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Torture

The Road to Abu Ghraib Starts at the Top of the Bush Regime
30-Oct-04
Torture

Phillip Carter: "A generation from now historians may look back to April 28, 2004, as the day the US lost the war in Iraq. CBS News broadcast the first ugly photographs of abuses by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison. Two days later, The New Yorker published a report on Abu Ghraib by Seymour Hersh documenting the full extent of the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the initial efforts to investigate them. The damage done might have been minimized had Bush pursued a strategy of publicly & sincerely holding accountable those responsible for it. Instead, he has done something close to the opposite... Go past the executive summaries and press releases and a careful reading of the reports reveals a devastating scandal of Abu Ghraib wasn't a failure of implementation, as Rice and others have admitted. It was a direct-and predictable-consequence of a policy, hatched at the highest levels of the administration, by senior WH officials and lawyers, in the weeks and months after 9/11."

Torture as Foreign Policy
30-Oct-04
Torture

Nat Hentoff: "There has been much talk of values during the presidential campaign and the doctrine that exporting the ideals and practice of constitutional freedom can bring liberty to parts of the world afflicted by tyrannical regimes. However, on October 8, the House Republican leadership rolled over the Democrats to pass the 9-11 Recommendations Implementation Act with no input at all from the Democrats. Section 3032 of the bill empowers the secretary of homeland security to remove "certain aliens," including those on American soil, from the protections of the international Covenant Against Torture when the secretary finds those "aliens" a danger to the U.S... This means a person detained can be sent to countries that torture prisoners, so that the torturers can extract information from them that we can't. Shaun Waterman of United Press International noted that "at present, the procedure is carried out in a covert, extra-legal fashion by CIA operatives in chartered Gulfstream jets."

British Gitmo Detainees Seek $10 Million Each in Damages
28-Oct-04
Torture

AP: "Four British citizens released from Guantanamo Bay filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the United States seeking $10 million each in damages for abuse they allegedly suffered at the U.S. military outpost in Cuba... The lawsuit alleges the four were chained to the floor while strobe lights and loud music were played in a room chilled by air conditioning set at maximum levels. The men say they were subjected to the conditions for up to 14 hours at a time. They say they were stripped naked and forced to watch videotapes of other prisoners who had allegedly been ordered to sodomize each other. The men also allege that some of the guards threw the prisoners' Qurans into the toilets. Some of the men allege they were forcibly injected with drugs as part of the interrogation process and told they would get help only if they cooperated. Medical officials at Gitmo have said medication is voluntary." Yea, right... Indict the Bush Junta for War Crimes NOW!

No Change in Bush's Torture Policy - Amnesty International
28-Oct-04
Torture

Jim Lobe: "The US has failed to meaningfully change its policies on the treatment of prisoners, opening the door to repeats of abuses like those at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and making an independent probe into torture by the U.S. military essential... "Many questions remain unanswered, responsible individuals are beyond the scope of investigation, policies that facilitate torture remain in place, and prisoners continue to be held in secret detention," said William Schulz, executive director of the U.S. section of Amnesty." Amnesty's new report, ''Human Dignity Denied: Torture and Accountability in the 'War on Terror'," documents what it calls a pattern of human rights violations running from Afghanistan to Abu Ghraib via Guantanamo Bay..." John Kerry will stop the torture, Vote Kerry!

Abu Ghraib, Unresolved, and Biting Bush in the Butt!
28-Oct-04
Torture

NYT: "When the Abu Ghraib prison scandal first broke, the Bush administration struck a pose of righteous indignation. It assured the world that the problem was limited to one block of one prison, that the US would never condone the atrocities we saw in those terrible photos, that it would punish those responsible for any abuse - regardless of rank - and that it was committed to defending the Geneva Conventions and the rights of prisoners. None of this appears to be true. The Army has prosecuted a few low-ranking soldiers... but exonerated the top generals. No political leader is being held accountable for the policies...that led to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and at other prison camps operated by the Pentagon and the CIA in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay where prisoner abuse was systemic... (as for) the administration's respect for the Geneva Conventions - some senior officials openly disdain (them) as antiquated nuisance..."

Bush's Disappeared: 'Like the Domestic Detainees of Some Notorious Dictatorships'
28-Oct-04
Torture

WashPost: "Bush pretends, and many Americans believe, the abuse of U.S.-held prisoners abroad ended after the release of sensational photographs from Abu Ghraib prison... Sadly, it did not. While blaming the crimes at Abu Ghraib on a small group of low-ranking soldiers, the WH, the Pentagon and the CIA have fought to preserve the exceptional and sometimes secret policies that allow U.S. personnel to violate the Geneva Conventions... Under those policies, practices at odds with basic American values continue - even if there are no sensational photos to document them. The latest example concerns 'ghost prisoners,' suspects captured in Iraq and Afghanistan who are interrogated by the CIA in secret locations, sometimes outside those countries, and whose identities and locations are withheld from relatives, the Red Cross and even Congress. For all practical purposes, they have 'disappeared,' like the domestic detainees of some notorious dictatorships."

Kerry Will Stop the Torture
27-Oct-04
Torture

A couple of weeks ago the Washington Post opined "What About Abu Ghraib?", lambasting both campaigns for ignoring the prison torture scandal. Only one campaign responded, John Kerry's, which makes his position quite clear, "...a Kerry administration will apply the Geneva Conventions to all battlefield combatants captured in the war on terror... We will abide by a principle long enshrined in our military manuals," says the Kerry statement: "That America does not treat prisoners in ways we would consider immoral and illegal if perpetrated by the enemy on Americans." YOU can Help Stop the Torture. Vote for John Kerry! Put the Bush Junta on trial for War Crimes!!!

Bush Cabal's Secret Rewriting of Military Law Set Up Gitmo and Led to Torture
27-Oct-04
Torture

A major NYT expose' reveals how the (Federalist Society infested) Bush Cabal secretly re-wrote Military Law to set up Gitmo and led to prisoner abuse and torture. "Determined to deal aggressively with the terrorists they expected to capture, the officials bypassed the federal courts and their constitutional guarantees, giving the military the authority to detain foreign suspects indefinitely and prosecute them in tribunals... The plan was considered so sensitive that senior White House officials kept its final details hidden from the president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and the secretary of state, Colin L. Powell... "We think it guarantees that we'll have the kind of treatment of these individuals that we believe they deserve," said Cheney, who was a driving force behind the policy... three years later, not a single terrorist has been prosecuted." But many HAVE been raped, tortured and murdered!

CIA Violating Geneva Convention by Moving Prisoners out of Iraq for 'Interrogation' (i.e., torture).
25-Oct-04
Torture

Boston Globe: "Leading senators expressed concern Sunday about a report that the CIA has secretly moved as many as a dozen unidentified prisoners out of Iraq in the past six months, a possible violation of international treaties. Sen. John McCain said interrogations can help extract crucial information from detainees on plans for attacks against Americans. But international law, including the Geneva Conventions, must be followed, he said. ''These conventions and these rules are in place for a reason because you get on a slippery slope and you don't know where to get off,'' McCain, R-Ariz., told ABC's ''This Week.'' ''The thing that separates us from the enemy is our respect for human rights,'' he said." Too bad McCain didn't bother to speak up about three years ago.

