Sylvestre Reyes Inserts Anti-Torture Provision Into Intelligence Funding Bill

Sylvestre Reyes (D-TX)

Its about time someone tacked an amendment like this onto some sort of bill. Ya never know when another Bush type will come along.

Torturing detainees has been embarrassing, cruel, useless. It also guarantees the same treatment for any US troops who're captured. That whole issue is a black eye for US.

Democratic Congressman Sylvestre Reyes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, has proposed an amendment to the 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act that would hold any "officer or employee of the intelligence community" who "in the course of or in anticipation of a covered interrogation knowingly commits, or attempts to commit or conspires to commit an act of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" would face criminal sanctions of up to fifteen years, even life if it results in the death of the detainee.

The amendment, referred to as the "Cruel, Inhuman And Degrading Interrogations Prohibition Act" of 2010, lists several prohibited acts, including waterboarding, "forcing the individual to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner", beatings, electric shocks, use of dogs, inducing hypothermia or heat injury, stress positions, deprivation of necessary "sleep, food or medical care" and conducting mock executions.

Other prohibited acts include using the threat of force to "coerce an individual to desecrate that individual's religious artifacts," excessive cold or heat, cramped confinement, prolonged isolation, and use of hooding.

[snip]

Byron York, who first reported the existence of the amendment, said it had already been inserted into the bill and quoted a House Intelligence Committee staffer, presumably from the minority side, who said Republicans would try to strip the measure out of the bill, but not before they tell "people what's going on."

Presumably, this kind of treatment was outlawed by the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act anyway. But given that the only thing that's standing between a future Republican administration and torture might be an executive order, this amendment would strengthen current anti-torture laws by adding the threat of criminal sanctions for those who participate in illegal interrogations.

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Note: Headline links to source. Clicking on image will enlarge it (usually).

Father Admits to Waterboarding 4-Year-Old Daughter Because She Could Not Recite Alphabet

We progressive bloggers throw the term torture around a lot vis-a-vis waterboarding.

What happens when the two terms are inextricably treated as equivalent in court?

Here’s a horrific story: A 27-year-old soldier in Tacoma, Washington has allegedly admitted to police that he waterboarded his four-year-old daughter – mere weeks after winning custody of her — because she could not recite the alphabet.

Because you know the prosecutor will do his/her best to equate the two terms.

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Note: Headline links to source.

Horrifying and Unnecessary

Jesus H Christ on the rack, but I wish that idiot would get captured and have these interrogation techniques used on him.

In the next few days President Bush is expected to again claim the right to order mistreatment of prisoners that any civilized person would regard as torture.

Mr. Bush is planning to veto a law that would require the C.I.A. and all the intelligence services to abide by the restrictions on holding and interrogating prisoners contained in the United States Army Field Manual. Mr. Bush says the Army rules are too restrictive.

The obvious question is why the US Army hates the US so much it would mollycoddle the fucking enemy.


Captain Chip Rankin, science teacher
and American warrior with Minnesota
National Guard, interrogating an
Iraqi prisoner.
And who are they trying to fool with that goddamn picture? Where the hell's the waterboard?

Via NYT.

British island 'used by US for rendition'

Aren't the lies ever gonna end?

Britain's denials that its territories have been used for 'extraordinary rendition' were dramatically undermined last night after the United Nations claimed that Diego Garcia has been used as a detention centre to hold US suspects.

Manfred Novak, the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, who is charged with investigating human rights abuses, said he had received credible evidence from well-placed sources familiar with the situation on the island that detainees were held on Diego Garcia between 2002 and 2003.

Yep, sure looks like torture to me.

That's a joke, folks.

Via Guardian.

The White House's Perverse Argument

Waterboarding Torture
Demonstrated at UC Berkeley
You be the judge.

Condoleezza Rice.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States does not permit or tolerate the torture of any terrorists detained in its custody.

Dim Son him own self.

President Bush on Friday defended his administration's methods of interrogating terrorism suspects, insisting, "This government does not torture people."

Mitch McConnell.

"The United States does not engage in torture. We do use enhanced interrogation techniques," McConnell said.

Ah, but...

Waterboarding has been condemned internationally as a form of illegal torture, and McConnell was quoted in the current issue of The New Yorker magazine as saying he would consider the practice torture if it were applied to him [see last link].

Mike Mukasey.

Days after refusing to rule out the use of waterboarding, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey has attacked congressional Democrats, calling the investigations of torture a violation of basic privacy rights [Privacy rights? Ya gotta be shitting me.].

