While the Obama Administration continues to block any independent investigation in this country or by other countries, Britain has angered Obama officials by confirming that a suspect was tortured as part of his interrogation by the United State in Morocco. The use of other countries to torture U.S. detainees through “extraordinary renditions” is well documented. However, the Obama Administration reportedly threatened to cut off Britain from access to intelligence if the country told the truth about the torture of Binyam Mohamed. Thus, while publicly condemning the desecration of dead Taliban as “deplorable” and promising an investigation (after the photos were published by the media), the Administration continues to use classification laws to prevent the truth from being revealed about American involvement in potential war crimes. What is particularly disturbing is that this story has received relatively little attention in the United States media, which appears to have “moved beyond” torture in favor of Tebow as a worthy subject of coverage.
Mohammed was interrogated by U.S. officials and tortured during the two years he was held in Morocco. He was picked up in Pakistan in 2002 after American officials claimed that he was al-Qaeda training and preparing to detonate a “dirty bomb” in the United States. If you recall, the Bush Administration also made such a claim against Jose Padilla — a statement by John Ashcroft later retracted by the White House.
The CIA reportedly transferred Mohamed to Morocco after 18 months of interrogation — transported on CIA-chartered aircraft as part of the Bush Administration’s “extraordinary rendition program.” e was later taken to Guantanamo.
During his torture sessions, Mohamed was hanged from a wall with his feet unable to reach the floor and his chest and genitals were cut with a razor. Pictures, Mohammed said, were taken by a woman with an American accent. While the British government opposed release of evidence in the case, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) confirmed the allegation of torture. They further said the torture resulted in the provision of “information to the US authorities about Mohamed and supplied questions for the US authorities to put to Mohamed while he was being detained.”
What is most striking here is that it is the Obama Administration that is fighting the release of this information and threatening England — as it earlier threatened Spain when a court in that country sought to investigate our torture program. While President Obama has admitted that waterboarding is torture, he promised CIA employees that they would not be prosecuted for such a war crime. Not only has his Administration protected such individuals from prosecution, but it has opposed the release of evidence that confirms torture even worse than waterboarding. This is why so many civil libertarians have pledged not to support Obama. Even if Obama insists on violating treaty obligations to prosecute torture, there is no principled reason to refuse to acknowledge such crimes in past cases and to withhold confirmation of such practices. Obama has long sought to give the impression of someone concerns about torture while avoiding any responsibility or accountability for such crimes. This case shows how far Obama officials have gone to conceal our violations of international and domestic laws.
If this man’s account is true (and clearly Scotland Yard has supported the thrust of the allegations), American officials participated in a horrific interrogation involving cutting a detainee and other acts of classic torture. There may be photographic evidence of such crimes. They should be made public. His name and case are already public. The classification of such evidence is being used solely to shield officials from accountability and to protect the Administration from embarrassment.
Source: The Atlantic
Wait…Wait…Don’t Tell Me….What is Prisoners being moved from Gitmo….That is the topic in the news…
Isn’t torture, torture where ever you may find it?
Come on you Lilly livered panty wastes – SING!
AAAAAAA – MMMM PROUD TA BE A MURRY-KIN
WAR AT LEST AH NO AHM FREEEEEEEEE
“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice can not sleep forever” T. Jefferson
Ah yes, exceptionalism in a nutshell leads us to The Department of Just Us.
I have never been in combat, I am not able to judge this act.
We are partially responsible for this for allowing this war to last over ten years now. Some of these men have done 3 or more rotations and willingly. We were in WWII from 12/7/1941 until the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, just shy of 4 years.
Had we taken care of business the way our parents and grandparents did, we would have been done and gone in a few months.
Why is it surprising that the U.S. would object, on principle alone if for no other reason, to an ally releasing classified information supplied to it by American intelligence agencies?
You don’t say it outright, but why not address this question directly – should officers of U.S. agencies be criminally prosecuted for actions taken overseas that would be illegal in the U.S.? That’s the crux of the issue – since the Obama administration says no, and it’s already widely known that the U.S. engaged in torture during the Bush administration, there’s no real upside for the administration in confirming this man’s treatment (or the treatment of anyone else)… and considerable downside in allowing an ally to release our intelligence documents in court proceedings.
