FOX COMMENTATOR WHO JUST SAID TORTURE WORKED ON McCAIN IS, NATURALLY, ALSO A BIRTHER

A Fox Business commentator said today that we know torture works because it was successful when John McCain was in the Hanoi Hilton:

CHARLES PAYNE (HOST): Senator John McCain, he's not going to endorse [CIA director-designate Gina] Haspel also in part because she believes in torture, that she thinks it works, even though she laid out at least three instances where it did work to the benefit of humankind, not just Americans, but all human beings. Should they be evaluating this nominee on her feelings, or based strictly on the facts and her commitment not to use it anymore because it's no longer legal for us.

THOMAS MCINERNEY (FOX NEWS MILITARY ANALYST): Well she can't use it anymore because we have determined in Congress that it's not legal. The fact is, is John McCain -- it worked on John. That's why they call him 'Songbird John.' The fact is those methods can work, and they are effective, as former Vice President Cheney said. And if we have to use them to save a million American lives, we will do whatever we have to.

(Emphasis added.)

Did McCain reveal secrets as a result of being tortured in Vietnam? You'll find many pages on the Internet that say he did, but Snopes and PolitiFact say no, although McCain has acknowledged writing a "confession" under duress.

How credible is McInerney? Consider the fact that in 2010 he filed an affidavit in support of a birther Army colonel:

McInerney submitted his affidavit in support of a request for discovery from attorneys for Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin seeking Obama's "birth records." On August 5, [2010,] the Associated Press reported that Lakin had been "charged with disobeying orders after failing to show up for duty in Afghanistan and questioning whether President Barack Obama has the right to order him there."

McInerney writes that if Obama is constitutionally ineligible, "that creates a break in the chain of command of such magnitude that its significance can scarcely be imagined." Citing the importance of a "unified chain of command" in his own experience commanding nuclear-equipped forces, the Fox analyst claims that "[t]oday, because of the widespread and legitimate concerns that the President is constitutionally ineligible to hold office, I fear what would happen should such a crisis occur today."

McInerney goes on to praise Lakin, writing that he "has acted exactly as proper training dictates. That training mandates that he determine in his own conscience that an order is legal before obeying it."

In 2013, on Fox, McInerney speculated that chemical weapons used in Syria were WMDs that had been smuggled out of Iraq:

On the March 22 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Fox News military analyst and birther Thomas McInerney: "What are the chances of the return address on these chemicals being from Iraq?" McInerney said that this was conjecture but that there was still a high probability of that being the case, explaining: "[W]e do know prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom that there was a lot of vehicles crossing the border into Syria ... I think that it would be a very high probability if we could get into those bunkers, that they would have Iraqi signatures on them."

And last August, on Sean Hannity's radio show, McInerney shrugged off the possible consequences of a nuclear war with North Korea:

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): ... when I say no good option, if we have to strike, even if we have a coalition of the willing -- if we have to strike, we're going to incinerate that place.

The nuclear fallout, correct me if I'm wrong, even if we use, you know buster -- bunker bombs, and other technologies, is -- the fallout potential is dramatic. I mean, potentially -- am I right, or overstating the fact that millions could potentially die here?

MCINERNEY: Yeah, but they'll be mostly North Koreans.

HANNITY: What about South Koreans? What about the Japanese? What about nuclear fallout making its way to China?

MCINERNEY: You can contain that.

Nice guy, this McInerney.