( – promoted by buhdydharma )
What a week, eh?! OLC Memo’s released last Thursday, a weekend of TV spots with Rahm, Axelrod, then finally, from the horse’s mouth, Barack Obama on Monday says, “we are not ruling out prosecutions”. (yay). Then we close the week on Tuesday/Wednesday, with the release of the Full Report from the SASC, the Levin Report. Open the floodgates.
I’ve created this place, this series, to be something of a landing zone for us, any of us in the progressive community who feel the grief, who wish to contribute in some way to this growing call for justice, and/or who want to stay tuned in to any ACTION activities that emerge around this cause. I will publish every week, on Thursday mornings.
Loaded with linky goodness this week, follow me… and more coming!
The headline grabbers of the previous week usually! are detailed, discussed, and documented in the Sunday Torture News Round Up Series, which I highly recommend you read, in case you missed it. This week’s top stories are all over the headlines, the Rec List, and the Front Page, and the Diary pool. It’s heatin’ up!
Be sure to look for the next Sunday Round Up from METEOR BLADES scheduled for Sunday, April 26th.
#5 PDNC
Torture News Roundup: British Admit Torture Cover-up 04.19.09
Previous week’s (older issues are linked inside the previous digests):
#4 PDNC
Torture News Roundup: Panetta’s Move-On Torture Plan 04.13.09
# 3 Valtin
Sunday Weekly Torture Round-up: DoD to Jail Gitmo Attorney? 04.05.09
Other Torture Series Diaries
Letter Campaign, Something the Dog Said, every MONDAY
Follow the Monday’s Letter Campaign Diary Series and send one yourself!
Weekly Torture Action Letter 7: Mr. President You Are Making A Mistake
by Something the Dog Said Mon Apr 20, 2009 (Rec Listed)
“Why I Fight Against Torture” by Chacounne.
Coming soon… ACTION is in the building stages from Chacounne:
I am in the beginning of bringing together the people and organizations necessary to organize a March for Accountability. I think we need to show those in Washington how many will not stand for anything less than justice and accountability. If you are interested, please email me at the address in my profile. ~Chacounne
ACTION ALERTS
IMPORTANT ACTION summary,
links and Petitions, wrapped up with a bow, from buhdydharma!
Quote of the Week
The power of anger tempered with love is somehow a good way to channel the truth. ~Knucklehead
By The Numbers
# Days since Executive Order signed to close Gitmo: 92
# Days since Eric Holder sworn in as AG = 80
No changes or updates regarding #’s prisoners stats, see previous week.
Community Comments
from Angry Mouse
This is the essence of patriotism:
I’ve always been in love with the ‘idea’ of our country, the America we were supposed to be.
I think it is the idea, or the ideal, that drives patriots — to fight for their country, to defend their country, to ask questions of their country.
We are imperfect and always have been. And our history, our real history, is dark and ugly. But as long as we believe in the idea of what we could be, what we should be, there is, at a minimum, hope.
We are only scratching the surface of these stories and memos about torture; of that I have no doubt. But perhaps if enough of us are in love with the idea of what our nation should be, if enough of us fight for that idea, we might be able to get to the truth and maybe, just maybe, stop this ugliness from happening again.
I have my doubts; I’m a cynic by nature. But that’s what patriotism, real patriotism, demands of us: to love the idea of our country, even when we hate the reality of our country.
BONUS Top Comment, referring to the Levin SASC Report, from stunzeed :
It makes Watergate look like ripping the tag off a mattress.
Torture Diary Rescues (from the past week, through 4.22.09)
Special note ACTION only this week, amidst the gazillions, this one stood out. (More to come!)
Political FACTS about torture – BHO’s motives don’t matter, take action
by jcc2455; Mon Apr 20, 2009
The purpose of this diary is to encourage those who believe in the need for accountability for torture to stop hyperventilating, get over the fact that Obama is not, by himself, the vessel of a utopian revolution, get focused and fight like hell.
Can Open… Worms Everywhere
by I love OCD; Sun Apr 19, 2009
Fury about torture, (and about the other crimes committed by the arrogant criminals who have been in control of the Republican Party for so many years), is absolutely appropriate. It’s necessary, it’s the only sane response to what we’ve learned so far. That anger and frustration will provide the fuel that can energize us to take action, but fury alone won’t make anything happen.
Website of the Week
Center for Victims of Torture Sign their Petition!
It is clear to the world that the U.S. committed torture. It is equally clear that authorizing, ordering or perpetrating torture is illegal. At this point, we urgently need an investigation to determine who authorized and ordered torture. We do not need to strengthen our laws. We need to enforce them; in fact, we are required to as a matter of law.
To continue to hold ourselves out as a nation where the rule of law prevails, we have a duty to enforce the law. Whether this is a politically convenient time is not part of the equation. If we uphold our laws, in the long run, our nation risks far less. No single act will do more to repair our standing in the eyes of the world than enforcing our prohibition on torture.
Resource Spotlight
Contact your senator, any senator and
Find Senate Committee members CHART here, this is pretty handy and will lead you to all kinds of info, including contact addys. Don’t forget to thank the good guys!
Media Pick of the Week
As usual, Keith O and Rachel Maddow are blowing me away, see their websites for clips.
FDL’s emptywheel knocked it out of the park with this story on 183 waterboardings. Show her some blog love here.
NOTE TO Dharmaniacs, donate to DD instead. Or too! heh.
Also meritous is the Report: Abusive tactics used to seek Iraq-al Qaida, posted on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, by Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers.
Corresponding dKos diary:
Bush Administration Pushed Torture In Attempt To Find Iraq-al Qaida Links
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration applied relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a former Army psychiatrist.
Such information would’ve provided a foundation for one of former President George W. Bush’s main arguments for invading Iraq in 2003. In fact, no evidence has ever been found of operational ties between Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network and Saddam’s regime.
and Mr. Landay appeared as a guest on Rachel Maddow on Wednesday, April 22, 2009.
LINK when available…. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26…
ACTION
* Sign the DD Petition (see badge)
*Join the Facebook Group
Appoint a Special Prosecutor to Investigate Bush Administration War Crimes
Thanks for visiting LL’s brain. See you in the comment.o.sphere!
and now for a moment of Marvin…
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I wish I had the time to work that up more.
Heres something I need to get included too…
List of Likely CIA Prisoners Who Are Still Missing
Yes, there is a “huge wave” building up and it shouldn’t stop!!!!
Thank you for these “bits” for us to bite! 🙂
Today Harry Reid said:
Sometime between 9/11/2001 and last week, wanting retribution became the worst sin in the world. It used to be not supporting the president. Then it became not supporting the troops. At one point it was criticizing the torturers.
I’ve been wondering if retribution has always been such a terrible thing to want. Here’s Senator Fred Thompson speaking on the floor of the Senate, 9/12/2001, on passage of the Resolution Condemning the Terrorist Attacks Against the United States.
In those benighted times, mere retribution was not enough. We needed to go further. We have certainly evolved. In those olden days of yore, heinous crimes demanded a broad response which would set an example.