“should officers of U.S. agencies be criminally prosecuted for actions taken overseas that would be illegal in the U.S.? That’s the crux of the issue – since the Obama administration says no, and it’s already widely known that the U.S. engaged in torture during the Bush administration, there’s no real upside for the administration in confirming this man’s treatment (or the treatment of anyone else)… and considerable downside in allowing an ally to release our intelligence documents in court proceedings.”
Actually the crux of the issue is are the ones responsible for issuing the illegal orders in the first place going to be held accountable for violating the Constitution, Federal law and international treaties. When war criminals are punished, there is no downside.
There was initially some concern that it was a threat made by the Bush administration that had not been rescinded or clarified by the current administration but sadly that is not the case. The correspondence is here:
http://www.salon.com/2009/05/12/obama_101/
Again and of course the information regarding the torture is being cloaked as a classified national security matter (and the requirement for an ally to safeguard such shared information) in order to lever British compliance.
For a government that has no qualms about invading its citizens privacy it sure seems to want to protect itself from any unflattering disclosures.
But Gene! If we had simply let bygones be bygones after WWII we wouldn’t be in this pickle today! But we detailed the crimes and prosecuted the monsters that ordered them and those that carried the orders out. Now, when we get caught doing some of the EXACT SAME THINGS that we hung people for in the late ’40s people expect us to demand the same kind of justice.
Our only hope is to pretend we didn’t – I’m sure nobody will notice as long as we don’t admit it.
As quoted by Frankly: “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice can not sleep forever” T. Jefferson
And Tommy J. didn’t know nuthin ’bout Texas!
Frankly, there was one notable gap in the war crimes prosecutions after WW-II. No German or Axis officer or civilian authority was prosecuted for bombing civilian targets. Coincidence–I think not!
Had they done so, the defense would have insisted on prosecution of “Bomber” Harris and Curtis LeMay, among others. They were responsible for the firebombing attacks on Hamburg, Dresden and Tokyo. Notice the bombing of London was not among the charges against Hermann Goering.
Another case of the winner getting to make the rules. I really think the Obama administration does not want to open the door to some present or future President being indicted for war crimes by his own country. There is a political side to that as well, as we saw in the behavior of the Newt Gingrich prosecution of Bill Clinton for doing much the same thing ol’ Noot was doing on the sly at the same time. He fears Pandora’s box.
As expected:
“Officer recommends court-martial for Bradley Manning in WikiLeaks case”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/officer-recommends-court-martial-for-bradley-manning-in-wikileaks-case/2012/01/12/gIQAqRvEuP_story.html
OS,
Good point. Curtis LeMay was actively concerned that if the Allies lost the war, he’d be prosecuted as a war criminal. And he should have been. Dresden alone would have merited his prosecution in a just world.
I just can’t believe that a deal was not worked out by the outgoing Bush Administration on the torture issue. It just makes absolutely no sense for Obama to not prosecute for obvious war crimes. I hope Britain spreads the truth for everyone to see.
If the US backs out of intelligence sharing with the Brits, how will the NSA and CIA get around laws against spying on US citizens? Oh wait, those laws don’t matter anymore… Gotta go update my Facebook, catch you later!
Empty threat. The US needs intelligence and cooperation from the Brits, just as they need intelligence from Israel and German intelligence services.
This threat is for public consumption and to try and intimidate the diplomatic corps in order to extract concessions.
I can only guess, these are good christians doing god’s work!
http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/01/12/us-marines-probe-video-of-men-urinating?videoId=228423015&newsChannel=newsOne
Bud,
These Marines were bad apples doing disgusting things. It should not diminish the countless good things the Marines have done and are continuing to do for us.
Raff,
I am sorry. I just don’t know.
There are very obviously good/great marines.
But, I honestly think this is more of an
acceptable culture…
Remember how Rumsfeld said Abu Grhaib
was just a bunch of bad apples????
Put the blame on those that get caught, and
then crawl under a damn rock… That’s
Rumsfeld and his culture Raff…
Bud,
I am not Rummy and I am not trying to diminish what these guys did, but the vast majority of our Marines and military personnel are decent people.
Raff,
I never suggested that you were Rumsfeld.
I very clearly see and understand your position.
Bud,
I am much better looking than Rumsfeld!
Raff,
I am sure.
I bet you are a hell of lot more intelligent too!!!
Having just recently served in the Marine Corps, I can honestly say that the behavior shown by the marines the video is not “acceptable behavior”, anywhere in the corps. Raff, I’m sure your son can also attest to that.
