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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA acknowledged today that US officials had “tortured some folks” in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, but urged they not be judged too harshly.
The US administration is expected to release a declassified Senate report in the coming days that will detail abuses by intelligence agents targeting extremist groups in the wake of the attacks.
“Even before I came into office, I was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong,” Obama told reporters.
“We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values.”
‘Real patriots’
Apparently preparing the ground for the report, which lawmakers say they expect to be made public with days, Obama said intelligence personnel had been under extreme pressure in 2001 and after.
“People did not know whether more attacks were imminent and there was enormous pressure on our law enforcement and our national security teams to try to deal with this,” he said.
It’s important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job those folks had. And a lot of those folks were working hard and under enormous pressure, and are real patriots.
“But having said all that, we did some things that were wrong, and that’s what that report reflects,” he added.
“And my hope is that this report reminds us once again that, you know, the character of our country has to be measured in part not by what we do when things are easy, but what we do when things are hard.”
The Central Intelligence Agency has long faced allegations that its “enhanced interrogation techniques,” used between 2002 and 2006 as it hunted Al-Qaeda operatives, amounted to illegal rights abuses.
The Senate probe has also generated a side scandal of its own, following CIA chief John Brennan’s admission this week that his officers improperly penetrated the computers of congressional investigators.
Brennan has faced calls for his resignation, but Obama said that he retained “full confidence” in him.
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Why would we give two hoots?
@Wishywashy: The government is attempting to undermine the cause of the protests by linking them to outside agitators. It’s not true of course.
The Serb government eased the lockdown before the June 21st election in order to get a big turn out and win votes, after the votes were counted they re-imposed the knockdown after announcing a spike in COVID-19 cases. The protestors upset at this, are a mix of people upset at the bent election and conspiracy minded who think COVID dies not exist or was exaggerated as a political tool to stifle descent.
The reason why we should care is that there is now a rapidly worsening outbreak of COVID in Serbia, the government capitulated to the protestors demands, ended the lockdown a 2nd time, so Serbia is now faced with a worsening mishandled outbreak they cannot control. That outbreak could force border closures and cause problems/outbreaks elsewhere in Europe.
Mr Bald of the Bald and Bankrupt YouTube channel caught Coronavirus in Serbia and was in hospital for a month and the ICU for a week.
Here’s his video: https://youtu.be/clscC120ZQM
He didn’t realise how ill he was and was taken to hospital in taxi by a concerned friend. They found his oxygen levels were in “the low 70s”. He recons the low oxygen levels affected his judgment and that’s why he didn’t realise he was dying.
Also, Serbia was caught covering up the severity of the outbreak.
There was an election on June 21, some protestors were upset about the bent election, think the corrupt government eased the lockdown in order to win votes. There’s now a second wave of infections, that’s why the lockdown was re-imposed, or maybe the first never ended, or maybe it’s to stifle protests. One of the leaders of the protest was a 5G conspiracy theorist, but there’s various reasons why people were protesting.
@David Jordan: he is brilliant to watch !! Especially his south American travels
@Maalouf: you might want to do a bit of background research on him, you will think twice about watching his videos.
@David Jordan: oh a communist sympathizer who worked for MI5 probably still does by the look of his videos. Reserch who you watch
@Tiktok: Sources please. Have been following him for a good while and this is the first I’ve heard of that
@Alex Nevin: Used enjoys his videos until I found out he’s a d!rty little git
@Hup Abù: eh hem..I quite enjoyed his videos until I learned he’s a d!try little git
@Alex Nevin: he used to post under a pseudonym in a sex tourist forum and people have corroborated events he mentions in the pseudonym account with facts known about his life (where he has been, an unfounded rape accusation, ex wife from Belarus, tips for learning Russian). He posted despicable stories and totally denigrated all of the people he pretends to be friends with. https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/cz1sz4/the_x_files_of_bald_bankrupt_a_brief_summary_and/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body
@David Jordan: and that is hilarious because he was a denier until he got it
Sure or government used the pandemic to form a government nobody voted for!
@Aaron Jones: you got precisely what you voted for. No overall control….
@ℝ: yeah I never voted for mehole or Leotard!
@Aaron Jones: 76% didn’t vote for Mary Who either but sure that’s democracy for ye.
@GrumpyAulFella: I never voted for Mary Lou!
@GrumpyAulFella: Why can’t people understand how our voting system works!? What you mean to say is 76% didn’t give SF their no1 vote.
Probably the ringleader and a spy.
@:
They should protest at the Chinese embassy
have your say