The confessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

[Xenocrates]

No this isn't a British sex comedy from the 70's.

This guy was captured about 4 years ago and tortured, or maybe not depending who you believe.

"Before his six months at Guantanamo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was apparently held in a totally secret CIA-run prison for three-and-a-half years where he alleges torture."

Anyway he has confessed to everything from fathering Anna Nicole Smith's child to inventing the computer virus:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6452789.stm

So this begs several questions:

1) Is this confession in any way reliable?

2) What's the war on terror about if this guy was behind everything?

3) Do we owe uncle Osama an apology?

4) Why have these series of confessions been publicized now?

5) What the hell was the guy doing the night before the photo was taken? That must have been an amazing party.

 

[skadistic]

1) some of it is

2) is he the only terrorist

3) for what

4) to reelect bush ofcource.......or he no longer has viable infomation

5) he is a terrorist scum bag most likely he was on the run and had been for a while

 

[El_Machinae]

I'm leery of the confession's value, regarding the pursuit of truth. I only say this because I know that many innocent people have confessed things after years of 'interrogation'.

I'm not making a statement regarding the man's innocence, just on the value of the confession.

 

[amadeus]

Why will we accept the premise that he was "tortured" but not that he was the mastermind behind 9/11?

 

[Azale]

3. Well, Osama did kinda videotape himself claiming to be the mastermind behind 9/11...and he was the leader of the group who carried out the attacks. So no, we don't need to apologize for that

2. Stopping all Islamic terrorism maybe? Maybe lofty goals, but to say the whole war is a fraud because this guy was behind the attacks is a little presumptious. If that's what you were thinking.

4. Good question. Maybe they felt that was all they were going to get from him. Maybe someone accidentally leaked it (happens all the time apparently)

5. He looks like a nervous wreck.

1. I don't believe it, everyone knows Howard K. Stern is the father.

 

[Riffraff]

The guy knows he's getting the death penalty, so he's decided to go out for full 'glory' by claiming responsibility for every major terror attack in the past 20 years.

 

[Truronian]

Why will we accept the premise that he was "tortured" but not that he was the mastermind behind 9/11?

Because the US is known to use torture whereas people in American custody are not known for being the mastermind behind 9/11.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Has he confessed to removing the tag from his mattress yet? Its a shame the Bush administration is so brain dead that they ruined their own future prosecutions by publicly stating that they torture their prisoners.

 

[MobBoss]

Please feel no sympathy for this guy. He is a killer, murderer. As cold blooded as they get with a long, long history of such.

His confession was given freely during his tribunal by his own volition. Not during the heat of the moment during torture.

 

[mitsho]

Can you prove me that, MobBoss? Every news site I saw it, told otherwise. Even when I heard the news for the first time, national radio here said, the confession has something to do with torture..

mick

EDIT: By proving, I mean simply giving a source for that information?

 

[skadistic]

Well he wasn't tortured during his court hearing. Thats when he fessed up to some of the brutal things he was accused off and other stuff.

I wonder if he tortured Dan Perl before lopping off his head. You know right after he gave Pearl a fair trial..........

 

[mitsho]

@skadistic, So just because the other side does not "behave", we don't need to too? That does sound childish to me (why I used behave). Just because the other side does something, doesnt at all mean we are allowed too. Same with death penalty, etc. ...
Western society is built upon the idea of Humanism or better Enlightment. Western ideas states that the highest good we have is the state based on the law, and not on religion, ideology or whatever.

mitsho

 

[skadistic]

I didn't say we should lower ourselves (in most people opinion) to their level. I simply asked if he gave the same as he got.

Personally I don't care what western ideals are based on. Its those arbitrary rules that has us losing this fight. We afford the enemy far to many rights. They should be tortured and killed promptly upon extraction of all usefully information. They do not fear the west and why should they we don't want to offend them or upset the do gooders. The sanitatization of war has seen to it that those who are willing to play dirty win. The west is weak and they exploit it. You can be as nice as you want to them they will just kill you.

 

[Red Door]

I didn't say we should lower ourselves (in most people opinion) to their level. I simply asked if he gave the same as he got.

Personally I don't care what western ideals are based on. Its those arbitrary rules that has us losing this fight. We afford the enemy far to many rights. They should be tortured and killed promptly upon extraction of all usefully information. They do not fear the west and why should they we don't want to offend them or upset the do gooders. The sanitatization of war has seen to it that those who are willing to play dirty win. The west is weak and they exploit it. You can be as nice as you want to them they will just kill you.

Except some of the people we capture and hold are innocent.

 

[skadistic]

Except some of the people we capture and hold are innocent.

So? Nothing is perfect people.

 

[mitsho]

I didn't say we should lower ourselves (in most people opinion) to their level. I simply asked if he gave the same as he got.

Personally I don't care what western ideals are based on. Its those arbitrary rules that has us losing this fight. We afford the enemy far to many rights. They should be tortured and killed promptly upon extraction of all usefully information. They do not fear the west and why should they we don't want to offend them or upset the do gooders. The sanitatization of war has seen to it that those who are willing to play dirty win. The west is weak and they exploit it. You can be as nice as you want to them they will just kill you.

What War? What Fight?

 

[skadistic]

What War? What Fight?

The world wide war of Islam vs everyone else. If you need I can give a short list of all the battle fronts that imidiatly come to mind.

 

[Red Door]

So? Nothing is perfect people.

So we should kill innocent people because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

 

[ArneHD]

Torture can make people confess the weirdest of things, it made many people confess to being witches in the middle ages, for example.

I would say that ANY confession of ANY type, extracted during ANY kind of torture is unlikely to be as reliable as a confession NOT extracted under torture, and such a confession should, at the very least, be viewed with EXTREME suspicion

 

[skadistic]

So we should kill innocent people because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Should we? No. but some will die.

Should we not use bullets because they may go stray?
Should we not use bombs because they may go stray?
Maybe we should just give up at the first sign of trouble because god forbid some one innocent dies.