Tag: interrogations

Originally posted at The Public Record and Truthout

A number of new articles have been published recently that have highlighted evidence of illegal human experimentation on U.S.-held “terrorism” prisoners undergoing torture. These articles followed the release of a “white paper” by Physicians for Human Rights [PHR], Aiding Torture: Health Professionals’ Ethics and Human Rights Violations Demonstrated in the May 2004 Inspector General’s Report.

This report looks at those recent charges, and reveals that experiments by a CIA researcher on human subjects undergoing SERE training went unreported in the legal memos the Bush administration drafted to approve their torture program. It will also connect major military and intelligence figures to the SERE experiments, and tie some of them to major science and “experimental” directorates at the CIA and Special Operations Command.

So according to the Washington Post, the Obama Administration is objecting to a provision in the 2010 defense funding bill that would bar the hiring of outside contractors for purposes of interrogations.

The provision, strongly backed by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), describes interrogations as an “inherently governmental function” that “cannot be transferred to contractor personnel.” It would give the Defense Department one year from the bill’s enactment to ensure that the military had the resources to comply with it.

We have seen the egregious consequences of privatization of governmental functions – all one has to do is mention KBR or Halliburton or Blackwater.  But why is the Obama Administration objecting to this provision?

Update:  Some of you have seen the documentary, some have not.  At any rate, if you would like to share your thoughts about it, why not do it here?  Some comments are already remarking on it at the bottom.  It would be interesting to see how others think and feel about this documentary, as well.

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Tomorrow,  Sunday, April 5, 2009, National Geographic Society, will air a documentary entitled “Inside Guantanamo,” 8 PM CST or Wednesday, April 8, 7 PM CST – Check your local listings.  *Also, there are other optional times for viewing.

The video below is a panel, with Chris Wallace hosting, from FOX News.  Note the National Geographic logos. in the background.  In his opening remarks, Wallace refers to the detainees as some of the most notorious!  I have only watched bits of it, as right in the beginning, this Col. Donald Woolfolk (now retired), in charge of interrogations at Guantanamo, categorically denies there was any torture during his tenure there.  I had to shut it down, I became so angry.  Then, I watched a little here and a little there.  I have always admired National Geographic in so many respects, but when I heard this comment from the Col., I became concerned, “will National Geographic do a whitewash of Guantanamo? Have they sold out, too?”  Those thoughts prompted me to try and find out who are the directors, trustees, etc.  I found this, which is quite interesting, I think.  Tracy Wolstencroft is an appointment to the Board of Trustees.  He has been a partner at Goldman Sachs since 1994.   Also, I watched a little of the preview on NGS — I am concerned that it may turn out to be a kind of a neutralization of reality.

Well, we can’t be sure what the purpose of such a panel is, and, maybe, National Geographic will be an honest documentary — we’ll have to wait and see.

Video follows!