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May 18 2009
Bush Rejected Legal, Humane Torture Alternative?
Crossposted from Antemedius
RawStory is reporting this morning that “The Bush administration was given clear and unequivocal advice encouraging a detainee interrogation system that followed humane practices that adhered to US and international law…”
“A detailed memorandum authored by a counselor to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2005 also reveals that the Bush Administration was offered a comprehensive alternative to its use of torture techniques. The author, Rice deputy Philip Zelikow (along with then-acting deputy secretary of defense Gordon England), asserted that the adoption of a clear and humane approach to interrogation would pay dividends for the US in the years to come.”
The Zelikow/England draft memo (.PDF) stamped “Sensitive But Unclassified” was apparently written in June 2005, and was published May 14, 2009 in a post by Steven Aftergood at Secrecy News, a Federation of American Scientists project website.
May 16 2009
‘Black Shirts’: The Guantanamo Bay ‘Extreme Repression Force’
Crossposted from Antemedius
The picture at left, from The First Statement of David Hicks, at the UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, depicts an Immediate (or Initial) Reaction Force (IRF) training exercise, demonstrating the manner and formation in which an IRF team would rush at a detainee, slamming the detainee to the ground. Normally, however, members of the team would be wearing body armour, helmets and shin guards, and would be accompanied by dogs.
‘Soon after arriving at Guantanamo Bay, it became apparent that physical force would be used against the detainees. This was done most openly by the Initial Reaction Force (“IRF”), which consisted of a group of approximately half a dozen soldiers, wearing body armour, helmets and shin guards, and carrying shields and accompanied by dogs. The IRF team would rush in to a cell and slam the detainee to the ground, at which point, in the majority of cases, the soldiers would also strike or kick the detainee”, said Hicks in his opening statements taken from an affidavit filed in the United Kingdom in support of his efforts to retain his British citizenship, in that article.
The remainder of David Hicks ‘first statement’ goes on to describe much worse treatment of Guantanamo detainees.
I also witnessed many other types of physical abuse of the detainees. I witnessed a Saudi detainee being beaten by an Army guard while at Camp X-Ray. The Saudi, whose name is Jumma, was arguing with a guard by the name of Smith, who was a member of the IRF team and wore kneepads and IRF gear. This incident happened close to when I was transferred from X-Ray to Camp Delta. Jumma was ordered to lie on his stomach in his cell. Jumma lay down as ordered, but continued to argue with Smith, who became very angry, jumped up and came down with his knees on Jumma’s back. Smith then grabbed Jumma by the head and slammed his face into the concrete 10 to 20 times.
May 15 2009
Jason Leopold Exclusive: “Army Documents Describe Prisoner Abuse Photos Obama is Withholding”
Barack Obama backflipped on his promise to make public photos depicting detainee abuse by U.S. personnel overseas, however one intrepid independent reporter has managed, digging through government files obtained through an ACLU FOIA request, to unearth detailed documents describing the photographs.
U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan took dozens of pictures of their colleagues pointing assault rifles and pistols at the heads and backs of hooded and bound detainees and another photograph showed two male soldiers and one female solider pointing a broom to one detainee “as if I was sticking the end of a broom stick into [his] rectum,” according to the female soldier’s account as told to an Army criminal investigator.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday he would not release these photographs, reversing a promise he made a month ago, fearing it would stoke anti-American sentiment and endanger U.S. troops.
I found the documents that describes the photographs on the website of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU obtained the files, but not the photographs, in 2005 as part of the organization’s wide-ranging Freedom of information Act lawsuit against the federal government related to the Bush administration’s treatment of “war on terror” prisoners in U.S. custody.
May 15 2009
McChrystal Clear WOT IS Going On Here
Crossposted from Antemedius
—
Pepe Escobar:
No one really knows the fate of the man who was the reason for the Bush administration-proclaimed “war on terror”. Some influential Pakistanis say the Americans don’t know it. The Americans admit they don’t know it. President George W. Bush wanted him dead or alive. No one really knows whether he’s dead or alive. President Barack Obama says he and his organization remain the number one threat to the U.S. But even America’s most media-savvy general admits his organization is not in Afghanistan anymore. Would that be reason enough for the U.S. to finally leave Afghanistan? On the contrary: now there’s a new – counterinsurgent – top boot on the ground.
