An independent report by the Constitution Project, a non-partisan Washington think tank, is the latest to confirm what is already known to the world — we ran a torture program approved by the highest levels of our government in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. The report is an indictment not only of President Bush who is responsible for the torture program but President Obama who promised CIA officials that they would not be investigated or prosecuted for torture.
The report concluded that the Bush Administration embraced torture in an unprecedented way. While there is brutality in our history, the report determines, “there is no evidence there had ever before been the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after September 11, directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.”
Of course, the same extreme voices from the Bush Administration were quick to condemn the report like former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, John Bolton, who called the report “completely divorced from reality.” Bolton insisted that the procedures were “lawyered, and lawyered again, and lawyered again.” That is three lawyers and would include John Yoo, Steven G. Bradbury, and Jay Bybee — three discredited lawyers who many felt should have been criminally charged or subject to disbarment. Instead, while the Justice Department rejected their legal findings as fundamentally flawed and substandard, they were not personally disciplined. Bush officials continue to cite the facially illegitimate analysis of these hand-picked lawyers as excusing them of torture.
Since the Obama Administration has shielded these officials of prosecution (prosecutions that would have been politically costly to President Obama), these officials can continue to claim that they were not responsible for torture or that torture never occurred. Indeed, Yoo is back teaching law students while Bybee is passing judgment on others as a federal judge.
We are obligated to investigate and prosecute torture under treaty and international law. President Obama simply did what countless of other leaders have done in history: rather than make the difficult decision to comply with our obligations and the rule of law, Obama insisted that such enforcement would be too costly or divisive for the nation. It is a position that will be played back over and over to this country as we call for officials in other countries to be prosecuted for torture.
Source: Washington Post
Are we going to find out all of the facts in this present terrorist bombing case in Boston…
Remember the Dan Burton committee investigation of FBI involvment with Boston mafia…and bush claims of executive privilege and refusal to release documents
… http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/14/us/bush-claims-executive-privilege-in-response-to-house-inquiry.html …
More on CIAs MKULTRA, Bluebird…use of LSD and other mind control
experiments…and the development of the manchurian candidate
…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra …
Keith Olbermann Discusses Cheney, Torture & Need for Prosecutions with Jeremy Scahill
History of secret experiments on citizens……MKULTRA…CIA s LSD and mind control experiments
…. http://rense.com/general36/history.htm …
John Conyers committee investigated thousands of Amerikan citizens
that were subjected to chemical biological and radiation experiments
… http://frankolsonproject.org/Statements/Conyers%20Com.%20Testimony.html …
bettykath,
One of the oldest tools in argumentation is to control the definitions. This is one reason I insist on standardized and recognized common definitions instead of allowing others to create their own. You should not be surprised that Obama, as an aider and abettor after the fact of high crimes against the Constitution, would engage in such dishonest sophistry.
J. Brian Harris:
I still miss Walt Kelly. He was one of the finest satirists this country ever produced.
Hannah: ‘There is no reference, facts to check, or even examples of said “torture.”
Look at the PICTURE, Hannah. If that’s NOT torture, what IS?
BarkinDog that Walt Kelly guy in Pogo was talking about The Enemy, you lamebrain. You Vietnam era guys are not radical enough. Ya used to be. What happened?
We have met the enema and he is us.
@BetterKath QUOTE “they quietly killed the parts they don’t like by unanimous consent (the coward’s way, so you can’t hold them individually accountable on the record).”
Don’t know if you realized it or not, but they can also hold a SECRET VOTE!!
Yes, that is right, they can vote on a bill in a way so that you CAN NOT find out HOW individual Rep’s voted on it.
(I know I tried on the “Student Teacher Safety Act”)
They tried to pass it in 2006, and then Mark Kirk changed ONE WORD, and tried to pass it again in 2007!!
I recall a story, perhaps pure fiction, that Eisenhower had started out with the notion of “the military-industrial-congressional complex,” but chose to omit “congressional for political purposes.
I have a strange sense that the proper term now is, “the military-industrial-financial-congressional-executive-judicial-citizenry complex.”
Anyone else recall reading Walt Kelly,Pogo, “We have met the enemy…”?
**Dredd 1, April 17, 2013 at 7:14 pm
woody voinche 1, April 17, 2013 at 12:09 pm
How many cases of the torture of Amerikan citizens are there beside
Vance-Ertel v. Rumsfeld who were tortured by the military in Iraq after
reporting on corruption and gun running…and why isnt the hypocritical
media giving coverage to this important case???? **
It’s odd to me how I sometimes remember things. Your comments ring a bell.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Jesse+Tridadue#q=Jesse+Trentadue&spell=1&sa=X&ei=Ti9vUcWYAaWC2gXqj4GwCA&ved=0CC4QBSgA&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.45368065,d.b2I&fp=847a2b4a23100ea2&biw=1280&bih=881
woody voinche 1, April 17, 2013 at 12:09 pm
How many cases of the torture of Amerikan citizens are there beside
Vance-Ertel v. Rumsfeld who were tortured by the military in Iraq after
reporting on corruption and gun running…and why isnt the hypocritical
media giving coverage to this important case????
… http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/08/08/fed-court-clears-another-torture-lawsuit-against-donald-rumsfeld …
==================================================
The panel decision was vacated by the en banc court 7-4, which held citizens can’t sue military members.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/11/new_ruling_donald_rumsfeld_can_t_be_sued_for_torture.html
Great videos Elaine!
Obama issued an executive order banning torture. Did he also rescind Bush’s executive order or whatever it was that redefined various tortures as enhanced interrogation, therefore keeping intact the ok for enhanced interrogation versions?
James,
“Bush and Cheney’s continued liberty makes war criminals of all Americans”
What? No. They only made war criminals of themselves, anyone who was involved in the torture program,. and anyone with any power to investigate and where appropriate (meaning, where there’s proof that it happened) prosecute those first two.
I don’t fit in to any of those three categories. I refuse to be lumped in with people who are actually responsible for torture, or covering torture up.
Boston Police Radio: Additional Explosive Devices Found
Prison Planet.com | The official story is now in chaos.
No Comments
Navy SEALs Spotted at Boston Marathon Wearing Suspicious Backpacks?
Prison Planet.com | Savvy Internet sleuths find images that appear to identify members of the crowd as Navy SEALs.
**
Looks like some evil ahole group/groups inside govt may have been trying to use Boston to cover up the release of this report on GW Bush/Obama War Crimes/Crimes Against Humanity?
Keep your eyes open people & post it to others/internet “Before” you report anything odd.
We may have those Wallst/London Bank azzes cornered that are behind most this typeOperation Gladio, American Stlye crap.
We’ll all see as things unfold. **
**Dr. Steve Pieczenik calls for Obama to step down. Obama and Bush must stand trial for “crimes against humanity.” He calls for a new election, today.
On the Boston Marathon bombing Dr. Steve Pieczenik, comes to the same conclusion. He predicted false fag. A theatre of terror.
This to cover the recent indictment of Bush and Obama for torture. “THE SPECIFIC INDICTMENT of Bush Jr/Obama/CIA/US Military “Torture of 9/11 Prisoners”at GITMO—FINALLY CONFIRMED as a “WAR CRIME”– Equivalent to Prosecuted Nazi War Crimes and the Torture/ Internship Of Japanese Americans During WWII.” Dr. Steve Pieczenik
from Dr. Steve Pieczenik Blog:**
http://austinfront.blogspot.com/
“We’re in deep doo doo,”(Dick) Cheney told lawmakers, according to CNN, which first reported the talk.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/11/1200777/-Congressional-Republicans-look-to-Dick-Cheney-for-North-Korea-advice