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Bush White House: We Don't Need Sweeping Pardons

CitizenSugar — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:30:56 -0800

The Bush administration has signaled that it won't be necessary to issue pardons for officials involved in harsh interrogation, even while the incoming Obama administration won't rule out an investigation. White House officials believe that legal opinions written by the Justice Department clear interrogators of any wrongdoing.

In September, Joe Biden said that the Obama administration would pursue appropriate charges against Bush officials not out of vengeance, but out of the need to preserve the notion that no one is above the law.

If Bush grants a blanket pardon to top officials, the public (and history) might consider it an admission that criminal activity plagued his presidency. Even so, do you expect to see preemptive pardons, for crimes such as torture or illegal wiretapping, before Bush leaves office?

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Briefing Book! Secret Waterboarding Memos Make News

LibertySugar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:30:00 -0700

Torture: Does other news mean US won't have a discussion about this? Secret White House memo endorsed waterboarding. — newsblog
McCain: Do you listen or hang up? New McCain robo-call says Barack Obama and fellow Democrats "aren't who you think they are" and says they want to give civil rights to terrorists. — Talking Points Memo
Countdown: Who's on defense? Obama and McCain line up for red-state sprint. — Politico
Health: No need for air quotes? McCain says women's "health" is an extreme pro-abortion position. — Feministing
Election: Not over till the fat lady sings? Karl Rove says John McCain in better position that polls suggest. — Townhall
Asia: Chinese labor is more expensive? Chinese workers helping build new home for president of East Timor make $36 a day, while the Timorese workers make $3 a day. — Shanghaiist

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6 in 10 Evangelicals Say Torture Is OK: The Golden Rule?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:00:46 -0700

The age-old question, "WWJD?" might have a hand in people's perception of the war on terror — or at least how information is gathered. A new poll shows that 57 percent of Southern evangelicals believe that torture is justified as a means of gaining important information from suspected terrorists. The tune changes however when presented with the Golden Rule.

When asked first to consider this statement: "the US government should not use methods against our enemies that we would not want used on American soldiers," the percent of respondents who said torture was rarely or never justified rose from 38 percent to 52 percent.

A spokesman for the research said of the shift, "Presenting people with this argument and identifying with the golden rule really does engage a different part of people's psyche and a part of their heart, their soul, and really does shift their views on torture."

To see the "why" behind the shift,

Waterboarding "Thrill Ride" Hits Coney Island: Political Art?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:00:07 -0700

Folks trekking out to Coney Island are looking for a little summer diversion involving water — but the newest attraction to grace the boardwalk takes that expectation and adds a political message. Called the "Waterboard Thrill Ride," the sideshow is decorated with SpongeBob, advertises that "it dont [sic] Gitmo better" and charges $1 for a look through a barred window onto what appears to be an interrogation scene.Robots portray a prisoner and an interrogator. After the dollar is paid, the lights come on and the prisoner begins to convulse violently as water is poured on his face. The artist behind the installation says its aim is to provoke people into thinking critically about the technique. He says, "robot waterboarding became a way of exploring the issue without doing any harm. It's putting a unique experience on the table. And it doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to look in there and say: 'That's really what's going on? That's crazy.'" And who doesn't fancy a little torture demo with their corndog?There's a video of the "ride" in action, including reaction from some bystanders, some of whom hadn't heard of waterboarding before. In that sense, is it a decent public service — or does it turn a serious message into a silly sideshow?

Waterboarding "Thrill Ride" Hits Coney Island: Political Art?

It's political art for sure. It's visually designed to blend in and it causes people to think.

Dumb! It's more serious than a boardwalk attraction, and using Spongebob lures kids.

It's just a gimmick. I don't think it will change minds either way.

Other. I'll pay my buck in the comments.

Liars of the Free World? Britain Can't Trust America

LibertySugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:00:25 -0700

Trust, a crucial component of most healthy relationships, has become an elusive ingredient in the transatlantic alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States. England's House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee just issued its annual human rights report, which states that America's word can no longer be trusted when it comes to torture and human rights abuses.

The committee recommended the following:

The UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the government does not rely on such assurances in the future. We also recommend that the government should immediately carry out an exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques on the basis of such information as is publicly available or which can be supplied by the US.

This past February, the UK's Foreign Secretary apologized to parliament after records revealed that US planes, carrying terror suspects, twice landed in the UK dependent territory of Diego Garcia to refuel, apparently without UK permission. This rendition scandal, as well as the CIA's admission that it used waterboarding, most likely encouraged this decision that could impact whether the UK extradites certain suspects to the US. Does this call to verify US statements signal a significant blight on America's record, or is Britain's double checking no big deal?

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Ashcroft Defends Waterboarding Before House Panel

CitizenSugar — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:40:48 -0700

Ashcroft Defends Waterboarding Before House Panel
The controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding has served a "valuable" purpose and does not constitute torture, says former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Testifying on the Bush administration's interrogation rules before the House, Ashcroft said, the "value of the information received from the use of enhanced interrogation techniques — I don't know whether [Tenet] was saying waterboarding or not, but assume that he was for a moment — the value of that information exceeded the value of information that was received from all other sources."

Christopher Hitchens Is Waterboarded, Lives to Call It Torture

CitizenSugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:45:34 -0700

The August issue of Vanity Fair is set to clear up an important question once and for all: is waterboarding torture? No scientists or military experts were needed for this: just a self-proclaimed "wheezing, paunchy" 59-year-old scribbler. Christopher Hitchens, VF columnist and controversial panelist extraordinaire, who's written previously on the difference between "extreme interrogation" and "outright torture," submitted himself to the technique to make the call.

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Strapped to a board at a house in North Carolina, the dashing author was waterboarded by veterans of the US Special Forces, administering a technique they're usually do while teaching people how to survive. The video is proof; he didn't survive very long. To see his stark proclamation about the proceedings,

Learning Annex: Communist Chinese Torture Taught at Gitmo

LibertySugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Does an interrogation class covering "coercive management techniques" like sleep deprivation, prolonged constraint, and exposure sound like something that would be conducted in modern America, or 1950s communist China? The answer is both!

During the Korean War, the US Air Force studied Chinese "torture" tactics used to obtain often false confessions from captured Americans. Recently, CIA and Guantanamo interrogators have become students of the tactics, according to the New York Times. Specifically, an entire interrogation class taught at Gitmo in December 2002 focused on the coercive techniques. To find out how the teachers explain the purpose of the class,

Abu Ghraib Inmates Sue Contractors, Claim Torture

CitizenSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:10:35 -0700

Abu Ghraib Inmates Sue Contractors, Claim Torture
Former detainees of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq are suing US contractors in four states for alleged torture. The complaints allege that innocent people who were arrested and taken to the prison were subjected to forced nudity, electrical shocks, mock executions, and other inhumane treatment by employees of defense contractors CACI International and L-3 Communications, formerly Titan Corporation.

Conyers to Yoo: Could President Order Suspect Buried Alive?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:10:24 -0700

Conyers to Yoo: Could President Order Suspect Buried Alive?
In front of the House Judiciary Committee today, when it was Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) turn to ask questions — he went toe to toe with Yoo, the former DOJ attorney and torture-memo author extraordinaire, asking: "could the President order a suspect buried alive?"