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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.

Get Flash to see this player.

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?"

Senate Questions Interrogation Methods, Study Proves Torture

CitizenSugar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:00:13 -0700

"If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong." So says John Fredman, then chief counsel to the CIA's counter-terrorism center, explaining in minutes of a 2002 meeting released yesterday, concluding that torture "is basically subject to perception". The minutes were released in conjunction with the Senate Armed Services Committee investigation into the origins of harsh interrogation tactics used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

In a hearing yesterday that spanned eight hours, US military lawyers revealed details showing how techniques like sensory and sleep deprivation and simulated drowning were modeled on training given soldiers on how to resist questioning. Chairman Carl Levin said that explanation "twisted the law to create the appearance of legality".

Correspondence brought to light in the hearing showed concern about such techniques as far back as 2002 with one quote saying, “if we mistreat detainees, we will quickly lose the [moral] high ground and public support will erode.” Then despite objections by military lawyers, then Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved sensory deprivation, sleep disruption, water-boarding and stress positions. “Officially it is not happening,” Lt. Col. Diane Beaver said in the 2002 information, adding that commanders were concerned that the techniques would be discovered by the Red Cross. To see the White House response, and a new study proving torture,

David Addington, Cheney's Chief Of Staff, Subpoenaed To Discuss Interrogation Practices

CitizenSugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:54:34 -0700

David Addington, Cheney's Chief Of Staff, Subpoenaed To Discuss Interrogation Practices A former Justice Department lawyer who wrote a now-repudiated memo allowing harsh interrogations of military prisoners has agreed to testify to Congress about those practices, say House Judiciary Committee officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the panel has not yet made the announcement.

Cameraman Held by US for Six Years Without Charge

LibertySugar — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:00:54 -0700

Sami al-Hajj worked as a cameraman for Al Jazeera when he was arrested on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001. He had a valid work visa and was covering the US war against the Taliban. After being arrested, his name and passport number came up on a Pakistani intelligence list, as he had reported his passport being lost in Sudan two years before.

What happened next to Sami is a complete nightmare. Al Jazeera recounted Sami's story — After being held in Afghanistan and Pakistan for five months, he was sent as an enemy combatant to Guantanamo Bay. He sat in prison for six years, as prisoner 345...without a single charge.

Sami's lawyers claim that he was brutally beaten and interrogated 130 times by the US officials. He conducted a hunger strike, lost 40 pounds, and acquired a kidney infection from lack of medical care.

International journalist and human rights organizations called for his immediate release. Finally, yesterday the US released Sami. He returned to Sudan and to his wife and seven year old son, a boy he hasn't seen since he was one year old.

Are you saddened or outraged by this story? Does this undermine America's goal of spreading democracy?

Military Prosecutor Says Justice Became Political at Gitmo

LibertySugar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:30:01 -0700

Col. Morris D. Davis, the US military's former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay, testified yesterday that top Pentagon officials interfered with his work for political reasons, and told him that there could be no detainee acquittals. The former prosecutor found himself on a peculiar side of a court case: testifying on behalf of a detainee, Osama bin Laden's driver Salim Hamdan, and being cross examined by his prosecutorial successor.

Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann (pictured), oversaw the military commissions and allegedly told prosecutor-turned-witness Davis: "If we don't get some cases going before the elections, this thing's going to implode." He also told him that charges against well-known detainees “could have real strategic political value” and that there could be no acquittals.

Last night, TV host Keith Olbermann's asserted that the policy Davis described, co-opted the values of the very constitution and sacred freedoms for which the heroes of the military have fought and died. To see that chilling video, and to find out what else went down in the court,

Should Bush White House Be Investigated for Crimes?

LibertySugar — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:00:03 -0700

Until last week, legal experts doubted George W. Bush, or anyone in his administration, would face criminal charges after his presidency finished. But, revelations that top Bush administration officials participated in explicit conversations in the White House regarding torture techniques to be used on suspected terrorists have these experts taking a second look. Presidential candidate Barack Obama has promised he would have his justice department investigate the Bush administration for war crimes — but seeks a balance between pursuing justice and orchestrating a finger-pointing circus. Obama said, What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve.

So what do you think? Should the country move on, and let the commuted Scooter Libby be the sole (symbolic) legal casualty of Bush's scandals? Are investigations even necessary?Source

Should Bush White House Be Investigated for Crimes?

Yes. The mere possibility of war crimes deserves investigation and exposure.

Nope and nope. All we need is a partisan and political circus.

Other. I'll tell you in the comments.

Curious About Torture? Hit Your Local Science Fair!

CitizenSugar — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:00:25 -0700

The big debate about what constitutes torture and the ethics behind it might just be elementary. Just ask the 13-year-old student whose entry in the Annual Science and Math Expo at the La Crosse Center in Wisconsin, set out to discover if application of the classic “Chinese water torture” would really drive someone insane.

Luke Kleiber’s project utilized an IV bag on a pole that dripped water every two seconds on his “subjects” foreheads. The subjects in question were two girls and two boys who were laid out on gurneys, unrestrained while ambulance personnel were on standby just in case, and were fully informed they wouldn't be harmed. But tell that to their brains!

Luke's result? The psychological effect of being tortured in this instance probably had more impact than the water itself. Kleiber said of his experiment: “They knew the water was coming, but they still felt the psychological effects.” And added that the project showed it was 95 percent to 100 percent effective in producing the fear response.