OT:
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave”…
“False Flag”
“A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran.”
by Mark Perry January 13, 2012
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/13/false_flag
“What has become crystal clear, however, is the level of anger among senior intelligence officials about Israel’s actions. “This was stupid and dangerous,” the intelligence official who first told me about the operation said. “Israel is supposed to be working with us, not against us. If they want to shed blood, it would help a lot if it was their blood and not ours. You know, they’re supposed to be a strategic asset. Well, guess what? There are a lot of people now, important people, who just don’t think that’s true.” “
The United States set a precedent after WWII at Nuremberg, Germany. After the international tribunal conducted trials, the U.S. conducted military courts martial trials with three American judges sitting in judgment on Germans and others. By this precedent, Yemen, for example, could try someone like Cheney. Or is it Chiney? Our spelling gets course when someone is out of office for awhile. The United States has not legally declared war on any nation. The torture is a crime but one does not have to preface the word crime with the misnomer “War”. Those in the world who wish to protest American crimes could hold “mock” tirals. Dress up the defendants like the Three Stooges and have a three judge court try the likes of Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld. Video the trial and put it on U-Tube. Our group is considering this but we do not wish to be prosecuted ourselves. After all, its not exactly a free country, is it?
“After all, its not exactly a free country, is it?” 5thGradeChief
Nope.
(I rather like the idea of mock trials.)
anon nurse 1, January 13, 2012 at 1:15 pm
“After all, its not exactly a free country, is it?” 5thGradeChief
Nope.
(I rather like the idea of mock trials.)
===============================
There have been some of recent note, but not as war crime trials of the sort mentioned in this thread.
They may happen in the near future.
Thanks for that, Dredd. I’ll take a look… Of course, I should have been specific… I meant “mock war crime trials” for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their ilk…
AN,
I am coming to understand that all criminal proceedings are viewed by some as Mock Trial…..Its just the consequences as much worse….
Hope I am not late with wishing everyone a Happy Friday the 13th…….
Unless you suffer from….Triskaidekaphobia
AY,
True. (About your first comment.)
Regarding Friday the 13th, I hadn’t even noticed… Thanks for improving my vocabulary… Pronunciation might be a problem, though…
Rafflaw,
Please look into torture which is currently occurring in: 1. Gitmo, 2. Bagram and 3. other black sites such as in Kenya and Somalia. Look at Jeremy Scahill for this information. There is a logical reason why Obama protects govt. officials who order torture, he is one of those officials.
I listened to Panetta’s BS about how horrified he was with marines pissing on dead bodies. At least they were dead. Panetta, Obama– all of them know exactly what happened. They have actively concealed this information at every turn.
This is one reason why I cannot agree that Obama is the lesser of two evils nor can I understand why people would vote for a man who protects and commits (those who) torture. If the people of the US do not hold our own leaders accountable for some of the worst imaginable crimes against other people, then just who are we as a nation? It is unjust to allow our own officials immunity from crimes.
Yet this is precisely what Obama supporters wish for, aid and abet. They are no different from Bush supporters. I cannot agree with this course of action. Lack of prosecution was wrong under Bush and it remains wrong under Obama. Other people’s lives have to mean something to us. They deserve justice. They deserve not to be tortured. They deserve not to be falsely imprisoned.
Why are good Americans allowing these things to happen?
“History is a set of lies agreed upon.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
Classified documents are proof of that premise.
rafflaw/Bud:
“In awarding [U.S. Marine] Dakota Meyer the military’s highest honor at a White House ceremony, Obama said: “Today, we pay tribute to an American who placed himself in the thick of the fight — again and again and again.”
The military said a wounded Meyer — a 21-year-old manning a gun turret on a Humvee — provided cover for troops during a six-hour firefight with the Taliban on Sept. 8. 2009.
Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, driving the Humvee, went into the “killing zone” five times, Obama said, picking up wounded men and dead bodies; they saved the lives of 13 U.S. Marines and Army soldiers, as well as 23 Afghan soldiers.”
Proof positive of the wisdom of Burke’s words that no one knows how to draw up an indictment against a whole group of people.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” -Frederick Douglass
Chris Hedges at his best, whether one is “a believer” or not:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/where_were_you_when_they_crucified_my_movement_20111205/
Let’s compromise. I say we let our armed forces or our overseas proxies pee on people like this all they want and without consequence. In return we shall let this fella and others like him stay at the luxurious Club Gitmo where they are treated better than the soldiers guarding them. Oh yeah, and the guests at Club Gitmo can even spit on and throw feces at their captors and get away with it just like they are now. Fair don’t you think? Then they can also be part of the 99% crew, the most oppressed people in America if one listens to the administration, the OWS crew and their minions.
