Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Weekend Contributor
This past week’s news reports of the Senate report on the CIA Torture program were both distressing and enlightening. I was dismayed to not only read what the full extent of the CIA’s Torture program was, but also when I read pundits and former CIA officials claim that rectal rehydration was merely a medical procedure! I was further discouraged when commenters on this blog made claims that waterboarding and other torture tactics were either necessary or what the devils deserved.
Very few pundits or commenters seem to care if the so-called Enhanced Interrogation techniques were legal or ethical when the CIA resorted to them shortly after 9/11. This “debate” over the actions taken in our name by the CIA has gone from a report based on the CIA’s own words to denials that the techniques were torture, to claims that great intelligence value was gained using the torture and claims that it was a biased report written by Democrats.
When we were attacked on September 11, 2001, most of the world was supporting the United States in its hours of grief and anger. What happened after the attacks quickly turned the tide of world opinion against us and created new enemies. When the CIA delved into its historical “playbook” to devise black sites and brutal interrogation techniques, the result, in my opinion, was a loss of our ethical and legal bearings that are still out of whack today.
When our greatest generation fought enemies stronger and just as brutal as what we face today, our forces were held to a higher standard than the enemy we were fighting. The idea that America does not torture or mistreat its prisoners or enemies is not a new one. It dates back at least to when General George Washington decided that British regulars and paid mercenaries fighting for the British were not to be mistreated in our detention facilities.
He made that decision knowing what too many of our soldiers had experienced under the hands of the British forces. We were supposed to be better than our enemies.
When the CIA delved into the black sites and torture techniques, another US agency, the FBI balked and questioned the tactics being practiced by the CIA. The FBI was gaining valuable information from al Qaeda operative, Abu Zubaydah, after his capture in March of 2002, but that all changed when he was put into isolation for 47 days.
“The Senate report describes the F.B.I. questioning — both in the hospital and later at the black site — as successful. Intelligence reports indicate he provided valuable information, but denied knowing anything about plots against America. But agency officials believed he was holding out. In response, Mr. Mitchell offered a menu of interrogation options.
While C.I.A. and Justice Department lawyers debated the legality of the tactics, the report reveals, Mr. Zubaydah was left alone in a cell in Thailand for 47 days. The Senate report asserts that isolation, not resistance, was the reason he stopped talking in June. Mr. Soufan said he was livid when he read that. “What kind of ticking-bomb scenario is this if you can leave him in isolation for 47 days?” he said.
For three weeks in August 2002, Mr. Zubaydah was questioned using the harshest measures available, including waterboarding. But the Senate report says he never revealed information about a plot against the United States. The C.I.A. concluded he had no such information.” New York Times
The CIA has used harsh interrogation and torture during past wars and conflicts and eventually the agency was brought under control. Waterboarding is torture, no matter what name it is given. Isolation, rectal rehydration, sleep deprivation, to name a few, are torture. We have prosecuted past enemies for waterboarding and even some of our soldiers who crossed the legal and moral line.
Why is it now only a crime if our enemies do it to us? Will we regain the soul of America again and finally get past partisan grievances to retake the moral standing of our nation?
We talk often on this blog about the rule of law. Whether it is a President who is grabbing more power for the Executive Branch or citizens of color who seemingly are undervalued by our Justice system. An argument can be made that ever since money starting taking control of our government, we have lost our rule of law because the wealthy and powerful seem to be immune to prosecution. Does the CIA stand above the rule of law?
Will the CIA be brought under control? Will government officials who authorized the torture and those that carried it out and those that refused to prosecute it be brought to justice? I submit that if we do not get control over the CIA our collective souls will continue to suffer in our eyes and in the eyes of the world. As Ali H. Soufan, the former FBI interrogator mentioned earlier says, our actions have consequences.
“‘We played into the enemy’s hand,” said Ali H. Soufan, a former F.B.I. agent who clashed with the C.I.A. over its interrogation tactics. “Now we have American hostages in orange jumpsuits because we put people in orange jumpsuits.”’ New York Times It is an overused phrase, but it fits here:
“The whole world is watching.”
Only we can resurrect the soul of America. We are better than torture. At least we used to be.
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Physicians for Human Rights
https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_other/fact-sheet-rectal-hydration-and-rectal-feeding.pdf
Physicians: “Anal feeding” of prisoners is sexual assault, has no medical use
http://boingboing.net/2014/12/15/physicians-anal-feeding.html
Max-1 – fascinating article by the doctors. They don’t do it, so no body should. That is the kind of thinking that kept us in 19th century medicine. No asked if their practice ran to GITMO detainees who were starving themselves.
Paul Schulte,
I don’t think I need to parse the Federal Torture Act. The factual analysis is obvious. The better money to be made and the burden on you is to show how the Torture Act doesn’t apply. I’ll parse by the following query:
Waterboarding, hypothermia by unclothed hanging from one’s wrists, or rape by foreign object is not intended to inflict severe mental suffering by a procedure intended to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality?