11 Al Qaida Suspects 'Disappeared'
12-Oct-04
Torture

AP: "At least 11 al-Qaida suspects have 'disappeared' in U.S. custody, and some may have been tortured, Human Rights Watch said in a report [titled 'The United States' 'Disappeared: The CIA's Long-term 'Ghost Detainees'] issued Monday. The prisoners are probably being held outside the United States without access to the Red Cross or any oversight of their treatment... The report said the prisoners include the alleged architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, as well as Abu Zubaydah, who is believed to be a close aide to Osama bin Laden. In refusing to disclose the prisoners' whereabouts or acknowledge the detentions, Human Rights Watch said, the U.S. government has violated international law, international treaties and the Geneva Convention. The group called on the government to bring all the prisoners 'under the protection of the law.' "

Bush Wants to LEGALIZE Torture
01-Oct-04
Torture

Bush "has endorsed a proposed bill that would make it legal for U.S. intelligence officials to deport individuals to countries known to use torture to extract information. The '9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act' marks the first time the U.S. government has officially scripted its policy known as 'extraordinary rendition,' whereby American authorities can circumvent their own restraints on interrogations by sending suspects to countries known to employ harsh tactics." Impeach Bush Now!

Human Rights Watch Accuses US Military of Killing and Abusing Afghans
15-Sep-04
Torture

Guardian UK: "US troops in Afghanistan are operating outside the rule of law, using excessive force to make arrests, mistreating detainees and holding them indefinitely in a 'legal black hole' without any legal safeguards... Its military forces have repeatedly used deadly force from helicopter gunships and small and heavy arms fire during 'what are essentially law-enforcement operations' to arrest suspected criminals in residential areas where there is no military conflict... 'But the activities of these groups are no excuse for US violations. Abuses by one party to a conflict, no matter how egregious, do not justify violations by the other side.' The report cites complaints collected by a UN official of 'cowboy-like' tactics against people 'who generally turn out to be law-abiding citizens'. They include blowing doors open with grenades rather than knocking...." We CAN stop the madness - re-defeat Bush, Vote for Kerry!

Pentagon Prepares to Distribute 'Non-Lethal' Laser Designed to 'Boil' Water Molecules in Victims' Skin
20-Aug-04
Torture

This is the Pentagon's "nifty new toy" : a taser that uses microwaves to, literally, heat the water molecules in your skin, causing horrific pain. Like most Pentagon monstrosities, this has a 'sanitized' title: Active Denial System. The Pentagon plans to distribute the tasers to all services "for evaluation" this fall - just in time to terrorize Iraqis on a large scale. The Pentagon declares the weapon safe - tested, of course under the strictly controlled conditions that almost NEVER occur in real life. Dominique Loye of the Red Cross has pleaded for more disclosure on the weapons and independent investigation into possible side effects. (the Pentagon won't release its findings). Says Loye: "Directed energy may cause 'new types of injuries we're not aware of and may not be capable of taking care of.' " See http://mirrors.meepzorp.com/deps.org/adt

Marines Made Whistleblowers Delete Info from Website on Pentagon Scheme to Use Mind-Impairing Drugs as Weapons
20-Aug-04
Torture

The Sunshine Project is dedicated to exposing the Pentagon's ongoing schemes to develop bioweaponry, devious torture techniques (yes, it turns out this has been an ongoing project), and an arsenal of mind-impairing drugs intended not just for use on enemy combatants but on dissenters, prisoners, and refugees. When the Project put up three of the Pentagon's OWN documents, proving the existence of some of these sicko schemes, the Bush administration "sent in the marines," who bullied the activists into removing the documents from their site. Guess when this occurred? In early July, 2004, right as the Abu Ghraib scandal was breaking full force. Which suggests there is much, much more that has yet to be uncovered.

Pentagon Program Plans to Use Mind-impairing Drugs against Combatants, Refugees, Prisoners and Protestors
20-Aug-04
Torture

July 2002 report by the Sunshine Project: "The Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate which is based at the Applied Research Laboratory of Pennsylvania State University, is assessing weaponization of a number of psychiatric and anesthetic pharmaceuticals as well as "club drugs" (such as the "date rape drug").'The choice administration route, whether application to drinking water, topical administration to the skin, an aerosol spray inhalation route, or a drug filled rubber bullet, among others, will depend on the environment.' The environments identified are specific military and civil situations, including 'hungry refugees that are excited over the distribution of food, a prison setting,' an 'agitated population' and 'hostage situations.'At times, the JNLWD team's report veers very close to defining dissent as a psychological disorder. "

Many of Abu Ghraib's Worst Horrors Were Perpetrated - then Covered Up by Medical Personnel
20-Aug-04
Torture

Under the Same Sun: "The prestigious medical journal The Lancet has just published a report about military medical establishment's complicity and participation in torture in Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan and elsewhere. According to the journal, U.S. military medical personnel helped design the torture, participated in it, issued blatantly false 'natural cause' death certificates for people tortured to death, and even inserted fake IV catheters into corpses for purposes of cover-up -- 'uh, he's not dead; he slipped and fell in the shower and we're just taking him to the hospital.' Here's an excerpt: 'An Abu Ghraib prisoner's deposition reports the crutch that he used because of a broken leg was taken from him and his leg was beaten as he was ordered to renounce Islam. The same detainee told a guard that the prison doctor had told him to immobilise a badly injured shoulder; the guard's response was to suspend him from the shoulder.' "

Probe Lets US Officers Off the Hook in Iraq Prison Torture Scandal
19-Aug-04
Torture

AFP: "A report into the prisoner abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison reportedly clears US military officers from any wrongdoing but faults them for creating conditions that allowed the mistreatment to go on. The report by Major General George Fay is expected to blame at least two dozen military intelligence personnel, civilian contractors and Central Intelligence Agency officers for wrongdoing, unnamed Pentagon and military officials told the NYT and USA Today... The sources did not say whether the report found misconduct among civilian contractors working as interrogators at Abu Ghraib, but it does cite the role of US Justice Department officials and recommends further investigation of their actions..." The Pentagon cover-up continues - WHAT will it take for Congress convene investigations? We already have the sex, lies and videotape!

General Geoffrey 'Gitmo' Miller Brags that His Abu Ghraib 'Procedures' Are Still Being Followed
19-Aug-04
Torture

Hindustantimes: "A US General in charge of detention operations in Iraq has defended his recommendation last fall that MP's at the prison work closely with military intelligence, saying the procedure is still being followed and has not led to abuse of prisoners.[Say What?]... Miller, who took over detention operations in Iraq in March, said that during his initial visit to Abu Ghraib last fall, he recommended some changes at the prison, many of them based on practices at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba... The top intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib when the abuse took place has said in sworn testimony that Miller told him that military dogs were effective in 'setting the atmosphere' to get information from detainees...The intelligence officer, Col. Thomas M. Pappas, said Miller indicated that the dogs could be used without or without a muzzle in the interrogation booths."

Bush Administration Derails Terror Trial against Al Qaeda Operative to Cover Up Torture of Prisoners
10-Aug-04
Torture

Yep, Bush is keepin' America safe - by making sure that it is impossible to successfully prosecute cases. From DW- World: "A Hamburg court retrying suspected al Qaeda terrorist Mounir al Motassadeq will have to forgo the testimony of the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in custody in the US, after Washington refused access to him. German authorities had asked the US for access to six key witnesses. But the US said that even information on whether a particular individual is in custody was classified information." Although the US claims the reason for derailing the trial is "national security," the defendant's lawyers suspect another reason: Bush's fear that Motassadeq will expose the fact that torture is being used on prisoners INSIDE the US: "What we know is that the witnesses from America were tortured, I mean, systematically tortured," he said.