Just a suggestion.
“Obama has admitted that waterboarding is torture, he promised CIA employees that they would not be prosecuted for such a war crime. Not only has his Administration protected such individuals from prosecution, but it has opposed the release of evidence that confirms torture even worse than waterboarding.”
Discus it all you want, my friends, but until we get a candidate who comes straight out and says, “If elected, I will take the CIA in hand; curtail their extreme influence on the Oval Office, allow prosecution of their personnel who engaged in torture whether at their own initiative or following orders from superior officers, and will follow that prosecution up the line even if that line leads directly to the Chambers of the Capital Building, the Oval Office, and the Commander-in-Chief.”
Those held responsible should include the interrogators who committed torture, the lawyers and senior officials who authorized torture, and the medical personnel who oversaw torture and the elected officials who sanctioned the practice. All of them!
Have United State’s personnel ever engaged in torture? Certainly, but … never has torture been officially sanctioned/ordered by the Commander-in-Chief and formally approved by Congress. Not until the Bush/Cheney Administration and the Congress that gave its tactical approval to said orders. That was new.
Up until then, the Commander-in-Chief followed the precedent set by General Washington during the Revolutionary War when his troops, hearing the screams of their fellow combatants as the Brits tortured them on the prisoner war ships just off-shore, refused to allow his troops to engage in the same practice with their British prisoners.
“this ‘new country in the New World would distinguish itself by its humanity.’” ( Jane Mayer, The Dark Side 8-9 [Doubleday 2008])
Is it enough that Obama has stopped the practice? Of course not. In order for the Bush/Cheney/Congress precedent to be destroyed, prosecutions and punishments must be administered. Once again look to General Washington who decreed death by firing squad for those who disobeyed his orders and tortured prisoners.
“Army Field Manual 34-52 sets forth the military’s approach to intelligence interrogations and flatly prohibits the use of force, including all acts of ‘physical or mental torture, threats, insults, or exposure to inhuman treatment as a means of or aid to interrogation.’” ( http://www.afj.org/connect-with-the-issues/accountability-for-torture/legal-constraints-against-torture.pdf)
As a side note, I find it interesting that we don’t have leaks suggesting the FBI used torture. I’m going to go out on a limb here and wonder aloud, “Did the FBI refuse to go along with the torture fad?” I have no way of knowing but it’s an interesting side note.
So, give me a candidate who states, categorically, that he/she fully supports the prosecution of all interrogators who committed torture, the lawyers and senior officials who authorized torture, the medical personnel who oversaw torture and the elected officials who sanctioned the practice and further, that he/she will immediately, upon election, set about the business of reigning in the CIA’s out-of-control influence on the Oval Office and in Congress … I’ll take heart and work hard for that candidate.
Until then, it’s all just whistling in the wind … sounds good; means nothing.
“Until then, it’s all just whistling in the wind … sounds good; means nothing.” -Blouise
How right you are… Well said, Blouise.
anon nurse,
That is one of my favorite quotes. In the US we keep mixing up who should be holding our “leaders” to account. We keep looking for the savior, the candidate who will do the right thing. What we will not recognize is that we have power as citizens to either allow or stop what is happening. Stopping this is our work as citizens.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” -Frederick Douglass
“In the US we keep mixing up who should be holding our “leaders” to account. We keep looking for the savior, the candidate who will do the right thing. What we will not recognize is that we have power as citizens to either allow or stop what is happening. Stopping this is our work as citizens.” -Jill
As you rightly say, “Stopping this is our work as citizens.” And, in fact, it’s our duty*…
(*Jill, I know that you’ve stressed this very point…)
anon nurse,
It is our duty. If people must have a candidate to lead them, there is one who has consistently spoken against torture, who even left the Democratic party for Obama’s failure to prosecute war crimes. That person is Rocky Anderson.
Nevertheless, Rocky Anderson would not be able to do this without the backing of, we the people. If we stand for justice it will expose the shadow govt. and it won’t be pretty for us as citizens. Still, I feel we must be courageous enough to do this.
i for one will sleep better knowing there are people here in the u.s. who will gladly torture anyone when ordered.
