April 7, 2009 archive

Full ICRC Report on CIA Prisoner Abuse Now Published Online

The New York Review of Books has now posted a full version of the “strictly confidential” February 2007 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross on CIA torture of “high-value detainees.” The report was leaked in part by journalist Mark Danner, who wrote a review of the report in April 9 edition of the NYRB.

I subsequently reviewed Danner’s article at Invictus.

Danner makes the connections which I and others have made between these techniques and the study of torture and “brainwashing” undertaken by the CIA and the military over 50 years ago, which culminated in the codification of such procedures in the CIA counterintelligence interrogation KUBARK manual of the early 1960s.

The NY Review article also confirms the ABC news report of approximately a year ago that reported how each variation and application of the torture techniques was vetted by the White House.

Wargames, Real Genius and Brainstorm

I came of age in the Reagan ’80s, and the political landscape was fairly bleak.  While some of my classmates joined the College Republicans, others simply wanted to make as much money as possible.

I was concerned with HOW we were to be making money and WHERE that money was coming from.  This didn’t make it easy to find a job, but, in looking back, while there are some things I regret about my younger years, my choices in employment are not among them.

The mathematician Paul Halmos published a book that I’ve seen recently at Powell’s Books called I Have a Photographic Memory.  It’s a collection of photographs of mathematicians from the mid-20th century.  One picture in particular stays in my mind.  It’s from (I believe) the 1968 joint meetings of the AMS and MAA, and it shows a mathematician holding a sign over his head that reads:

MATHEMATICIANS – CONSIDER THE APPLICATIONS OF YOUR WORK

Bloggers Against Torture Listserve

I just created a google listserve called Bloggers Against Torture or BAT!

I am a member of DK environmentalists, which is a listserve of eco diarists at DK. When we post an eco diary, we send out an email to the members, which are now over 2,000. In truth, the eco listserve needs some tweaking as only a handful actually rec diaries or post comments when they get the emails. But, it does enable eco diarists to keep up with eco diaries posted by just checking your email!

BAT can be a way for us to inform each other about diaries we post and to have discussions about subjects or issues as they arise.

We may want to change the name, that’s fine. But, just thought I would get the ball rolling on this.

This is the group statement, which again can be rewritten but is limited to the number of characters presented here:

We oppose torture and cruel, inhuman & degrading treatment of all persons, whether they be prisoners at Guantanamo, Bagram or CIA black sites; immigrants; civilians, or prisoners in civilian prison systems. Most members support investigation & prosecution of Bush officials for war crimes & torture.

This should be the link to click to join.

[email protected]

Well, not sure if that is correct link or not.

This is the Bloggers Against Torture webpage.

http://groups.google.com/group…

Help! Not sure what to do next to make this operational!!!

You Do Not Need to Know His Name

You do not need to know his name to understand the enormity of what he is a part of, yet it is important that you do. You do not need to know that he died in Afghanistan, yet that point is not incidental to the existence of the flag-draped box left on the platform.

The coffin of Staff Sergeant Phillip Myers sits on the plane gangway at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware.

Photobucket

SSgt. Myers’ family gave permission for publication of this photo and it is the first published under the removal of the ban on photographs of coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as they arrive at Dover Airforce Base.

For analysis of the photos and further discussion, see BAGnewsNotes.  

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