges. We don't do anything like what you described.
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