He’s certainly worth a good, hard look.
Ross C. “Rocky” Anderson on Rachel Maddow:
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/45502254#45502254
Pete,
Better keep one eye open…
The problem is directly traced to the CIA. Find those running for office who aren’t afraid of the CIA and who are willing to stand up for prosecutions of CIA personnel and the problem is on the road to being solved. Anyone directing attention away from the CIA is part and parcel of the problem. Whistling in the wind, whistling in the wind.
Did you see Tinker, Tailer….. Blouise?
SwM,
Not yet but I read Le Carre’s book a long time ago … one of Tex’s favorite authors.
If you get an opportunity and haven’t already seen it, watch The Good Shepherd – 2006 (Directed by Robert De Niro. Starring Matt Damon). As far as I’m concerned that early history of the Central Intelligence Agency shows exactly how our democracy was forever compromised and it was all done out of fear.
seems to me:There is cause and effect.(reap what we sow) This law is pleasant, when we are sending out good.Good will then come back to us. 2plus 2 is always 4 right?No matter what faith or not faith you claim, we all live under the same creator ,or if you want ,same action-reaction.Did our soul come into this body to live in survival,sexuality, and greed-anger( the 3 lower energy centers of our body)or to evolve higher to the heart(understanding that the other person is you). To me this is the definition of the purpose of life. Please dear our America save yourself from a horrible harvest. Be the other person.That is each of us being tortured.Stop the corporate war machine that has become our country.Lets talk about the thousands of young veterans killing themselves.Where is our heart?
minority by choice,
Well done … God, the corporate war machine and young veterans killing themselves … the whistle of distraction is well tuned …
http://www.startribune.com/world/137280433.html
Spanish judge resumes probe into Guantanamo abuse, says US not answered information requests
MADRID – A Spanish judge says he is proceeding with a probe into human rights abuses at the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, after Washington failed to respond to requests for information.
The probe stems from torture complaints filed by four Muslims who are either citizens or residents of Spain and were once held at the prison.
The probe had been on hold while Judge Pablo Ruz awaited a response from the United States. Ruz said Friday he had received no answer from the U.S. and had thus decided to continue the case.
The judge asked prosecutors to report back to him with the names of U.S. officials who should be targeted in the probe.
A separate Spanish probe of U.S. lawyers accused of creating the legal framework for torture at Guantanamo was shelved last year.
anon nurse,
Great news!
rafflaw,
It’s a glimmer…
http://news.yahoo.com/us-sentences-pakistani-over-taliban-smuggling-plot-071534930.html
feel safer yet?
No, but…
“When the Newt bites, when the Rick stings
When magicUnderoos chafe
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I can feel… quite safe”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/mitt-romney-favorite-things_n_1205184.html
anon nurse,
Hilarious!
So, to get to the shadow govt. which includes the CIA but is not exclusively made up of the CIA, we are going to need people who have a lot of courage. We get to the shadow govt. through elected officials. Just like a prosecution, start with the underlings and go up the food chain.
To do this requires citizens who are willing to tell any elected person who approves of or engages in or protects those who torture to get stuffed. This means telling them they may not have your vote, your money, your defense of their crimes or your time. This means you will work for the rule of law, that you are willing to go to the wall for the rule of law and you will protest until the rule of law is restored.
If you are a person who can only conceive of doing this under the leadership of a politician, so mote it be. Rocky Anderson is a possible choice for you. If you think you can do this as a group of citizens without a leader in the political field, you should try that. It’s not either/or, it can be both.
The only thing necessary is the courage to withdraw consent from any politician involved in torture.
I’m from Chicago. Our police department has had problems with “torture”. And remember the ease with which the cops pepper sprayed the seated kids? I think torture is easy to find – all over. We are fools in thinking that “we” don’t torture. We do. And they do. And it may not be sanctioned by the generals. But it happens. All the time.
“The rule of law is the foundation for communities
of opportunity and equity—it is the predicate for
the eradication of poverty, violence, corruption,
pandemics, and other threats to civil society.”
William H. Neukom, Founder, President and
CEO of the World Justice Project
http://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/
The World Justice Project
Rule of Law Index®
2011
http://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/wjproli2011_0.pdf
Great link anon nurse.
Thomas Drake has encapsulated everything that has gone wrong with power and justice in America.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=7755
shano,
Thanks so much for posting the above Drake link.