Perhaps all the talk about not strictly defining what constitutes torture isn't copping out on drawing a line, but in fact preserving a compelling tactic — just making people think about torture is enough?

The two girls, incidentally, did better than the two boys in the experiment. Maybe chicks are just tougher. On another note though, is this too serious of a question for child's play, or can we learn from the mouths of babes?

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Top US Officials Approved Torture — Do You Care?

LibertySugar — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:00:00 -0700

So by now many of you have heard about evidence that top Bush Administration officials participated in explicit conversations in the White House regarding torture techniques to be used on suspected terrorists. Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sat around — in a series of meetings of potential war-crime defendants — discussing specific methods of harsh interrogation, and issuing their approval. The Associate Press reports that CIA officials demonstrated tactics to "make sure the small group of 'principals' fully understood what the al-Qaeda detainees would undergo. The principals eventually authorized physical abuse such as slaps and pushes, sleep deprivation, or waterboarding."What recourse is left for an average American who wants to see the US uphold international law? Are you outraged that top US officials discussed and approved techniques widely considered torture in the White House? Source

Top US Officials Approved Torture — Do You Care?

Outraged! They need to be held accountable. The US is not about torture.

Not outraged. They did the right thing by taking the time to figure out what was legal.

Other. I'll tell you in the comments.

Are the Pentagon and Bush Administration to Blame For Torture?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:00:42 -0700

What's being called the Torture Memo (written in 2003 and made public yesterday) sheds a bold light on upper official decrees on the definition of torture at the beginning of the Iraq War. The memo contains language telling Pentagon senior leadership that inflicting pain would not be considered torture unless it caused “death, organ failure or permanent damage.” It is the most fully developed legal justification that has yet come to light for inflicting physical and mental pressure on suspects, and it was declassified in response to a request by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act. Campus Progress has a great breakdown of the quotes and arguments from the memo.While top Pentagon officials, including Donald Rumsfeld, have said they never condoned mistreatment of prisoners, the role played by senior officials at the Pentagon has never been fully explained. Given the way some of the soldiers were held personally accountable for the events at Abu Ghraib, do you think the "culture of abuse" actually came as a directive from the top?Source

Are the Pentagon and Bush Administration to Blame For Torture?

Yes. It's obvious this memo motivated torture and abuse.

No. It's impossible to make a conclusive decision about responsibility based on this.

Other. It's much more complicated; I'll explain in the comments.

DC Spiritual Leaders Protest Torture Veto

CitizenSugar — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:00:59 -0700

Members and supporters of the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture dressed as detainees yesterday during a demonstration orchestrated to "demand Congressional action to stop torture" on Capitol Hill. President Bush's veto of HR 2082 over the weekend — a bill that would prohibit all US intelligence agencies, including the CIA, from subjecting detainees to waterboarding, stress positions, hypothermia, and other forms of torture — was at the center of their protest.
The protest calls attention to broader spiritual concerns that reach beyond the walls of the Pentagon. The faith-based group says that torture "violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions hold dear." In his veto of the "anti-torture" bill, President Bush was careful to point out that he wasn't vetoing in favor of a specific technique like waterboarding, but rather because of the need for secrecy surrounding our techniques. To see what he said,

Headline: CIA Director Says Waterboarding Was Necessary

LibertySugar — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:00:01 -0800

CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress that waterboarding was necessary, but probably not legal under the current statute, on Thursday. Hayden confirmed that the technique of simulated drowning is not currently part of the CIA's interrogation program, but was used five years ago on three top al-Qaeda suspects.

On the same day, US Attorney General Michael Mukasey told lawmakers he would not open a criminal investigation into the CIA's use of waterboarding. He maintained that because the Justice Department authorized the program, it cannot prosecute someone who followed that advice.

The US continues to face international ridicule for not rejecting waterboarding, the technique that entails strapping a suspect down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. Just Wednesday, the United Nations' torture investigator harshly criticized the White House for defending waterboarding, calling it absolutely unacceptable under international human rights law.

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Headline: Mukasey Hedges on Waterboarding

CitizenSugar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:30:57 -0800

In his first appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee since taking office as US Attorney General, Michael Mukasey said that his opinion on the legality of waterboarding as an interrogation technique would depend on the circumstances.

Mukasey's reluctance to comment stems from the fact that waterboarding is not officially considered part of CIA interrogation protocols. A ruling, therefore, is not needed. Mukasey went on to say that in an instance where the CIA director might want to use this technique, it would be an issue that would have to go before the President as well as notification sent to the Judiciary Committee.

In one exchange:

Senator Kennedy asked, "Would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?"

To see Mukasey's response,

Check This: Canada Puts US on Torture List

LibertySugar — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:00:35 -0800

A new Canadian manual warns diplomats that prisoners in the US are at risk of torture. The internal document also cites Afghanistan, China, Iran, and Israel on the same torture list.

According to the BBC:

The manual lists US interrogation techniques such as forced nudity, isolation, sleep deprivation, and the blindfolding of prisoners under "definition of torture."

The US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, where a Canadian is being held, is also mentioned.

On Saturday, Canada's foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier called the document "wrong" and stated:

I regret the embarrassment caused by the public disclosure of the manual used in the department’s torture awareness training. It contains a list that wrongly includes some of our closest allies. I have directed that the manual be reviewed and rewritten.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the US government has been under international and domestic scrutiny for its interrogation practices, often being accused of torture. I find this latest charge especially worrisome, since it was leveled for practical and not political reasons. America should do everything it can to show that it is well within long-accepted standards of international law.
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