Iran's election Pt 2 - Just because I'm paranoid...

While I do not condone the violence being committed in the streets of Tehran, I cannot help but question what role Western intelligence agencies and their proxies are playing in the protests and chaos that has erupted since the election results were first announced. Obviously the United States and the British have said that they have nothing to do with the protests in Tehran but lying about clandestine activities would really be par for the course at this point.

If we summon the courage to look back at America's clandestine activities over the past century destabilizing and supplanting governments around the world (many of them democratically elected) I'm sure that at the time spokespeople said the same thing and pretended that the activities that were taking place in foreign capitals were organic movements with no help or direction from CIA agents and assets.

Sadly, violence in Iran is exactly what the CIA and the Western governments would love to see, and if it can look like angry students calling for democracy then all the better. Therefore it is completely understandable, while not pardonable, that the Iranian authorities would see the present demonstrations and protests as simply an arm of the American intelligence machine, seeking to destabilize their government in ways outlined by leaked memos over a year ago.

So while Ahmedinejad's government may be paranoid, that doesn't mean MI6 and the CIA aren't out to get him.

One fair use for Waterboarding

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: To avoid what could be federal charges I would just like to state that I am in no way shape or form advocating that non-government entities or persons should kidnap or detain and then waterboard ANYONE. Now...if the CIA wanted to do it to the below mentioned people...who am I to argue with the heroes that keep us safe?

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now, and while I oppose torture in almost all circumstances, there is one that seems like a reasonable, and appropriate use of such techniques as waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation procedures," that being, to waterboard all of the DOJ lawyers and Dick Cheney until such time as they admit that it is torture.

This would be a victory on two fronts and really is the only win-win situation ever devised with regards to the use of torture. As I see it, waterboarding these sorry sacks of shit provides two possible outcomes, both of which would be agreeable to me.

The first outcome, which is the most likely outcome in my opinion, is that they cop to waterboarding and other "harsh methods" as being torture. This proves that they lied in their memos and legal opinions, and, assuming we use the same legal standards that they have imposed on the detainees, would be sufficient evidence of their wrong doing. Also, if they later appear on television or in interviews arguing that they only said it was torture because they were being tortured, it further adds to the fact that information obtained through torture is unreliable.

The second outcome, and, I doubt that any of them have the Jack Bauer ability to resist torture for all that long, is that they don't give in and we get to waterboard Dick Cheney until the end of days (when he gets scooped up in the rapture). While this wouldn't be as fulfilling to the country's soul as the former, it's still a lot of fun to know that those who enacted these awful policies would be on the receiving end of them.