Originally posted by budski


This does raise a few questions, regardless of political affiliation.

Who are we to believe - a man who has shown he is quite prepared to get into the gutter to further his ambitions?

Or an ex prison guard with little or nothing to gain or lose by saying this.

I have no doubt that the conditions were tough for POW's, but does this amount to torture?
Especially in light of gitmo, where waterboarding is seen as "vigorous questioning"

McCain knows the real answer to this - maybe in his mind it WAS torture, but according to the ex guard, it wasn't.

A matter of perception then?

Or another lie.........

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Someone smashed a rifle butt into my shoulder, breaking it. Someone else stuck a bayonet in my ankle and groin.

the punishment sessions began. I was hauled into an empty room and kept there for four days. At intervals, the guards returned to administer beatings. One guard held me while the others pounded away. They cracked several of my ribs and broke a couple of teeth.

John McCain's account of Viet Cong torture

Originally posted by budski

McCain was not tortured, PoW guard claims

www.guardian.co.uk

The Republican US presidential candidate John McCain was not tortured during his captivity in North Vietnam, the chief prison guard of the jail in which he was held has claimed.

In an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Nguyen Tien Tran acknowledged that conditions in the prison were "tough, though not inhuman". But, he added: "We never tortured McCain. On the contrary, we saved his life, curing him with extremely valuable medicines that at times were not available to our own wounded."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by dbates
reply to post by budski

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No, at GITMO they don't break your ribs and knock out your teeth. And to think that McCain actually received special treatment since he was an Admiral's son. Other prisoners were hung from their arms till their shoulders broke and had their thumbs removed.

Originally posted by budski
reply to post by loam

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If you don't like the article, write to the guardian.

I simply asked questions - I drew no conclusions, and frankly, I'm a little concerned by your attitude, which seems partisan to say the least.

we deny ignorance by asking these questions - not by attempting to ridicule those who ask them.