Karpinski: Rumsfeld Gave Go-Ahead for Abu Ghraib Tactics
04-Jul-04
Torture

UK Telegraph: "Brig-Gen Janis Karpinski, who commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade, which is at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, said that documents yet to be released by the Pentagon would show that Mr Rumsfeld personally approved the introduction of harsher conditions of detention in Iraq... In an interview with The Signal newspaper of Santa Clarita, California, which was also broadcast on a local television channel yesterday, Gen Karpinski was asked if she knew of documents showing that Mr Rumsfeld approved 'particular interrogation techniques' for Abu Ghraib... 'Since all this came out,' she replied, 'I've not only seen, but I've been asked about some of those documents, that he [Mr Rumsfeld] signed and agreed to.' Asked whether the documents have been made public, Gen Karpinski replied 'No' and went on to describe the methods approved in them as involving 'dogs, food deprivation and sleep deprivation'."

What Did Bush Read, and When Did He Read It
29-Jun-04
Torture

"'I don't believe the president had access to any legal opinions from the DoJ,' said his lawyer Gonzales. We do know, however, that Bush had 'extensive discussions' involving the 'complex legal questions' of whether the Geneva Conventions apply to the al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters captured by U.S. forces, because his 2/7/02 order stated precisely that. In his order, Bush 'accept[s] the legal conclusion of the attorney general and DoJ that I have the authority under the Constitution to suspend Geneva.' Gonzales would have us believe Bush accepted the Ashcroft/Justice Department conclusion without even reading any memos. We are being asked to take it on faith that even though Bush had extensive discussions with lawyers from the Defense and Justice Departments before issuing his February 7, 2002 order, he conveniently wasn't privy to later memos that justified torture. Most significantly, we don't know whether Bush signed any directives on prisoner interrogation after 2/7/02."

Torture Memos Approved by Top Bushevik Lawyers Led Directly to CIA Torture
29-Jun-04
Torture

"White House officials told reporters that such abstract legal reasoning [in the infamous torture memos] was insignificant and did not reflect the president's orders. But Newsweek has learned that [former OLC lawyer John] Yoo's August 2002 memo was prompted by CIA questions about what to do with a top Qaeda captive, Abu Zubaydah, who had turned uncooperative. And it was drafted after White House meetings convened by George W. Bush's chief counsel, Alberto Gonzales, along with Defense Department general counsel William Haynes and David Addington, Dick Cheney's counsel, who discussed specific interrogation techniques, says a source familiar with the discussions. Among the methods they found acceptable: 'water-boarding,' or dripping water into a wet cloth over a suspect's face, which can feel like drowning; and threatening to bring in more-brutal interrogators from other nations."

Bush is Still Hiding the 'Waterboarding' Torture Memo
29-Jun-04
Torture

According to USA Today, a still-classified legal memo also written in August 2002 was "far more detailed and explicit" than the one the administration declassified last week, and had the approval of high-level officials in the Justice Department. The more detailed memo reportedly "spelled out specific interrogation methods that the CIA could use against top al-Qaeda members -- current Justice official who knows the memo's contents said it specifically authorized the CIA to use 'waterboarding,' in which a prisoner is made to believe he is suffocating." Initially, the Office of Legal Counsel was in charge of approving specific interrogation techniques, but "high-ranking Justice Department officials intercepted the CIA request, and the matter was handled by top officials in the deputy attorney general's office and Justice's criminal division." We demand the immediate release of ALL torture documents!

Let's Torture the Lawyers Who Approved the Torture Memo
28-Jun-04
Torture

Was the infamous Torture Memo by Jay Bybee (now a Federal judge) a rogue operation, as the White House is trying to suggest? Absolutely not! It was approved "by the [Justice] department's criminal division and by the office of Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. In addition, Timothy E. Flanigan -- then deputy White House counsel -- discussed a draft of the document with lawyers at the Office of Legal Counsel before it was finalized, the officials said. David S. Addington, Cheney's counsel, also weighed in," demanding dictatorial powers for the President. Each one of these lawyers should be removed from their cushy taxpayer-funded jobs, disbarred - and perhaps even tortured so they take "personal responsibility" for their actions.

CIA Says It Has Suspended (Some) Torture Tactics
27-Jun-04
Torture

Gee, the last time we heard the CIA say it wasn't using torture tactics anymore was back in the early 1990s. That sure stuck, eh? Now, in a transparently coincidental announcement made the same time that Bush is conducting a frantic damage control campaign in Europe, the CIA says it won't torture prisoners for now, pending a "review." First off, as most of the torture being conducted on prisoners was not performed by the CIA -- (but by its proxies), this is a next-to-meaningless announcement. Second, as the same Justice Dept. that approved the torture is also going to be reviewing the torture, it's hard to see how this is a big "breakthrough."

The CIA Has Been Torturing for Decades
24-Jun-04
Torture

Steve Weissman writes, "The CIA summed up this macabre research in a classified manual they called 'KUBARK Counter Intelligence Interrogation - July 1963.' KUBARK was code for the CIA, which used the ideas in its murderous Operation Phoenix in Vietnam. The US military also used the manual extensively, notably at Fort Benning's School of the Americas, teaching it to upcoming officers from throughout the hemisphere and helping create the most notorious tyrants and torturers. Read the manual for yourself. You can find it - and a Reagan-era update - online at the National Security Archive. Here you will see exactly why the Pentagon wanted young prison guards at Abu Ghraib to keep the Iraqis naked, sexually humiliate them, sic dogs on them, force them into stress positions, continually break up their eating and sleeping routines, deprive them of sensory stimulation, and apply several other clear-cut violations of the Geneva Conventions."

GOP Senate Votes for MORE Torture
24-Jun-04
Torture

"Democrats on Capitol Hill are pushing to secure release of more Bush administration documents, with some in the House calling for a special committee to investigate abuses at Abu Ghraib. The House Appropriations Committee voted Wednesday to bar the Justice Department from issuing legal justifications for torture. The Senate, however, defeated 50-46 a measure that would have declared all U.S. officials bound by anti-torture laws and required Pentagon reports on interrogation techniques, the number of detainees denied POW status, Red Cross findings on U.S. military prisons and a schedule for trying terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay. Although the administration released memos on interrogation techniques approved for military personnel, the advice given to the CIA and other intelligence agencies remains classified and will not be released. One CIA contractor has been indicted on charges of severely beating an Afghan prisoner who later died, and others are under investigation."

America's History of Torture
24-Jun-04
Torture

The United States likes to see itself with a halo on its head, and whenever a revelation like Abu Ghraib or My Lai surfaces, U.S. citizens tend to shrug it off as an anomaly. When you look at the last fifty years of U.S. history, it is anything but. From Greece to Iran to Indonesia to Vietnam and throughout Latin America, the U.S. government has been complicit in the torture or murder of hundreds of thousands of people. "If we had photographs of what our so-called allies in Honduras and El Salvador and Chile were doing, based on training they had received from us in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the American public would have been even more horrified," says Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C. This was torture by proxy, but it was at the direction of Washington. "The only difference between this kind of conduct now and in the past is that there wasn't somebody with a digital camera back then keeping track of what was going on," says Kornbluh.

Inside Afghan Prisons: A Guardian Expose
24-Jun-04
Torture

"An in-depth investigation by the Guardian, including interviews with former Bagram prisoners, senior US military sources and human rights monitors in Afghanistan, has uncovered widespread evidence of detainees facing beatings, sexual humiliation and being kept for long periods in painful positions. Detainees, none of whom were ever charged with any offence, told of American soldiers throwing stones at them as they defecated and being stripped naked in front of large groups of interrogators... At least five men have died while under detention, three of which were classified as homicides. Two deaths at Bagram airbase have been classified as homicides and autopsies have indicated 'blunt-force injuries'. An investigation into allegations of abuse and the deaths in custody has just been completed by Brigadier General Chuck Jacoby, the second highest-ranking US officer in Afghanistan, and parts of it are due to be made public next month."