Excerpts from the link provided by shano…
January 4, 2012
Whistle Blower Threatened with 35 Years in Prison, Warns of Developing Tyranny
(speech at Sam Adams Awards)
Excerpts:
“With all the unitary executive privilege, all the secrecy and exigent conditions used as the excuse to torture, deny due process, and engage in off-the-books electronic surveillance, Jesselyn and I followed all the rules as whistleblowers until it fundamentally conflicted with our oath to uphold the Constitution. Then we both made a fateful choice to exercise our First Amendment rights. We went to the press with patently unclassified information, about which the public had a right to know.
However—however—rather than address its own corruption, ineptitude, and illegality, the government made us targets of federal criminal leak investigations, part of a vicious—I repeat, vicious—campaign against whistleblowers that started under Bush and has now come to full fruition under Obama, inverting the logical paradigm. We were transmogrified from public servants trying to improve our government, into traitors and enemies of the state. The government subjected us to severe retaliation that started with forcing us from our jobs as career public servants, rendering us unemployed and unemployable, while [incompr.] a wrecking ball into the conditions of our jobs, in my case a security clearance, and in Jesselyn’s case, state bar licensure. We were blacklisted and no longer had a stream of income, while simultaneously incurring attorneys fees and necessitating second mortgages on our respective homes. But that was nothing, that was nothing compared to the overkill reprisal to come, placement on the no-fly list for Jesselyn and prosecution under the Espionage Act for me.
What we experienced sends unequivocally a chilling message, an unequivocally chilling message about what the government can and will do when one speaks truth to power: a direct form of political repression and censorship. If sharing issues—if sharing issues of significant and even grave public concern which do not in any way compromise our national security is now considered a criminal act, we have strayed far from what our founding fathers envisioned. When exercising First Amendment rights is now considered espionage, this is anathema to a free, open, and democratic government.
As Americans, we did everything we could to defend the constitutional rights of all U.S. citizens, which were violated and abused by our own government when there was no reason to do so at all, except as an excuse to go to the proverbial dark side, by abrogating unaccountable, irresponsible, and off-the-books unilateral executive power in secret. Once exposed, these unconstitutional detours were predictably justified by vague and undefined claims of national security, while aided and abetted by shameless fearmongering on the part of government. And so I must say, I must say it is pure sophistry to argue that the government can operate secretly with unbridled immunity and impunity, especially for such blatant illegalities as torture and wiretapping without warrants, from those it is constitutionally bound to serve and protect when providing for the common defense of this nation, and then persecute and prosecute the very people who revealed such wrongdoing and malfeasance.
Before the war on terrorism, our country well recognized the importance of free speech, privacy, legal counsel, and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. If we sacrifice these basic liberties according to the false dichotomy that it is required for security, then we transform ourselves from an oasis of freedom into a [incompr.] that terrorizes its own citizens when they step out of line. These are the hallmarks—these are the hallmarks—these are the hallmarks of tyranny and despotism, not democracy, and are increasingly alien to the Constitution and our American way of life.
Jesselyn and I stand alongside other whistleblowers before us, like Dan Ellsberg and Coleen Rowley, who also nominated me for the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize, as well as Larry Wilkerson, an Integrity in Intelligence award recipient. We did not take an oath to see secrecy and subterfuge used as cover for subverting the Constitution and violating the law. Our oath to the Constitution took primacy.
But I fear for the Republic. When Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman at the end of the Constitutional Convention and it went out for ratification to the 13 states, he was asked, what has been created here? He said, a Republic, if you can keep it. So what expired on 9/11? The Constitution?
…
Are we becoming the national security state under surveillance always, the N.S.S.U.S.A.? Is secret government the new fig leaf for a quaint and outmoded Constitution? Orwell’s 1984 is real, and now already, I repeat, already screamingly relevant. Only the government can create a police state. No one else can. And our technology can now make that happen. There is a long list, a long list of both private industry and government actions that are ripping away our privacy and our Fourth Amendment rights as we speak and our ability to speak freely about it. I challenge you, I challenge you all to demand accountability, to update our protections in the internet age, to insist upon adherence to the Constitution, conservative and liberal and independent like. Even in the open press we know enough about what both the industry and government are doing.
Do you care? What will you do about it? What country do we want to keep?
