Maybe I should contact antibritishhumanrightslawyers4u.com to see if I have a multimillion pound claim against the government (of 30 years ago)!!
Me as well, please...and I had to 'volunteer' if I wanted to keep my job! That was introduced after the debrief of some of some of those aircrew captured in GW1 stated "we never had any training for this". I fail to see how you will ever train for this, as if you get a punch in the head it's still going to hurt - I don't need to do a training course to find it out either! These were the same techniques as the bleeding heart liberalists outlawed against the terrorists in another country not a million miles from my own. Definatley, not torture as I still have all my body parts and don't wake up each night screaming for my mum! It was still bloomin' uncomfortable, though!
I agree, this report is Obama's political game having just lost the last set of hustings. If we're talking psychological trickery, then this report is a classic example.
Whilst we're on the subject of psychology, I heard a funny anecdote on Radio 4 today. The comedian asked, does anyone know what the strategic intent is of the jihadist terrorist plot that led to the introduction of screening passengers and making them put their toiletries in bags with less than 100ml? If it was to terrorise the public and cause them a nuisance plus delays then they are winning! Whilst, this raised a laugh, I thought, "how very true"!
Finally, I don't like or agree with torture and I think that waterboarding is on (or maybe just over) the line between torture and physical/mental manipulation. Manipulation to gain intelligence is a fine art and using a 'sledgehammer to crack a nut' may not be the be the best way to get high-grade info - hold a Stanley knife to my ball-bag and I'll tell you anything and everything I can think of and I will leave you to work out what's true, half-true or a lie to stop you popping my testicles outside of my skin!
LJ