PentaPost Slams BushFeld over Torture
21-Jun-04
Torture

"Did senior officials 'permit' torture? A Pentagon-led task force concluded in March 2003, with the support of the Justice Department, that the president was authorized to order torture as part of his war-making powers and that those who followed his orders could be immunized from punishment. Dictators who wish to justify torture, and those who would mistreat Americans, have no need to read our editorials: They can download from the Internet the 50-page legal brief issued by Mr. Rumsfeld's chief counsel... What is needed is a full and independent investigation of the matter, including the decisions made by Mr. Rumsfeld and other senior officials, and a forthright and unambiguous commitment by Bush to strictly observe U.S. and international law in the future. That pledge should be accompanied by a return to the public disclosure of U.S. interrogation policies."

As Torture is Tied to White House, a Top Lawyer Quits
20-Jun-04
Torture

"In a sworn statement to Army investigators, Army Lt. Col. Steven Jordan, the top military intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib when abuses occurred, said he was under intense pressure from the White House, Pentagon and CIA last fall to get better information from detainees. He also said he had worked out a procedure with CIA interrogators to hide five or six inmates from Red Cross inspectors in October. Jordan's statement said he was reminded of the need to improve intelligence 'many, many, many times' and the pressure included a visit to the prison by [Fran Townsend], an aide to Condoleezza Rice... Jack Goldsmith, the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, announced he was resigning at the end of July. The Office of Legal Counsel is embroiled in a dispute over Bush administration memos that contend neither the president, nor anyone acting on his orders as a wartime commander-in-chief, can be held liable under anti-torture laws."

Pressure at Iraqi Prison Detailed
18-Jun-04
Torture

"The officer who oversaw interrogations at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad testified that he was under intense "pressure" from the White House, Pentagon and CIA last fall to get better information from detainees, pressure that he said included a visit to the prison by an aide to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice."

Watergate Veteran Liz Holtzman Asks: 'What Did Bush Know'?
17-Jun-04
Torture

Former Rep. Liz Holtzman (D-NY) writes, "The key question is how high up the responsibility goes for these abhorrent acts. The War Crimes Act covers government officials who give the orders for inhuman treatment as well as those who carry them out. Since the War Crimes Act punishes for inhuman treatment alone, prosecutions under that act can by-pass any disagreement over the exact meaning of torture - and whether the Justice Department's absurdly narrow definition is correct. In addition, under international law, officials who know about the inhuman treatment and fail to stop it are also liable. We need to know what directives Bush gave for CIA and military interrogations in Iraq. We also need to know what the president and his subordinates, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, knew about the inhuman treatment of Iraqi prisoners - and when they knew it and what they did about it."

Help Document US Torture
16-Jun-04
Torture

Derek Mitchell of the outstanding Center for Cooperative Research has created a new timeline. "This project intends to document cases of human rights abuses committed by US intelligence and the military against detainees. It also looks at the top-level policies which have promoted such abuses, both directly and indirectly. The project currently consists of one main timeline, comprised of roughly 150 entries. The events summarized in the timeline are divided into five categories: Rendition of US captives to foreign countries; cases of torture, abuse and other human rights violations; attempts to conceal or cover up illegal US interrogation methods and other prisoner abuses; cases of prisoner deaths, murders and executions; and high-level complicity. Anyone interested in submitting or editing an entry for this timeline should use the temporary submit form." Help make this the definitive source for US torture.

Correction: US is Investigating 37 Prisoner Deaths, not 127
16-Jun-04
Torture

Free Press writes, "A front-page article Monday about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq incorrectly said that investigations have been opened into the deaths of 127 prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. The correct number is 37. Investigations are under way into 127 complaints from prisoners on a range of issues, from abuse to lost personal property, a Pentagon spokesman said."

Bush & Co. Had 'Torture on the Brain'
16-Jun-04
Torture

Tom Engelhardt writes, "The Bush administration had torture on the brain. Its officials were fixated on the subject, which went so naturally with the President's new-style, no-holds-barred, we're-the-only-law-in-town, dead-or-alive, assassination-and-kidnapping 'war on terrorism.' It's no longer a matter of whether knowledge of the acts committed at Abu Ghraib prison reach the President and his advisors, but of what can only be termed a complete obsession with the subject of torture among those figures. The highest officials at the Pentagon, in the military, in the CIA, and at the Justice Department clearly couldn't stop thinking about torture -- as over the course of more than a year they requested legal memorandum after memorandum, all chewing over how to define torture so that various inhumane acts involving the infliction of mental and physical pain would not be considered such; over how far to go when too far was never quite far enough."

George Orwell... meet Franz Kafka
16-Jun-04
Torture

Tom Engelhardt writes, "These are, in fact, documents of shame, symbolic of a kind of bureaucratic lawlessness let loose at the heart of our government. They are intent on creating a pseudo-legal basis for replacing the rule of law with the rule of a commander-in-chief. As Robert Kuttner put it, 'For nearly three years, the Bush administration has resorted to the most preposterous fictions to define either locales or categories of people to whom the law does not apply. If you connect the dots, the torture at Abu Ghraib is part of a larger slide toward tyranny as the Bush administration tries to exempt itself from the rule of law.' ... As the Washington Post put it, 'Theirs is the logic of criminal regimes.' Were it ever to be made the law of the land, our republic, such as it is, would quite literally be ended and we would face some kind of one-party dictatorship. Were its definitions of torture ever made the law of the land, every torturer on earth would shout hosannas to it."

Did Bush Reward Bybee for Advocating Torture with a Federal Judgeship?
15-Jun-04
Torture

Robert Scheer writes, "Jay S. Bybee [wrote the infamous memo] which argued darkly that torturing Al Qaeda captives 'may be justified' and that international laws against torture 'may be unconstitutional if applied to interrogations' conducted under President Bush. The memo then continued for 50 pages to make the case for the use of torture. Was it as a reward for such bold legal thinking that only months later Bybee was appointed to one of the top judicial benches in the country? Perhaps he was anointed for his law journal articles bashing Roe vs. Wade and legal protection for homosexuals, or for his innovative attack on the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides for the popular election of U.S. senators. But it's hard to shake the notion that his memo to Counsel to the President Alberto Gonzales established Bybee's hard-line credentials for an administration that has no use for moderation in any form." Bybee should be impeached - and disbarred!

Bush, Lawful Torture and the Science of the Vatican
15-Jun-04
Torture

Molly Ivins writes,"'We're a nations of laws,' [Bush declared]. 'We adhere to laws. We have laws on the books. You might look at those laws, and that might comfort you.' There, don't you feel all better now? How comforting to know the Department of Justice memo on the subject of torture advises it 'must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impaired bodily function or even death.' Just beating the living crap out of someone doesn't count at all. The Geneva Conventions are not binding on us, nor are any other international agreements if it impedes the war effort, says the DOJ. As Professor Michael Froomkin of Miami University told Salon: 'The lawyers who wrote it are guilty. The people who asked them to write it, who read it and who may have acted on it - they're the people who really have to answer for it.' Under the DOJ theory of the Constitution, the president can not only approve torture, he can also approve genocide."

Geoffrey Miller Perfectly Summarizes Bush's Philosophy: Treat People Like Dogs
15-Jun-04
Torture

In an interview with the BBC, "Gen. Janis Karpinski said military intelligence took over part of the Abu Ghraib jail to 'Gitmoize' their interrogations - make them more like what was happening in the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which is nicknamed 'Gitmo'. She said current Iraqi prisons chief Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller - who was in charge at Guantanamo Bay - visited her in Baghdad and said: 'At Guantanamo Bay we learned that the prisoners have to earn every single thing that they have.' 'He said they are like dogs and if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog then you've lost control of them.'" This is a brilliant summary of the core Bush philosophy - treat people like dogs. When will the American people wake up?

