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
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 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,
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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 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!
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Ah yes, exceptionalism in a nutshell leads us to The Department of Just Us.
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
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?