Do we want to continue to have a burgeoning military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-surveillance-cybersecurity-media complex? For whom does it benefit? Do we want to concede the eroding of basic human rights? Why? Because we fear enemies and that creates a need for security, and are then persuaded that human rights are ignored because of the primacy of the national security state beyond legitimate protections and identifying those who would actually do us harm, both abroad and domestically, as a unifying cause for obsessing over national security and the use of fear by the government to control the public and private agenda? What country do we really want to keep?
So I leave you with this as I channel Frederick Douglass. On August 3, 1857, Frederick Douglass delivered a West India Emancipation speech. At Canandaigua, New York, on the 23rd anniversary of the event, he said, quote (please listen very carefully): “The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” Let me translate into today’s language. Power and those in control concede nothing, I repeat, concede nothing without a demand. They never have and they never will. Every one of us, every one of us in this room and beyond this room, each and every one of us must keep demanding, must keep fighting, must keep thundering, must keep plowing, must keep on keeping things struggling, must speak out, and must speak up until justice is served, because where there is no justice there can be no peace.
What country do we want to truly keep? Consider what actions you will take when you leave this evening. After all, it is our country. So take the necessary action to conserve the very best of who we are and can be for this generation, as well as future generations to come.”
Dirty Bomb?
Dirty Bomb made in Afghanistan? — This is an infantile claim!!!
At most, the ‘terrorists’ can stuff plastic bags with bovine excrement and spread it here in the US in highly sensitive locations….
This will also fuel the obvious scatology complex of many….
Mock trials have a good purpose , to hone future lawyers’ critical and debating skills. Good news it may be for potential lawyers, but why do the actual victims of mock executions , whose doctors had a shockingly dismissive of rights of the man or woman experimented on, do these victims of ethical psychological malpractice violations have to endure once more with numbness the endless cruel smarminess of mock rehearsals too ? Do mock nightmares really exist or is they are just in the eye of the brain pattern concept of the programmer ? There are groups studying behavior who should be called to testify before real courts and admit to the crewel manipulations that should have ended decades ago . Signed in hope for friendship and hoping for a more realistic communication system for all .
anon nurse, great to have part of the transcript, it reads better than the video quality allowed.
skeptical; from some of the detainees are reports of medical experimentation with drugs, injections in the spine, etc. And then refusal to give blood tests, results of tests, etc. this medical experimentation needs to be investigated thoroughly, the papers it produced and the reasons brought out into the light of day.
Because our government already has some verifiable history of terrible, horrific medical experiments, both in our own nation and in other nations. They never come to any good, no good information is ever produced. And if they were testing new drugs for Big Pharma, we need to know that too. the whole thing is beyond belief.
shano 1, January 15, 2012 at 1:19 am
anon nurse, great to have part of the transcript, it reads better than the video quality allowed.
————
I listened as I read the transcript… It was quite compelling to hear him deliver it… (I also listened to the Wilkerson and Radack (sp) talks which were very good, as well.) Thanks again for posting the link.
I agree with your comments to “wisely skeptical” — there are some terrible things going on right now on U.S. soil, involving American citizens, as well. As you rightly said, “the whole thing is beyond belief.” As I’ve said ad nauseum, and I know it from some terrible, personal experiences… we’re in terrible trouble here… I fear for all of us, but especially for those we will be leaving behind…
Ours is no “land of the free”…
http://upwithchrishayes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/14/10156892-exclusive-lakhdar-boumediene-former-guantanamo-detainee
We definitely have to stop electing presidents who get a woody every time they think of desperate soldiers. We have been having too much war here people. Take a good look and THEN TRY to tell me I am wrong. All the blood leaves their heads and goes somewhere else so they lie,lie,lie, to bring on more war. The oil companies feed this psychosis, as do the European royalty.
There are very few honors greater than the privilege to kick ass to defend ones’ home and family. We do NOT have that here. Only lies and perversion.
Now, just tell me,who are the terrorists?
ABUSIVE piece of text … isnt it ?
OP ?
http://www.truth-out.org/tortures-other-victims/1322783647
“Fortunately, there are journalists like Joshua Phillips who have taken great pains to preserve the memories of a handful of veterans whose lives have been ravaged by the war.
Phillips is the author of “None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture,” a harrowing book about the torture of prisoners in Iraq and the deep psychological scars it left on the members of one battalion who dispensed pain to their victims.”