Real News Network – May 15, 2009
Obama and Osama – McChrystal clear
The more it changes, the more the “war on terror” stays the same
May 14 2009
Lawrence Wilkerson Drops an Iraq-Torture Bombshell
On Wednesday, Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson dropped a bombshell (h/t Heather):
what I have learned is that as the administration authorized harsh interrogation in April and May of 2002 — well before the Justice Department had rendered any legal opinion — its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at pre-empting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al-Qa’ida.
So furious was this effort that on one particular detainee, even when the interrogation team had reported to Cheney’s office that their detainee “was compliant” (meaning the team recommended no more torture), the VP’s office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods. The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa’ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, “revealed” such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop.
There in fact were no such contacts. (Incidentally, al-Libi just “committed suicide” in Libya. Interestingly, several U.S. lawyers working with tortured detainees were attempting to get the Libyan government to allow them to interview al-Libi….)
MORE: http://www.antemedius.com/content/lawrence-wilkerson-drops-iraq-torture-bombshell by Bob Fertik
May 13 2009
It’s Not Getting Any Smarter Out There
‘Millionaire’ Contestant Makes Worst Use Of Lifelines Ever
Idaho resident Kathy Evans brought humiliation to her friends and family Tuesday when she set a new standard for stupidity with her appearance on the popular TV show, ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.’
It seems that Evans, a 32-year-old wife and mother of two, got stuck on the first question, and proceeded to make what fans of the show are dubbing ‘the absolute worst use of lifelines ever.’
After being introduced to the show’s host Meredith Vieira, Evans assured her that she was ready to play, whereupon she was posed with an extremely easy $100 question. The question was: ‘Which of the following is the largest?’
A) A Peanut
B) An Elephant
C) The Moon
D) Hey, who you calling large?
May 12 2009
Creating Thousands Of New Recruits For al-Qaeda
Aijaz Ahmad, TRNN Senior Editorial Consultant and political commentator for the Indian newsmagazine Frontline, Political Science teacher, and frequent writer on South Asia and the Middle East, talks with Real News CEO Paul Jay with his analysis of the results of US policies and actions in Pakistan.
Real News Network – May 12, 2009
US policy makes things worse in Pakistan
Aijaz Ahmad: US policy will lead to thousands of new recruits for Al-Qaeda
May 10 2009
“They Frankly Own the Place”
Why does it seem that there in so much corruption in Washington, and why are people like Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner able to set WH policy and continue raiding the Treasury and robbing you blind? Why do the House and the Senate seem to bend over backwards kowtowing to Wall Street and Banking Industry fat cats?
“They Frankly Own the Place”
by Matt Renner, Editor and Washington reporter for Truthout.
What happens when a powerful senator goes up against an industry which has received roughly four trillion dollars in taxpayer support to stave off complete collapse? The senator loses.
Or at least that seems to be what happened last week when an amendment, which would have given bankruptcy judges the ability to adjust or “cram down” mortgages to help borrowers avoid foreclosure, was not able to garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a self-imposed invisible filibuster, which continues to haunt the Democrats in the Senate.
A procedural step to cut off debate and move to vote on the amendment was defeated by a 45 to 51 vote on the floor of the Senate, with 12 Democrats crossing the isle to vote with a unified Republican Party.
After the vote, Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the second highest ranking Democrat and author of the legislation, broke a taboo of the Senate with a charge of institution-wide corruption.
“And the banks – hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created – are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place,” Durbin said.
May 09 2009
AfPak Airstrikes And Selling A Rebranded War On Terror
Still another US air strike killing dozens of civilians in Afghanistan, still another promise by the Pentagon to “investigate”, while in Washington President Obama hosts the AfPak summit with “Af” Hamid Karzai” and “Pak” Ali Zardari.
Obama’s surge in Afghanistan will ensure a steady supply of “collateral damage”, even though sane military voices condemn “democracy at gunpoint” and Taliban “tacticians” mock Gen. David Petraeus’ counterinsurgency tactics.
The Bush “war on terror” has been rebranded as “overseas contingency operations” (OCO) by the Obama administration.
Pepe Escobar argues everything remains the same, but with a new twist: Washington selling OCO in AfPak to US public opinion not as an American war – but as a Pakistani war.
Real News Network – May 08, 2009
Killing them softly with air strikes
Pepe Escobar on how the rebranded “war on terror” is being sold as a PAKISTANI war