Prisoner Deaths Reach 127!
14-Jun-04
Torture

The last count we saw of prisoner deaths under investigation was 40. Suddenly we find this buried in the weekend papers: "the Army has announced that it is investigating the deaths of 127 prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan." We are unable to find any more details - clearly the Busheviks are saying as little as possible. Impeach Bush Now!

What Were Bush's Orders on Torture?
14-Jun-04
Torture

In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Ashcroft desperately tried to deny Bush had any responsibility for the torture committed by his administration. Ashcroft specifically said Bush "made no order that would require or direct the violation of any law." But when asked about the orders Bush DID give, Ashcroft refused to answer. Sen. Pat Leahy demanded Ashcroft answer a simple question. "Has there been any other order or directive from the president with respect to interrogation of detainees, prisoners or combatants? It's a pretty easy question. It should be a pretty easy answer. Either there is one or there isn't." Ashcroft has still not answered the question. Obviously Ashcroft is covering up Bush's torture orders. Impeach Bush Now!

UK Observer Exposes US Torture by 'Rendition'
14-Jun-04
Torture

UK Observer reports, "The United States government, in conjunction with key allies, is running an 'invisible' network of prisons and detention centres into which thousands of suspects have disappeared without trace since the 'war on terror' began. In the past three years, thousands of alleged militants have been transferred around the world by American, Arab and Far Eastern security services, often in secret operations that by-pass extradition laws. The astonishing traffic has seen many, including British citizens, sent from the West to countries where they can be tortured to extract information. Anything learnt is passed on to the US and, in some cases, reaches British intelligence. The practice of 'renditions' - when suspects are handed directly into the custody of another state without due process - has sparked particular anger. At least 70 such transfers have occurred, according to CIA sources." This is the first real reporting on America's Gulag.

Lawyers Who Wrote Torture Memos Should Be Disbarred
14-Jun-04
Torture

"Scott Horton, past chairman of the international human rights committee of the New York City bar association, says the government lawyers involved in preparing the documents could and should face professional sanctions. 'There are serious ethical shortcomings here,' he says. 'Lawyers who are employed by the US government have a responsibility to uphold and enforce the laws of the United States,' which include domestic and international legal prohibitions on torture. 'To make an argument that the president's wartime powers give him the right to avoid these statutes is preposterous.'... The most contentious claim is that the president's authority as commander-in-chief during wartime overrides congressional prohibitions on torture. 'The idea that these laws can't be enforced against the executive branch just doesn't make any sense,' says Gregory Maggs, a George Washington University law professor who advised the administration on the creation of the Guantanamo military tribunals."

General Sanchez Granted Latitude at Prison
12-Jun-04
Torture

"Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior U.S. military officer in Iraq, borrowed heavily from a list of high-pressure interrogation tactics used at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and approved letting senior officials at a Baghdad jail use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, sensory deprivation, and diets of bread and water on detainees whenever they wished, according to newly obtained documents...The documents obtained by The Washington Post spell out in greater detail than previously known the interrogation tactics Sanchez authorized, and make clear for the first time that, before last October, they could be imposed without first seeking the approval of anyone outside the prison."

Memo Approved Pain 'Equivalent to... Organ Failure, Impairment of Bodily Function or even Death'
12-Jun-04
Torture

Guardian: "The US administration has, since the beginning of its 'war on terror', made it clear that it does not consider itself bound by the Geneva convention, the international torture convention or its own laws when dealing with opponents such as al-Qaida. . A series of leaked memos from within the administration contain legal opinions that - to put it bluntly - justify torture. According to the memos from lawyers at the departments of justice and defense, the president is able to order the torture of prisoners, and that anyone carrying out the president's orders is immune from prosecution. They define torture as 'equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death'. "

When laws get in the way of torture
11-Jun-04
Torture

William Pfaff writes, "The Bush administration's civilians had been complaining about how law, international treaties and conventions, and military norms and inhibitions, were interfering with their determination to seize and hold anyone they pleased in secret prisons, declare them without legal rights even when they were American citizens, torture them whenever they wanted and keep them forever, if they liked (a totalitarian ambition, obviously). They wanted these obstructions removed. Their complaints sounded like the complaints of Adolf Eichmann, when he described during his trial in Israel the irksome bureaucratic and legal obstacles he ran into in wartime Germany in carrying out his genocidal responsibilities... All of this is a ghastly scandal, one of the worst in American history. It is evident cause for impeachment of this president, if Congress has the courage to do it, and for prosecution of cabinet figures and certain commanders." House Democrats, it's time to lead!

If We Torture Bush's Lawyers, Maybe They'll Finally Tell the Truth...
11-Jun-04
Torture

Molly Ivins is furious - and rightly so. "In order to justify torture, these memos declare that the president is bound by neither U.S. law nor international treaties. We have put ourselves on the same moral level as Saddam Hussein, the only difference being quantity. Quite literally, the president may as well wear a crown -- forget that 'no man is above the law' jazz. We used to talk about 'the imperial presidency' under Nixon, but this is the real thing... The damage is incalculable. When America puts out its annual report on human rights abuses, we will be a laughingstock. I suggest a special commission headed by Sen. John McCain to dig out everyone responsible, root and branch. If the lawyers don't cooperate, perhaps we should try stripping them, anally raping them and dunking their heads under water until they think they're drowning, and see if that helps." We couldn't agree more.

New Smoking Memo! State Dept. Warned Bush in 2002 that Prisoner Abuse Would Place US Troops in Danger
11-Jun-04
Torture

AP: "The State Department warned the White House two years ago that rejecting international standards against torture when dealing with detainees could put U.S. troops at risk. A department memo from Feb. 2, 2002, surfaced Thursday as Bush said he ordered U.S. officials to follow the law while interrogating suspected terrorists. Bush sidestepped an opportunity to denounce the use of torture. The memo followed recommendations from the Justice Department advising the president he could suspend international treaties prohibiting torture. It warned that failing to apply the Geneva Conventions to detainees from the war in Afghanistan -- whether al-Qaida or Taliban -- would put U.S. troops at risk. "

It All Depends on the Meaning of 'Torture' - and 'Law'
11-Jun-04
Torture

Republicans relentlessly attacked Clinton over the meaning of "is". Now the time has come to demand clarity from Bush on the meaning of "torture" - and also the meaning of "law." Busheviks say torture must be equivalent to such serious injury to cause "organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." But the 1984 Convention Against Torture ratified by the US defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted." Moreover, this LAW bars not only outright torture but also "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture." But Busheviks also concluded that if US officials engaged in torture, it was unconstitutional to invoke the Convention Against Torture. The Bushevik analysis brazenly defies the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Impeach Bush Now!

Under US Law, BushFeld are Responsible for Torture Under Their Command
10-Jun-04
Torture

"Even if no smoking gun is ever found to directly link American officials to [torture], they could still find themselves in serious jeopardy under international law. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, officials can be held accountable for war crimes committed by their subordinates even if they did not order them - so long as they had control over the perpetrators, had reason to know about the crimes, and did not stop them or punish the criminals. This doctrine is the product of an American initiative. Devised by Allied judges and prosecutors at the Nuremberg tribunals, it was a means to impute responsibility for wartime atrocities to Nazi leaders, who often communicated indirectly and avoided leaving a paper trail [just like Busheviks!]. More recently... the international tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda... held that political and military leaders can be found liable for war crimes committed by those under their 'effective control' if they do nothing to prevent them."

