The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Presuming Bush Innocent: A Thought Experiment

    By Ripper on Thu, 01/22/2009 - 2:16pm |
    This is a "what if" post, not a defense of George W. Bush's record.

    But clobber me if you're the kind that thinks I shouldn't be allowed to ponder out loud. Call me a troll, though a quick review of my posts will demonstrate my unwavering opposition to W's policies and my unwavering support for Barack Obama since before the day I joined this board.

    Here's the thought experiment:

    A. The following ARE true:
    1. "Excluding the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died in the attacks. Another 24 are missing and presumed dead." -- wikipedia entry on 9/11
    2. Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed admitted he planned the attacks in a 2002 Al Jazeera interview prior to his capture, imprisonment and waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
    B. IF all of the following are true:
    1. Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed was suspected to have intimate details of other Al Qaeda operations that, if not stopped, could result in the deaths of several thousand Americans.
    2. Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed refused to divulge details of these operations under normal interrogation methods.
    3. Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding, whereupon these operations were thwarted by law enforcement.
    C. THEN (Remembering all the above are considered facts in this experiment):

    Which choice should a U.S. president make?
    1. Consent to the waterboarding of Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed
    2. Risk the death of American lives on a scale approaching or surpassing the nearly 3,000 killed on 9/11
    No arguing with the presumed facts. No changing the scenario. Just answer the question before you present an opinion.