It’s too late,ameriscumbags,you are recognised worldwide as subhuman fascists,to be avoided at all costs.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/20/1790923/report-aero-has-role-in-torture.html
BY JAY PRICE The News and Observer
SMITHFIELD — With fresh ammunition from a UNC law school report, activists renewed their call Thursday for state officials to take legal action against Aero Contractors Ltd.
For years, the Johnston County air transport company, which has links to the CIA, has been accused of being a taxi service for paramilitary teams that pick up terrorism suspects in one country and fly them to another where it’s easier to interrogate and, perhaps, torture them. The process is known as extraordinary rendition.
Law professor Deborah M. Weissman and members of the protest group N.C. Stop Torture Now gave copies of their report to representatives of N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and Gov. Bev Perdue on Thursday morning, then released it during a news conference at the Johnston County Airport, where Aero is based.
The report does not accuse Aero employees of engaging directly in torture. Still, they are accountable for aiding and abetting violations of human rights that are protected under various international treaties and federal laws, Weissman said.
Because the U.S. government has signed those treaties, each state is legally obligated to uphold them, she said.
Also, according to a federal report to the United Nations, the state could prosecute any straightforward crimes involved, such as aggravated assault and kidnapping, even if they took place elsewhere, she said.
Several Aero officers listed in state corporation records either could not be reached or did not return calls Thursday. A woman who answered the company’s phone said no one there would speak to a reporter.
Representatives for Cooper and Perdue said their offices would have to review the report before commenting on the contents.
Christina Cowger, one of the leaders of N.C. Stop Torture Now, said that state officials took the report seriously and that they had asked many questions.
After the news conference, Cowger said the state’s obligation to do whatever it can to make it harder for Aero to do business was a legal and moral obligation.
“We’d like to start by just having them agree that torture is wrong,” she said. “We’ve been working on this for more than six years, and they’ve never even said that.”
Thursday’s news conference was held near the tiny airport office. Aero officials were invited to attend, but declined, Cowger said.
In a way, though, the company’s supporters may have gotten their say. Much of the news conference presentation was drowned out, first by planes that revved their engines nearby for several minutes, then by a sleek Pitts biplane that roared into the sky and promptly began a noisy aerobatics performance a few hundred feet above the gathering.
Since Aero’s alleged role in the rendition program began to get attention in the mid-2000s, the little airport has become perhaps the world’s main target for rendition protests. It’s even put under occasional surveillance by volunteers trying to document movements of the company’s aircraft.
Extraordinary renditions began under President Bill Clinton and accelerated under George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Former CIA officials have described them as an invaluable tool in the fight against terrorists. Opponents, though, say that it has repeatedly lead to violations of basic human rights and that several innocent victims have been caught up in the program and tortured.
Stop Torture Now has tried for years to get state officials to act against Aero, but Cooper has declined to investigate the company’s activities. There also were unsuccessful attempts in 2007 and 2008 in the General Assembly to formally ban torture in North Carolina.
The activists feel the law school report gives new weight to their pleas for action.
Flights studied
Aero was founded in 1979 by Jim Rhyne of Clayton, who had overseen clandestine flights for Air America, an airline based in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War era and run by the CIA.
Former CIA leaders said in earlier interviews with The News & Observer that the spy agency continued to employ Rhyne after Air America was disbanded. His role included setting up small companies to supply the CIA with aircraft and crews.
That is exactly what Aero has done, according to the UNC report, which was compiled by Weissman and eight students with the law school’s Immigration and Human Rights Policy Clinic. It focuses on cases in which Aero aircraft were traced between airports on the days when five specific detainees were known to have been moved around, all of them later found innocent and released.
It bears formal endorsements from several experts on international human rights law, including Manfred Nowak, a professor at the University of Vienna in Austria who was appointed by the United Nations to investigate torture from 2004 to 2010.
Four of the men mentioned in the UNC report were among a group that filed a civil suit in California against another company that was allegedly involved in the flight planning when they were rendered. Courts there dismissed the suit after the federal government stepped in and said vital national secrets were at stake.
An attorney for two of them, Steven Watt, was at the news conference Thursday and said North Carolina should act against Aero because it owed at least that to his clients, Abou Elkassim Britel and Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, after their ordeal.
Also speaking was Sam Wells, dean of Duke Chapel. As Americans, standing by and allowing state-sponsored torture was the same as letting the terrorists win, because it destroys our core values, Wells said.
(end of excerpt)