BushFeld's Torture Began in Nov. 2001 with AMERICAN John Walker Lindh
10-Jun-04
Torture

"After American Taliban recruit John Walker Lindh was captured in Afghanistan [on or before 11/25/01], Rumsfeld's lawyers instructed military intelligence officers to 'take the gloves off' in interrogating him. The instructions from Rumsfeld's legal counsel... are the earliest known evidence that the Bush administration was willing to test the limits of how far it could go legally to extract information from suspected terrorist... The office was headed by William J. Haynes II [now a federal judge!]. On Dec. 14, 2001, Haynes' deputy, Paul W. Cobb Jr., told Lindh's lawyers that 'our forces have provided him with appropriate medical attention and will continue to treat him humanely.' But court documents suggest that Lindh was treated much as the prisoners later were at Abu Ghraib. Along with nudity and the sleep and food deprivation, Lindh was allegedly threatened with death. One soldier said he 'was going to hang.' Another 'Special Forces soldier offered to shoot him.'"

In April 2003, Rumsfeld Personally Approved 24 Torture Techniques
10-Jun-04
Torture

USA Today reports, "In April 2003, Rumsfeld authorized 24 interrogation methods, including four that were outside normal U.S. military procedures, for use in the questioning of prisoners in Cuba. The methods were developed by a Pentagon working group led by Mary Walker, the Air Force's top civilian attorney... The methods... include sleep deprivation, disorientation, manipulation of diet and isolation... Top military lawyers for each of the services raised concerns on numerous occasions while the Guantanamo Bay guidelines were crafted at the Pentagon... Because of concerns raised by the Navy's top civilian lawyer [Alberto Mora], [Gen. Richard] Myers' lawyers and the judge advocates general (JAGs), the working group dropped several proposed interrogation methods that were significantly more harsh, Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita said last month. The Pentagon has refused to detail the methods that were approved or rejected." Impeach Rumsfeld Now!

In Dec. 2002, Rumsfeld Personally Approved 17 Torture Techniques For Guantanamo Interrogations
10-Jun-04
Torture

"U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could put prisoners in 'stress positions' for as long as four hours, hood them and subject them to 20-hour-long interrogations, 'fear of dogs' and 'mild non-injurious physical contact,' according to list of techniques Donald Rumsfeld approved in December 2002. The list, contained in a Jan. 8, 2003, memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, was in effect for about one month until complaints about the severity of the techniques from some military officers prompted Mr. Rumsfeld to request a high-level review of interrogation policy Jan. 17, 2003. The Defense Department has refused to disclose how many of the methods remained on a new list Mr. Rumsfeld approved in April 2003, a list that officials say is STILL in use at the offshore prison... Some of the practices disclosed this year at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where prisoners were hooded and apparently menaced with dogs, resemble methods on the December 2002 Guantanamo list. "

Bush Authorized Torture
10-Jun-04
Torture

At the G8 Summit, reporters asked Bush whether he authorized torture. Three times, Bush said he issued instructions to "adhere to law." But Bush's Federalist Society lawyers took crystal-clear law that flatly prohibited torture, and twisted it up into a pretzel to permit torture by the CIA and the Pentagon. Republicans insist Bush is "morally superior" to John Kerry because he speaks simply, directly, and right to the point. Let's put this to the test: Mr. Bush, did you or did you not approve a CHANGE in U.S. government policy to allow techniques that were previously considered torture under U.S. law and policy? We DEMAND all memos about Bush's consideration of and instructions regarding interrogation of prisoners.

Torture Memo Trail Gets Perilously Close to Bush...
10-Jun-04
Torture

"An Aug. 1, 2002, memo from the Justice Dept's Office of Legal Counsel [written by Jay S. Bybee - now a federal judge!], addressed to Gonzales, said that torturing suspected al Qaeda members abroad 'may be justified' and that international laws against torture 'may be unconstitutional if applied to interrogation' conducted against suspected terrorists. The document provided legal guidance for the CIA, which crafted new, more aggressive techniques for its operatives in the field.... [It said] physical torture 'must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.' For a cruel or inhuman psychological technique to rise to the level of mental torture, the Justice Department argued, the psychological harm must last 'months or even years.' A former senior administration official said Bush's aides knew he wanted them to take an aggressive approach." Bush Approved Torture - Impeach Bush Now!

Okrent Acknowledges 'Torture' But Dodges the Law
10-Jun-04
Torture

FAIR has done an outstanding job challenging the NY Times to admit that US troops "tortured" (not simply "abused") Iraqis at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in BushFeld's "Torture Archipelago." Public Editor Dan Okrent finally saw the light when asked how he would describe identical treatment of AMERICAN prisoners. But Okrent's personal awakening has resulted in NO changes at the Times, where today's headlines (6/10/04) still say "abuse". And the Times continues to avoid the black-letter law that defines torture and makes it a crime under US law (passed by Newt Gingrich's Republican Congress!) that is punishable by death. Keep writing public@nytimes.com

Center for Constitutional Rights Files Lawsuit on Iraq Torture
10-Jun-04
Torture

"Two U.S. corporations (CACI and Titan) conspired with U.S. officials to humiliate, torture and abuse persons detained by U.S. authorities in Iraq according to a class action lawsuit filed June 9, 2004, by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Philadelphia law firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads. The suit, filed in federal court in San Diego, names as defendants the Titan Corporation of San Diego, California and CACI International of Arlington, Virginia and its subsidiaries, and three individuals who work for the companies. It charges them with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and alleges that the companies engaged in a wide range of heinous and illegal acts in order to demonstrate their abilities to obtain intelligence from detainees, and thereby obtain more contracts from the government."

PentaPost Denounces Bush's Torture Logic
09-Jun-04
Torture

PentaPost opines,"There is no justification, legal or moral, for the judgments made by Bush's political appointees at the Justice and Defense Depts. Theirs is the logic of criminal regimes, of dictatorships around the world that sanction torture on grounds of 'national security.' For decades the U.S. government has waged diplomatic campaigns against such outlaw governments - from the military juntas in Argentina and Chile to the current autocracies in Islamic countries such as Algeria and Uzbekistan - that claim torture is justified when used to combat terrorism. The news that serving U.S. officials have officially endorsed principles once advanced by Pinochet brings shame on American democracy - even if it is true, as the administration maintains, that its theories have not been put into practice. Even on paper, the administration's reasoning will provide a ready excuse for dictators, especially those allied with Bush, to go on torturing and killing detainees." Impeach Bush Now!

Will the Pentagon, Like the UK, Continue Torture Under Cover of New 'Torture-friendly' Laws?
05-Jun-04
Torture

An Irish survivor of UK torture testifies: "Ribs were pummelled, objects were shoved up the anus, they were burned with matches and treated to games of Russian roulette. Some of them were taken up in helicopters and flung out, thinking that they were high in the sky when they were only five or six feet off the ground. All the time they were hooded, handcuffed and subjected to a high-pitched unrelenting noise. This was later described as extra-sensory deprivation. It went on for days. During this process some of them were photographed in the nude. And although these cases ended up in Europe, and the British government paid thousands in compensation, it didn't stop the torture and ill-treatment of detainees. It just made the British government and its military and intelligence agencies more careful about how they carried it out and ensured that they changed the laws to protect the torturers and make it very difficult to expose the guilty."

Bush Cartel Keeps Details of Afghan Torture - and Resulting Prisoner Deaths - Secret
01-Jun-04
Torture

AP: "The top U.S. general in Afghanistan on Tuesday promised "rapid action" on an internal review of Afghan jails where at least three prisoners have died, but said details of techniques used there will remain classified. The U.S. military ordered the review last month as the scandal over prisoner abuse in Iraq drew new attention to long-standing allegations of mistreatment in Afghanistan." Credible sources have asserted that the "techniques" that the Bushistas want to keep secret are nothing short of Saddam-style torture that, in a shocking number of cases (the number of which is also being kept secret), has ended in the agonizing death of prisoners. In short, the secret being kept is murder and its method.

