Helen Would Have Asked Gibbs about the Rape Threats for Teens

[kpete]

Helen Would Have Asked about the Rape Threats for Teens
By: emptywheel Wednesday August 11, 2010 7:21 am

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So let me just make this observation. Apparently, not one of the crack reporters at yesterday’s White House press conference asked any question about what it means that a judge speaking for the United States of America decided the other day that using rape threats with teens is an acceptable way to force confessions.
http://www.salon.com/news/guantanamo/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2010/08/11/khadr
http://twitter.com/carolrosenberg/status/20733705200
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/08/09/the-us-believes-its-okay-to-threaten-teenagers-with-rape/

As I suggested, perhaps Robert Gibbs’ intemperate rant wasn’t so stupid after all. It distracted from the sad state of America’s claims at being a law-abiding nation. Lots of questions about the professional left. No questions about threatening a teenager with rape and then using the confession that results as admissible evidence.

Which brings me to a point WaldenE http://twitter.com/WaldenE/status/20817980400 made. Used to be, these kinds of questions got asked in White House press briefings. Back when Helen Thomas was still the Dean of the White House press corps, she would have asked about military interrogators using rape threats with teens (after which, Robert Gibbs would have sighed and given her a patronizing response). No longer. Because she was chased out because–they say–she was an opinion journalist and because she made a comment that Robert Gibbs might call “inartful.”

more:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/08/11/helen-would-have-asked-about-the-rape-threats-for-teens/