We don’t consider anything we do to be torture, and I find the Democrats’ inquiries a distasteful intrusion into people’s private conduct,” Mukasey said today on the “Jerry Springer” public affairs television program.

Did you catch that? On "Jerry Springer"? So fucking professional. What's next? An appearance on American fucking Idol?

Ah, but...

When you get right down to it, the White House's new argument in favor of waterboarding is that the ends justify the means.

The White House line: Yes, we did it, but only to three chief terrorists [bullshit alert!], and only when we thought the nation was in imminent danger. We got life-saving information in return. And so we'd do it again in similar circumstances. (See yesterday's column for more.)

Putting aside for a moment the question of whether the ends did in fact justify the means -- and there is considerable evidence that the waterboarding of those three men miserably failed that test as well -- the White House argument is deeply perverse and goes against core American values.

Waterboarding is undeniably cruel. It is undeniably an assault on human dignity. The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution -- the one banning cruel and unusual punishment -- doesn't come with an asterisk indicating: Except when you think it's really, really important.

It's true that on TV, the ticking time bomb scenarios are crystal clear, being tough means using torture, and torture always works. But none of those things are remotely true in the real world. Which is why we have rules that we're supposed to follow, even in emergencies.

And even on the twisted terms the White House is advocating, the evidence suggests that the ends in this case did not justify the means. The White House asks us to believe that in this case it was worth it. But despite all the generalized assertions that countless lives have been saved by the CIA's interrogation program, Bush and his aides -- as I wrote in my Dec. 11 column-- have yet to offer a concrete case where intelligence produced by torture saved a single life. To the contrary, as I wrote in October, Bush has repeatedly cited examples of thwarted attacks that turned out to be wildly exaggerated.

Finally, the White House argues that waterboarding is legal because the Justice Department said so. But waterboarding is flatly, objectively illegal -- according to both U.S. and international law. Try to find one independent expert to tell you otherwise. And, despite their heated assertions, no one in the White House or at the Justice Department has yet to provide a single vaguely reasonable argument to support their position. All those legal briefs are conveniently considered top secret.

Bottom line is: Waterboarding is torture and the fucking Bush administration admits its permitted and actually used. Compassionate conservatives? Give me a fucking break.

Via WaPo.

Canada puts U.S. on torture watch list:

Just what in hell gave these people the fucking idea the US tortures people.

Damn stupid Canucks*!

CTV News has learned that, as part of a "torture awareness workshop," diplomats are now being told where to watch for abuse.

The aim of the workshop: to teach diplomats who visit Canadians in foreign jails how to tell if they've been tortured. It also listed countries and places with greater risks of torture. The list includes Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and China. But surprisingly, it also included the United States, Guantanamo Bay, and Israel.

It notes specific "U.S. interrogation techniquies," which include "forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation." The U.S. has repeatedly denied allegations by international groups that it tortures prisoners captured in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. However, U.S. officials have refused to comment on the Canadian list.

Hey, Bush, do we have any troops left we can use to attack Canada?

* See item 9 here or don't. It merely states "Canucks" is not a derogatory term for Canadians. That's important to me or I would never use it.

Via The Agonist.

Congress wants answers on CIA tapes

Are you up for this treatment? Would
you consider they were torturing you?

And, of course, after the dog and pony show is over they will just drop the issue.

Congress summoned CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden to Capitol Hill to explain his agency's destruction of interrogation videotapes, as multiple investigations began into who knew about and approved the decision.

Congress has enough fucking evidence, including a large number of pictures, of the torture going on. They don't need video if they're really serious about stopping such practices.

This is just another political football. Nothing will come of it. Congress is just wasting its time trying to look concerned.

SPIIDERWEB™ Rulz!

Via Boston Globe.

Judge: contractor can face Iraqi torture suit

As pointed out over at the link, the judge implied if the interrogators had not had civilian management, but only US military management, the suit would have been invalid. Now that's a pretty strange ruling.

At any rate, at last at least one defense contractor is going to have to defend itself.

Iraqi torture victims and their relatives can proceed with a lawsuit against a defense contractor that provided interrogators to the U.S. military in Iraq, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 on behalf of Iraqi nationals who say they or their relatives had been tortured or mistreated while detained by the U.S. military at Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq.

The plaintiffs sued CACI International Inc, which provided interrogators at Abu Ghraib, and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.'s Titan unit, which provided interpreters to the U.S. military in Iraq.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson dismissed the claims against Titan because the translators performed their duties under the direct command and under the exclusive operational control of military personnel.

