Reply #104: This guy is sick, no question.

[burrfoot]

And, in my opinion, should never have custody of his daughter again.

But I think it may be reading too much into it- and giving him too much credit- to assume that he did this because he had somehow been convinced that it "wasn't torture." He knows it's torture, whatever Cheney or anybody else says. You know it's torture. I know it's torture. Whether or not to use it is a question to argue- what it truly is, though, is clear to everyone.

This guy is a douchebag child abuser. Did war make him that way? Maybe. If he'd never heard of waterboarding, though, I'll bet you he'd have done something else fucked up and sadistic- maybe tied her to a chair in the closet and left her until she "remembered" the alphabet?

My point here is that he knew what he was doing. He didn't think it was ok; he fucking snapped and did something that he knows is fucked up.

Get him therapy, meds, whatever he needs (mostly time and counseling, in my opinion); don't let him around his kid anymore until she's 18 and can decide for herself.

Don't, though....don't give this guy a pass and pretend he didn't know it was wrong because he's been told waterboarding isn't torture.


Just my .02, of course.

*Edits for typos*