January 16, 2009 archive

In the immortal words of Pogo “We have met the enemy… and he is us” That prophetic little possum utter those words in 1952, back when we were still mostly the good guys. Before the South American Death Squads and regime change and invading a sovereign nation for oil and murdering 1.3 million innocent people in the process.

Now that Bush and Cheney have admitted to torture and our new AG has reaffirmed what we already knew, torture is a war crime, illgal, forbidden and a useless occupation, will they be prosecuted. Before we get all silly about the change Obama brings, the new America, the return of the rule of law, understand we really have no choice but prosecute them for their crimes. Follow me below the fold for why it isn’t an option and there is no moving forward, no future and no hope, no redemption until we do.

1. The LA Times reports Departing CIA chief Michael Hayden defends torture.

   Responding to critics who contend that harsh interrogation methods produce faulty intelligence, Hayden said that interrogations of key Al Qaeda figures accounted for the bulk of the United States’ understanding of the terrorist network and led to a series of successful operations around the globe.

   “Do not allow others to say it didn’t work,” Hayden said. “It worked.”

   Essentially, Hayden said the U.S. knows nothing, since most of the understanding of international terrorism is faulty since it was learnt through torture.

2. The Guardian reports on The worst of times: Bush’s environmental legacy examined. “The tone was set in the first 100 days when Bush reneged on a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants, the biggest contributors to global warming. Days later, the White House announced that America would not implement the Kyoto global climate change treaty.”

   The most damaging action by Bush administration was a disinformation campaign “to keep the public unaware of the evidence on climate change”. “The full extent of the White House efforts to downplay, distort and outright censor the science on climate change remains unclear – but such efforts continued even after [NASA scientist James] Hansen accused the Bush administration of censorship” in October 2004.

   Some of the other environmental horrors perpetrated by the Bush administration are:

   • Circumventing a 2007 Supreme Court decision compelling the EPA to regulate car emissions by doctoring scientific findings on the costs of fuel-efficiency standards

   • Opposing California’s efforts to impose stricter fuel efficiency requirements than the national standard

   • Gutting key sections of the Clean Water and Clean Air acts

   • Dismantling the protections of the Endangered Species Act

   • Widespread political interference in the management of endangered species

   • Opening millions of acres of wilderness to mining, oil and gas drilling, and logging

   • Defunding programs charged with the clean-up of toxic industrial wastes such as arsenic, lead and mercury

   • Reducing the enforcement effort in the Environmental Protection Agency

   • Removing grizzly bears and wolves from the endangered species list

   • Endorsing commercial whaling

   • Approving mountain-top removal for coal mining

   • Authorizing cetacean-killing sonar for U.S. Navy exercises

Four at Four continues with the move toward bank nationalization, AIG pays $150 more in retention bonuses, and surfing on icy Lake Superior.

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant, on Vietnam in an attempt to remove the jungle used for cover by communist forces.

Decades later, civilians still suffer the consequences. Dioxin still lurks in Vietnam’s soil, causing deformities which are passed on from generation to generation.

Worldfocus correspondent Mark Litke and producer Ara Ayer travel to Vietnam and witness the devastating effects the toxin has left behind.

For more information on efforts to aid the victims of Agent Orange, visit the Vietnam Friendship Village.

World Focus

(cross-posted at Daily Kos)

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RealNews commentator, Pepe Escobar asks the question, “Where is the Special Prosecutor?”

Note an important point Pepe makes about how this will reflect on Obama if other countries must tackle the war crimes’ issue.

In their TV appearances, both Bush and Cheney attempt to make it appear that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was an isolated incidence of waterboarding.  CIA Chief Hayden admitted to three incidences of waterboarding:

“Waterboarding has been used on only three detainees,” he told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “It was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. It was used on Abu Zubaydah. And it was used on [Abd al-Rahim al-]Nashiri.”

I think it would be safe to say, there were more than three who were waterboarded (Hayden also admitted to thirteen others being subjected to “enhanced interrogation methods,” but not waterboarding).  And what about the deaths that occurred at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo?   And those who were renditioned to other countries?

The point is that both Bush and Cheney tried to “legitimize” the use of waterboarding by 1) making it appear an isolated case and, 2) invaluable information was obtained.  They, of course, try to make it seem to the American public that torture’s O.K. in “certain circumstances” — that there are exceptions to the laws.  THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS!

Here are some thoughts on the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” by a Human Rights Watch representative and other CIA operators:

“The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law,” said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch.

The techniques are controversial among experienced intelligence agency and military interrogators. Many feel that a confession obtained this way is an unreliable tool. Two experienced officers have told ABC that there is little to be gained by these techniques that could not be more effectively gained by a methodical, careful, psychologically based interrogation. According to a classified report prepared by the CIA Inspector General John Helgerwon and issued in 2004, the techniques “appeared to constitute cruel, and degrading treatment under the (Geneva) convention,” the New York Times reported on Nov. 9, 2005.

It is “bad interrogation. I mean you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture’s bad enough,” said former CIA officer Bob Baer.

Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer and a deputy director of the State Department’s office of counterterrorism, recently wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “What real CIA field officers know firsthand is that it is better to build a relationship of trust … than to extract quick confessions through tactics such as those used by the Nazis and the Soviets.” . . . .

A bit more follows!

Did you ever hear National Lampoon’s “Missing Basement Tapes”?

It contained a swearing out ceremony for Dick Nixon.  It was Rev. Billy Graham:

“Gawd Damn you Richard Nixon! Richard Nixon, you Son-of-a-bitch, you lied your ass off to the American People.  Now f**k off!”

We need to organize a Bush Swearing-Out Ceremony for GW, Cheney and the whole gang posthaste.

Hell, we could do it right here.  I know I need the opportunity to vent.  What say you?

Alternatively, we could take a no pants subway ride:

Today (Friday, Jan. 16) is the day:  Iraq Moratorium, a day to interrupt our daily routines and do something, whatever it may be, to call for an end to the war and occupation of Iraq.

Here’s one simple thing you can do that only takes a minute:

With the inauguration of Barack Obama just days away, ask Obama, through his change.gov website, to act at once to begin the process of withdrawing US troops. Tell him how strongly you feel about it.

Here’s another simple, warm, indoor activity, while we in Wisconsin and elsewhere (like the people pictured in Rice Lake WI) endure sub-zero temperatures:   Help keep the woefully underfunded Iraq Moratorium alive with a contribution, large or small, one-time or monthly.   Just click here to donate.  We’ll put it to immediate and effective use in the cause of peace

Whatever you decide to do, please send a report (photos or videos, too, if you have them) by using this brand new, even simpler form.

Folks across the country would like to hear about what you do, even an individual action.  You can inspire others to act.

Thanks for whatever you do in the cause of peace.