Geoffrey 'Chief Thug' Miller and his Goons....er, 'Interrogation Experts' Spread Reign of Terror from Guantanamo to Iraq
29-May-04
Torture

NY Times: "Interrogation experts from the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay were dispatched to Iraq last fall and played a major role there in training U.S. military intelligence teams at Abu Ghraib prison. The teams from Guantanamo Bay, which had operated there under directives allowing broad latitude in questioning "enemy combatants," played a central role at Abu Ghraib through December, a time when the worst abuses were taking place. Prisoners captured in Iraq, unlike those sent from Afghanistan to Guantanamo, were to be protected by the Geneva Conventions. The teams were sent for 90-day tours at the urging of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, then the head of detention operations at Guantanamo. Miller was sent to Iraq last summer to recommend improvements in the intelligence gathering and detention operations there, a defense official said. Miller now commands of all detention sites in Iraq. "

The US as Torture Central
28-May-04
Torture

The United States has truly been torture central for many decades, not by virtue of its own use of torture, but by its sponsorship of regimes that used it extensively. Add to this the fact that this country is always in the forefront of technological advance in the tools of repression, as well as war, and in those earlier years carried out major operations in the supply of torture technology and training in its use.

PentaPost Demands Bush - or Congress - End All US Torture
17-May-04
Torture

Bush's "official position is that it is not violating the Convention Against Torture, which it acknowledges covers all detainees, including unlawful combatants. But the administration also interprets that convention as prohibiting any act that would be unlawful under the U.S. Constitution. We hope Mr. Bush does not really believe that submersion in water should be a permissible way to question American citizens arrested domestically -- yet that is the logic of his administration's position... No [intelligence] gains could possibly justify the abuses that have been exposed or the damage done when an American secretary of defense declares to the world that holding detainees hooded and contorted is in keeping with international law and American values. The only solution is for Mr. Bush to formally forswear the abusive practices his administration has adopted. If he will not, Congress must prohibit their use." Is the Pentagon Post rejoining humanity at last? Hallelujah!

'Harsh Methods' Aren't Torture, Says NY Times
15-May-04
Torture

FAIR writes: "The May 13 article, headlined 'Harsh CIA Methods Cited in Top Qaeda Interrogation,' described 'coercive interrogation methods' endorsed by the CIA and the Justice Dept, including hooding, food and light deprivation, withholding medications, and 'water boarding.'... [But] the article seemed to accept [the Bushevik lie] that the techniques described are something other than torture: 'The tactics simulate torture, but officials say they are supposed to stop short of serious injury.' The implication is that only interrogation methods that cause serious physical harm would be real and not simulated torture.'" Yet the 1984 Convention Against Torture makes it clear that psychological as well as physical methods of coercion are prohibited - but the Times didn't quote any experts. Ask Times ombudsman Daniel Okrent to remind editors that experts on human rights and international law should have been included in the May 13 report on CIA torture: public@nytimes.com (212) 556-7652

Leading Human Rights Groups Want Action on Torture, Not Bush*t
10-May-04
Torture

"The choice is not about whether to express your abhorrence over the events at Abu Ghraib and to investigate them. The choice is whether you dismiss them as the actions of 'a few bad apples' while continuing an interrogation and detention system that is cruel and illegal; or act forcefully to end the 'stress and duress' system of incommunicado interrogation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay or anywhere that people are held in U.S. custody. This system violates both the Constitution and international law, including the solemn pledges your father made when he sought Senate approval of the Convention Against Torture. We ask you to take immediate actions to establish clear prohibitions on illegal and inappropriate interrogation and detention methods backed by strong penalties; mandate strong enforcement mechanisms, including access for independent monitors; and provide for public review and full disclosure of interrogation practices and the records of investigations."

Human Rights Watch Demands Answers about US Torture Chambers Worldwide
09-May-04
Torture

Reed Brody writes, "Human Rights Watch has presented compelling evidence that [in Afghanistan], too, U.S. personnel have committed inhumane and degrading acts against detainees. Released detainees have said that U.S. forces severely beat them, doused them with cold water and subjected them to freezing temperatures. Three people have died in U.S. custody there, and two of the deaths were ruled homicides by U.S. military doctors who performed autopsies. The Department of Defense has yet to explain adequately the circumstances of any of these deaths. And then there are the so-called 'renditions' of suspects to countries where they are tortured... The Bush administration still has not answered charges leveled in The Washington Post which, citing numerous unnamed U.S. officials, described the rendition of captured Al Qaeda suspects from U.S. custody to other countries-such as Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco-where they were tortured or mistreated."

Open Letter to Bush from Human Rights Groups
09-May-04
Torture

As the letter points out, abuse of prisoners was hardly a secret, but in fact appears to have been a matter of policy: "For the past year and a half, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Newsday, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, and other leading newspapers have repeatedly quoted unnamed U.S. intelligence officials boasting about the use of torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners. Numerous detainees have been killed or attempted suicide in custody in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay prompting unprecedented expressions of concern by the International Committee of the Red Cross; suspects have been turned over to the foreign intelligence services of countries, such as Syria, with records of brutal torture;"

NY Times Denounces 'The Military Archipelago'
07-May-04
Torture

Is the NY Times coming out of its coma? From Bagram to Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib, the Times is connecting the prison torture dots - and drawing the conclusion that torture is not only illegal and immoral, but also a recruiting tool for Osama Bin Laden. "Despite its best efforts, the government has never been able to demonstrate any strong link between Iraq and Al Qaeda before the invasion. But since then, Iraqi prisoners have been treated like suspected terrorists. The abuses in Abu Ghraib and throughout the military detention system stain this country's reputation and play into Osama bin Laden's portrait of an evil America. The Bush administration has given a gift to Al Qaeda's worldwide recruitment efforts." Impeach Bush Now (ImpeachCentral.com)

Canadian Police and Ashcroft Frantically Accuse Journalist As 'Exported Torture' Victim Files Federal Lawsuit
23-Jan-04
Torture

Ottawa journalist Juliet O'Neill's home was raided on Jan. 21 by Royal Canadian Mounted Police who accused her of leaking classified info to the press. The raid occurred THE DAY AFTER the US news reported that Syrian-born Canadian citizen Maher Arar was filing a lawsuit against the US government for detaining him without due cause, then shipping him to Syria to be tortured. But while the RCMP are investigating O'Neill, the RCMP is being investigated by Canadian feds, who suspect the RCMP illegally leaked information to Washington about Arar. "The whole affair started with the RCMP," says Kerry Prither, Arar's spokesperson. "First they whispered to the Americans that Maher Arar was a terrorist, which led to his deportation and torture. Then the RCMP tried to smear Maher Arar by whispering the same allegations to journalists. Now it's raiding journalists' offices as if journalists are the problem." Sounds about right for Bush World.

Under Bush, Export of US-Made Torture Tools Becoming Big Business
04-Dec-03
Torture

"The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is violating the spirit of its own export policy by approving the sale of tools to countries known to use them to torture detainees, according to new report released here Tuesday by Amnesty International. In 2002, U.S. exports of electro-shock weapons and restraints that can be used for torture amounted to some US$14.7 [million] and $4.4 million, respectively, according to the report, titled 'The Pain Merchants.' Along with the sales of such equipment, Washington is also reported to have handed over suspects in the 'war on terror' to the same countries." Bush recently approved the sale of 10,000 leg irons to Saudi Arabia. Unbelievable!