18 U.S. Code § 2340
(1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
(2) “severe mental pain or suffering” means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from—
(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;
(B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;
(C) the threat of imminent death; or
(D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality; and
(3) “United States” means the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealths, territories, and possessions of the United States.
Even one of the architects of the torture memos, John Yoo, claimed in the past few days that some of the methods used go beyond the confines of his legal opinion.
“If these things happened as they’re described in the report … they were not supposed to be done. And the people who did those are at risk legally because they were acting outside their orders . . .”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/14/idUSL1N0TY0GF20141214
I think it’s probably fair to say that this is in response to Erwin Chemerinsky’s statement that Yoo should be prosecuted for conspiracy to violate the Federal Torture Act.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/192809/prosecute-john-yoo-says-law-school-dean-erwin-chemerinsky.
I think it’s also probably fair to say that for Yoo to have supported torture with the opinion that “cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of detainees could be authorized, with few restrictions . . .” is untenable under the Federal Torture Act and actionable as legal malpractice. I am appalled that the Regents of the University of California permit him to teach at Boalt Hall. He should be in prison, let alone the ethics of his position.
Steve Groen
Steve – okay, so it is clear you cannot do it. We cleared that up. When you use a shotgun approach you can make almost anything fit. However, laser in and make waterboarding fit in specifically.
I would not get excited about the Dean of some law school, these are the guys who are letting the special snowflakes avoid exams because they are currently traumatized by Ferguson. I wouldn’t hire a lawyer who allowed that or condoned it. BTW, law school deans are a dime a dozen.
Paul Schulte – Your failure to provide anything substantive, and your attempt to avoide by leading rather than responding fail here. Sorry for the diminution, but I’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Steve Groen
Attorney at Law
San Diego
Steve – your disappointment comes from not responding to my question.
stevegroen, you must watch Dr. Mitchell on Megyn Kelly tonight. He was there when water boarding occurred. All of them. They were not naked. They were not hanging by their wrists. If the Democrats had listened to this man, they would have learned a lot they should have, but didn’t.
When first asked to be involved in enhanced interrogations he said he couldn’t. Then he thought about the passengers of Flight 93. They knew they were going to die, but they weren’t going to let that plane fly into another building, probably the White House or Capitol and kill more Americans, and they stopped that. He decided if they had that much courage, then he must also.
I wish everyone would listen to this man, especially the committee. Hear what the person there, overseeing what was done, tells us. He also explains water rehydration.
Max-1, this is the problem with a report that didn’t speak to the Doctors or anyone else for information. I call rape rape
Meet texas. HIGH five!
Whereas some people call forced penetration against consent, rape…
… Others seem to call it an Enhanced Sexual Experience.
1984 doubleplus good
Sandi Hemming
Inga, there are Dr’s certificates for each and every rehydration performed at GITMO.
= = =
And everything Hitler did was made legal…
… Is this your angle?
Max-1 – the whole Final Solution was not legal so you are wrong. Not everything Hitler did was legal. History remembers.
Inga, Professor Turley has been on Megyn Kelly’s show several times. He has discussed torture and you can see on his face the difficulty he has talking about torture. He thinks water boarding is, others say no. JT is on Fox quite a bit, you should watch him.
Sandi,
There is no such medical practice called anal rehydration.
http://bcove.me/t5mkfpqi
Medical group calls CIA’s use of rectal rehydration ‘sexual assault’
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/12/10/medical_group_calls_cias_use_of_rectal_rehydration_sexual_assault.html
Sandi
What do you call it when you strap/pin someone down and anally penetrate them without their consent?
In common circles it is called RAPE.
What do you call it?
Inga, I’ve read so much drivel about rehydration. But you can’t ask people not to ask questions or make comments. If this is upsetting you so, you must stop reading this subject. We still have free speech here.
Inga, there are Dr’s certificates for each and every rehydration performed at GITMO. If they are unwieldy, a simple injection would knock them out. Should we not rehydrate? Fine by me. I wouldn’t force feed them either. If that’s what they want to do, let them. This report is just dishonest. How dan you do a report without asking people who worked at GITMO? Or the CIA? It’s completely useless. $40 Million?
Elaine M, we went into Iraq to stop Saddam. He had Al Qaeda training camps in northern Iraq. He had weaponry he could sell to them. We freed his people, they loved the Americans. Then the government was stupid, and we left, which was also stupid. Should we just watch children beheaded, flee their homes with few belongings, live in refugee camps because their towns have been destroyed? We should just watch?
And Darren, you are right. If we don’t war there will be no war, because everyone will be dead. At least here. I think Russia has the guts to fight them if they start getting attacked.