But he ruled the lawsuit against CACI can go forward. He said CACI interrogators were subject to a dual chain of command involving company and military officials, with significant independent authority retained by CACI supervisors in Iraq.

Via The Sign.

'Just followed orders': Guantanamo mission came straight from Bush, Rumsfeld

When military investigators questioned Erie County Judge Michael E. Dunlavey about reported prisoner abuse during his tenure at the Guantanamo Bay camp for suspected terrorists, Dunlavey told them he got his "marching orders" from President Bush, according to a new book about U.S. policies regarding torture.

The book, "Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond," relies on government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to trace the development of what the authors claim was prisoner abuse and torture that emerged in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The book uses Dunlavey's words to place him, a retired two-star general in the U.S. Army Reserve, at the advent of the development of what have become disputed interrogation policies.

In a statement Dunlavey provided to a U.S. Air Force lieutenant general investigating FBI reports of detainee abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Dunlavey explains that as leader of interrogations at Guantanamo, he reported directly to President Bush and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Hmmm.

I have no reason to question what the authors claim. In fact I'd bet the farm they've got it right, but "just following orders" didn't work at Nuremberg and I seriously doubt if that defense is gonna get Judge Dunlavey off either.

War crimes are war crimes no matter what the provocation. Dunlavey was a military general at the time and under military command, but that doesn't exonerate him for his participation.

There's gonna be a lot of "correcting" required when the dust clears. The Bush administration is stacking up war crimes like chord wood.

I've said it before and will repeat it. There are some things people just shouldn't do to other people.

Via The Signs.

Bush says US 'does not torture'

Just in case you need a good laugh or cry, check out the emphasized text below.

President Bush defended his administration's detention and interrogation policies for terrorism suspects on Friday, saying they are both successful and lawful.

"When we find somebody who may have information regarding a potential attack on America, you bet we're going to detain them, and you bet we're going to question them," he said during a hastily called appearance in the Oval Office. "The American people expect us to find out information, actionable intelligence so we can help protect them. That's our job."

Bush was referring to a report on two secret memos in 2005 that authorized extreme interrogation tactics against terror suspects. "This government does not torture people," the president said.

Jesus H Christ in shorts, how much fucking proof is required? Not sure about you, but this posturing by Bush is really getting old. He has to trot out his codpiece on a regular basis now. He's become such a clown I'm amazed even the hard line wingers don't see right through him.

Via Yahoo! mail.

Torture school subjects children to lethal punishments

Its sometimes tying Bush to all that's wrong in the world, but this seems amazingly easy.

Mother Jones has a long, chilling feature on The Judge Rotenberg Education Center, a private radical behavior-modification school based in Canton, Mass. The school is run by a rogue behaviorist who uses discredited "punishment" techniques -- electroshock -- on children as young as nine to change their personalities. Matthew Israel, the school's $400,000/year executive director, straps homemade, overpowered shock apparatus to children (including severely autistic and retarded kids) and has his staff administer strong shocks for even minor infractions. Some children have been shocked thousands of times a day, and several children have died at the school.

Eight states send troubled children to the school, where "high functioning" kids are "educated" by being sat in front of computers all day, running through automated tutorial programs. Talking, fidgeting, or acting out during this "school" time is punished with shocks. Some kids' shock apparatus misfires, shocking them without any provocation. The staff are instructed to activate the shock apparatus out of sight of the children, so that they can't mentally or physically prepare for it.

The Rotenberg process lacks any kind of scientific basis, and the school uses a 20-year-old film of its "successes" to convince parents to send their children to the program -- however, some of the success stories in the film are still institutionalized at Rotenberg 20 years after their "cure," wheelchair bound and in terrible shape.

In an era where torturing people is just fine and dandy, this fits right in.

Via Boing Boing.

Must read IMHO

File under ostriches.

Jesus H Christ on Valium®, but these are monumental assholes.

From Hullabaloo via Dover Bitch.

What have we become?

So bad on a couple levels. First he was trying to glean torture techniques from the Nazis and then he realized he had surpassed them. Shit!

Perhaps the most telling line from WaPo’s chilling story about torturers interrogators: Then a soldier’s aunt sent over several copies of Viktor E. Frankel’s Holocaust memoir, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Lagouranis found himself trying to pick up tips from the Nazis. He realized he had gone too far.

(read more)

Must read IMHO

Torture: Good or bad?