Grave Accusations
25-Nov-03
Torture

The UK Guardian reports: "Maher Arar wants some answers. So do many of his fellow Canadians, now that the 33-year-old software engineer has gone public with his Kafkaesque story of how a routine airport stopover in the United States led to him spending 10 months in a Syrian jail cell which was so dark and narrow he called it 'the grave'. He was hauled out of it only for torture sessions, which he described in detail earlier this month at a nationally televised news conference that left many Canadians disturbed and angered. His story had periodically made the news for more than a year, thanks to the relentless efforts of his wife to win his release."

Victim of CIA 'Rendition': Deported Terror Suspect Details Torture in Syria
05-Nov-03
Torture

The Washington Post reports: "A Canadian citizen who was detained last year at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as a suspected terrorist said Tuesday he was secretly deported to Syria and endured 10 months of torture in a Syrian prison. Maher Arar, 33, who was released last month, said at a news conference [that] he was flown under U.S. guard to Jordan and handed over to Syria, where he was born. Arar denied any connection to terrorism and said he would fight to clear his name. U.S. officials said Tuesday that Arar was deported because he had been put on a terrorist watch list after information from 'multiple international intelligence agencies' linked him to terrorist groups. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Arar case fits the profile of a covert CIA 'extraordinary rendition' -- the practice of turning over low-level, suspected terrorists to foreign intelligence services, some of which are known to torture prisoners."

British Ambassador, Who Criticized Brutal Torture Tactics of Bush Ally, Threatened with Sack
20-Oct-03
Torture

Guardian: "A senior source said the former ambassador had been put under pressure to stop his repeated criticisms of the brutal Karimov regime, accused among other things of boiling prisoners to death. The source said the pressure was partly 'exercised on the orders of No 10', which found his outspokenness about the compromises Washington was prepared to make in its 'war on terror' increasingly embarrassing... 'He was told that the next time he stepped away from the American line, he would lose his post,' said the source... Uzbek security services use 'torture as a routine investigation technique', according to the US State Dept. But Washington's wars have led them to finance much of the regime's security apparatus. In exchange the US gets a military base in Khanabad as a centre for operations in Afghanistan. Last year Washington gave the government $500m in aid, $79m of which was specifically for the same 'law enforcement and security services' they accused of routine torture."

Read His Lips: Bush Pledges to Avoid Torture
27-Jun-03
Torture

"The Bush administration pledged yesterday for the first time that the United States will not torture terrorism suspects or treat them cruelly in an attempt to extract information, a move that comes as the deaths of two Afghan prisoners in U.S. custody are being investigated as homicides... 'The president [sic] and Defense Department have today unequivocally rejected the use of any techniques to interrogate suspects that would constitute 'cruel' treatment prohibited by the U.S. Constitution,' a group of human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International... said in a joint statement. They called on the administration to allow independent monitors to 'assure the world that this pledge is being fully redeemed in practice'... Two Afghan detainees died in [at the secret CIA interrogation center at] Bagram in December. Military pathologists said one died of a heart attack and the other of a blood clot in the lung, but both showed signs of blunt force trauma."

Bush Regime Continues to Push for Protection of Human Rights Abusers -- Their Soul Mates
30-May-03
Torture

WashPost reports: "The Bush administration is pushing to limit the ability of foreign nationals to obtain judgments against despots and multinational corporations in U.S. courts, arguing that such lawsuits have become a threat to U.S. foreign policy and could undermine the war on terrorism... Supporters of the law said that it enables people to enforce rights guaranteed them under international agreements such as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States is a party. Ending or severely limiting such lawsuits would deprive victims of political torture and murder of one of the few legal remedies they have, advocates say. 'This is a craven attempt to protect human rights abusers at the expense of victims,' Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. 'The Bush administration is trying to overturn a longstanding judicial precedent that has been very important in the protection of human rights.'"

Latest Interrogation Tactic: 'A Fearsome Mix of Metallica and Barney the Dinosaur'
21-May-03
Torture

Julian Borger writes: "US military interrogators are using unorthodox musical techniques to extract information about weapons of mass destruction of fugitive Ba'athist leaders from their detainees - a fearsome mix of Metallica and Barney the Dinosaur. The Americans have long been aware of the impact of heavy metal music on foreign miscreants. They blared Van Halen (among other artists) at the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega when he took refuge in the Vatican embassy in Panama City, and blasted similarly high-decibel music at Afghan caves where al-Qaida fighters were thought to be hiding... 'Trust me, it works,' a US 'operative' told Newsweek magazine. 'In training, they forced me to listen to the Barney I Love You song for 45 minutes. I never want to go through that again.' US interrogators routinely employ 'stress-and-duress' techniques, including sleep deprivation: treatment which human rights activists describe as a form of torture."

The Torturers Next Door
05-May-03
Torture

Karen Olson writes for Mother Jones: "Torturers, death-squad leaders, and human-rights criminals who seek refuge in the United States have nothing to fear -- except their victims and former State Department official Richard Krieger."

Bush's Contempt for International Law has Undermined Protections for POW's
23-Mar-03
Torture

UK Independent reports, "The US has also come under heavy criticism for its reported policy of handing suspects over to countries such as Jordan, Egypt or Morocco, where torture techniques are an established part of the security apparatus. Legally, Human Rights Watch says, there is no distinction between using torture directly and subcontracting it out... Torture is part of a long list of concerns about the Bush administration's respect for international law, after the extrajudicial killing of al-Qa'ida suspects by an unmanned drone in Yemen and the the indefinite detention of 'enemy combatants' at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a number of whom have committed or attempted to commit suicide. Bush appeared to encourage extra-judicial solutions in his SOTU address in January when he talked of al-Qa'ida members being arrested or meeting 'a different fate'. 'Let's put it this way,' he said in a tone that appalled many, 'they are no longer a problem to the US and our friends and allies.'"

Briton Tells of Ordeal in Bush's Torture Jail
04-Jan-03
Torture

Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir write for the London Observer: "The letter contained only hints of what Moazzam Begg's interrogators may have done to him. He wrote of hunger and being kept awake by bright lights. 'I still don't know what will happen with me,' he lamented to his wife back home in Birmingham. Begg, 35, was writing from Bagram military base just outside Kabul. He is the only British prisoner inside a cluster of metal shipping containers at the heart of the United States army part of the base, which serves as a 'jail' for al-Qaeda suspects. Now the camp is at the centre of a furious row over US behaviour in the war on terror. Evidence is growing that prisoners inside the containers are being tortured by American soldiers and CIA agents. Begg may have written of more damaging details of his own treatment, but many of his previous letters were never delivered."

Plausible Deniability? Rumsfeld Says Al Qaida Suspect Will Not Be Tortured
04-Apr-02
Torture

"The United States will control the interrogation of a top aide to Osama bin Laden who was captured in Pakistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday, angrily denying reports that U.S. officials were considering sending the man to another country [such as Egypt] so he could be tortured to learn what he knows…NBC News reported Tuesday that U.S. officials were considering sending some captured al-Qaida members to third countries so what they knew about future terrorist attacks could be learned in secret interrogations [likely by the CIA] under the potential threat of torture…Rumsfeld rebuffed several attempts by reporters to clarify who would interrogate Zubaydah if he were transported to a third country, but he eventually declared in frustration that the United States would not allow Zubaydah to be tortured. 'Believe me, reports to that effect are wrong, inaccurate, not happening and will not happen,' he said." Should we believe you, Rummy?

'Taxes for Torture'
03-Apr-02
Torture

Writes David Jenkins: "I was listening to Mike Malloy last week and he made some remark concerning the U.S. sanctioning torture because Rumsfeld and Company couldn't get the gang down at Camp X-Ray, among others worldwide to sing about their alleged ties to bin Laden. 'No,' I thought, 'That can't be right.'"

 


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