quotations about torture
When we engaged in some of these enhanced interrogation techniques -- techniques that I believe, and I think any fair-minded person would believe were torture -- we crossed a line.... That needs to be understood and accepted. We have to as a country take responsibility for that so hopefully we don't do it again in the future.
BARACK OBAMA
press conference, August 1, 2014
I am a supporter of waterboarding. It is not torture. Torture is really hurting someone. Waterboarding is just scaring someone, with no long-term injurious effects. It is a scare tactic that works.
LEO K. THORSNESS
"New York Times obituary for Vietnam POW and Medal of Honor recipient omits key detail: He supported waterboarding", American Enterprise Institute, May 4, 2017
Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone "talk;" however, what the individual says may be of questionable value.
DAVID H. PETRAEUS
Official Memo to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen serving in Multi-National Force-Iraq, May 10, 2007