I wish there was a way I could send this site an e-mail I received a copy of today. It’s a letter to the editor from a British homemaker. She makes some comments about what our countries have gone through. And at this point she wants the governments to listen to the people. She lists one at a time almost everything complained about here. And answers each comment “I don’t care.”
Darren, many of the things you referred to she did also. The difference, I think, is the people who’ve attacked both countries brought this themselves. They attacked and killed innocent people over and over. Now we watch heads cut off. Apparently they see the whole thing. We don’t see the bad part. They do. She says the victims scream in agony while their necks are sawed off by knife, it takes a long time.
On 9/11/2001 our lives changed completely. They will never be the same. We think it’s ending and it blows up again. These people want to kill every single one of us. Does anybody get that? You argue about morals. There are none in war. We didn’t ask for this, but we are the only two countries to get it done. There are madmen destroying not just the people, but their homes, hospitals, schools. Children wander in the streets, no one to go to.
They are not going to stop. Ever. They are going to kill until everyone they hate is gone, or we stop them completely!
And for me, this is torture. Elected people doing nothing about the greatest threat we’ve ever known. THEY WANT TO KILL EVERYBODY. I am afraid and if you aren’t you are lying to yourself.
Politics has become useless. They only worry about themselves getting reelected. When they get here you’ll be damned glad lots of people have guns, because your government isn’t protecting you.
The dark ages will return. How could that not happen if we do nothing. Start thinking like the passengers on Flight 93. They knew they were going to die, but they weren’t going to let these maniacs fly into another building! That took guts. Who knows whether the plane would have landed when the pilots knew Air Force fighter planes were up. But those people said they aren’t getting up away with it. Why can’t we show that courage?
Israel is the only country who knows these people mean what they say. Why don’t we?
War has been declared on us by jihadists. They consider themselves soldiers. The lack of understanding by people commenting here of history, and the context of this new symmetrical war, is astounding. The more some comment, the more they show their ignorance of history, law, and jihadists.
“This torture crap has been blown out of proportion, but what else can you expect from the propagandist left media!”
Now I am confused. Isn’t Obama part of the leftist movement? Isn’t he in charge of the people who put this report together?
Or does it take some logical slaloming to blame the leftist media, because they are not targeting Obama, and only Bush?
But I thought Obama was complicit in not pursuing the criminals who perpetrated the torture?
Do you really think you can blame one political front, and avoid blaming the other in the whole fiasco?
Don’t even try it. Both sides are as corrupt and self serving at the other, the only thing we have to be thankful for here, is that a detailed report was compiled showing the violations of human rights and international torture laws.
Gary T – this report is payback for the 2014 elections. It is designed to hurt the Republicans. That is why no Democrats are listed.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CIA Torture Report Highlights Unnecessary Medical Procedure
Rectal Hydration and Rectal Feeding is Not Medically Justified
64 40 0 1
Media Contact
Vesna Jaksic Lowe, MS
Deputy Director of Communications, New York
vjaksiclowe [at] phrusa [dot] org
Tel: 917-679-0110
New York, NY – 12/10/2014
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said today that the use of rectal hydration and rectal feeding on detainees without evidence of medical necessity – which was revealed in yesterday’s U.S. Senate report – constitutes torture.
“Contrary to the CIA’s assertions, there is no clinical indication to use rectal rehydration and feeding over oral or intravenous administration of fluids and nutrients,” said Dr. Vincent Iacopino, PHR’s senior medical advisor. “This is a form of sexual assault masquerading as medical treatment. In the absence of medical necessity, it is clear that the only purpose behind this humiliating and invasive procedure is to inflict physical and mental pain.”
The torture report released yesterday stated that rectal rehydration or feeding was inflicted on at least five detainees. Three additional detainees were also threatened with the procedure. PHR pointed out that three of the detainees subjected to rectal rehydration and feeds were on hunger strike, indicating that such procedures were likely used as punishment.
The Senate report confirms that health professionals were complicit in the CIA’s illegal torture program, and PHR has called for everyone involved in detainee abuse to be investigated. A team of medical, psychiatric, and psychological experts has been studying the report and expects to produce an analysis on health professionals’ complicity in CIA torture in the coming days.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to stop mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.
– See more at: http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/press/press-releases/cia-torture-report-highlights-unnecessary-medical-procedure.html#.dpuf
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/press/press-releases/cia-torture-report-highlights-unnecessary-medical-procedure.html
Physcians for Human Rights-CIA Torture Report highlights unnecessary medical procedure.
Here’s more on Rectal Infusion aka Rectal Rehydration Therapy:
file:///C:/Users/Lisa/Downloads/Emergency%20rectal%20infusion.pdf
@Sandi Hemming ~ I did watch it and it made me sick. Not once did those boobs that released this one sided report go talk to any of the people they indicted. Sounds just like Benghazi, they never interviewed the ones involved, its a total joke. This torture crap has been blown out of proportion, but what else can you expect from the propagandist left media!