7/11    "It is not really a reversal of policy ... Humane treatment has always
        been the standard, and that is something that they followed at
        Guantanamo." -Tony Snow (July 11, 2006)
        Can someone tell me why the first sentence is an out-an-out lie?
        \_ According to the FBI: "On a couple of occasions, I entered
           interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a
           foetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most
           times they had urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been
           left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air
           conditioning had been turned down so far ... that the barefooted
           detainee was shaking with cold.
           "On another occasion, the air-conditioning had been turned off,
           making the temperature in the unventilated room probably well over
           100 degrees ... The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor,
           with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally
           pulling his own hair out throughout the night.
           We also waterboard prisoners, which is pretty clearly not humane.
           \_ I believe the legal definition of "humane" is anything not
              leading to permanent organ failure and death, but they don't
              tell you that.
              \_ No, the White House has tried to claim that this is the
                 definition of "torture," but even that is BS. Various
                 courts have determined that waterboarding, sensory
                 deprivation, beating, etc are inhumane.
                 \_ "As you know, the term 'humanely' has no precise legal
                    definition." -Alberto Gonzales
                    http://balkin.blogspot.com/Gonzales.Kennedy.supp.pdf
                    (see question 15)
                    \_ Isn't this the same Gonzales that said the Geneva
                       Convention didn't apply to prisoners at Gitmo?
                       Why do you think he is the authority on anything?
                       \_ I'm agreeing with you.  My take on it is that humane
                          means nothing to our Attorney General, and therefore
                          "humane" is whatever is not torture, and as you
                          pointed out, torture is anything not leading to
                          organ failure / death.