codepinkaction | 18 October 2010 On October 18, 2010, when former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke about her childhood and new book at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, she was confronted by five Bay Area activists who performed a citizens arrest for war crimes, lying the US into the invasion of Iraq and the murders of 5,000+ US soldiers and over 1 million Iraqi people. Disruptions occur throughout this 7.5 minute clip. Demand accountability at http://bit.ly/condoleezza
Tag: Condoleezza Rice
Nov 27 2009
Iraq War Inquiry, Day Three
On Sept 11 2001 Condi Rice was already sure al Qaeda did the hijackings and attacks but was also Already Mentioning Iraq as being Involved, or hoping so! To me I keep seeing a picture forming that they weren’t interested At All in seeking out bin Laden nor even al Qaeda members, but Were Hell Bent On Regime Change In Iraq, which was already being discussed and pushed prior to Sept 11 2001. They had no concern for seeking out those who were a part of this extremely destructive criminal act against our Nation and it’s Citizens, nor seemingly concern or thought as to the victims of the three extremely destructive acts, Saddam was on their minds!!
Aug 10 2009
Is Eric Holder Tacitly About To Ratify Bush Administration War Crimes?
The opening of this article in the Los Angeles Times seems promising. Almost exciting!
Reporting from Washington — U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials said.
Wow! Could it be the breakthrough for which we’ve been hoping?
A senior Justice Department official said that Holder envisioned an inquiry that would be narrow in scope, focusing on “whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized” in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws.
Remind anyone of the Abu Ghraib investigation? Focusing on the lower ranking officials- making them the fall guys and gals- while allowing the people actually responsible to go free? Because this isn’t just a question of what the CIA officers did, this is a question of whether they were authorized by top level government officials to commit war crimes. Like by the president. And the vice president. And the secretary of defense. And the national security advisor. And the White House counsel, who became the attorney general. And the director of the CIA. And others.
Make no mistake: the techniques that were authorized were war crimes. They also were war crimes. And war crimes. And as someone once said:
I believe that waterboarding was torture.
Which would be a war crime. But as the Times article continues:
Obama and Holder have both said that they believe waterboarding constitutes torture. But an investigation would pose thorny political problems for the administration, and probably draw criticism over questions of fairness.
“An investigation that focuses only on low-ranking operators would be, I think, worse than doing nothing at all,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.
Worse than doing nothing at all. Think about it.
Jun 13 2009
Rumsfeld Follies
Bradley Graham has a lengthy article, nearly 8,000 words, on the “Decline and Fall” of Donald Rumsfeld in Friday’s Washington Post. The article is adapted from his forthcoming book, By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld.
A few anecdotes leap out that I found telling. Such as, Rumsfeld was afraid of Condoleezza Rice and sent people in his stead to inform her of decisions he made that he knew she would not like rather than in person to avoid her ire.
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 02 2009
Condoleezza Rice avows; President is above law
Condi Rice Pulls a Nixon: If the President Orders Torture, It Must be Legal
copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org
Students at Stanford stood still as they listened to former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice speak. As the scholars pondered the words of the prominent woman who presented her case for waterboarding, many mused; “Is it Richard Nixon, or Condoleezza Rice? Which person thinks a President is above the law?” One might wonder. Those who viewed a video taped classroom conversation with Secretary Rice, today express astonishment as well. In her defense for actions she took to advocate for this extreme interrogation techniques Condoleezza Rice both blamed her former boss, George W. Bush and justified his decision.
“The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations under the Convention Against Torture.”
Apr 23 2009
Counter Terrorism in the White House
Rachel Maddow – former Rice confidant Philip Zelikow on the torture memos, part 1
copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org
In his attempt to counter a perceived threat to America, Philip Zelikow, the policy representative to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the National Securities Council (NSC) Deputies Committee, unexpectedly became the threat from within the White House.
The Bush Administration believed the best way to deal with suspected terrorists was to inflict extreme physical and psychological pressure on these perilous persons. Mister Zelikow offered his dissent. In a written and verbally stated opinion, Philip Zelikow contradicted what the occupants of the Oval Office accepted as necessary. “Individuals suspected of terrorism, can be legally tortured.”
A short time after the Office of Legal Council (OLC) issued the now infamous judgments which allowed for officially sanctioned torment, Mister Zelikow, his superior, who was then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and her Legal Adviser, John Bellinger, gained access to the torture memos. After a review, Philip Zelikow stated his concern. He sensed others within the Administration might share his angst. However, no one, inclusive of Mister Zelikow, publicly voiced an apprehension, that is, not until this past week.
Mar 28 2009
SASC Full Declassified Report Due Out, Levin to Call for DOJ Referral
Jason Leopold reported today that the Senate Armed Services Committee is very close to releasing — “possibly as early as next week” — its 200 page, 2000 footnote
… voluminous report on the treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody and the interrogations methods they were subjected to, according to Defense Department and intelligence sources, who described the report as the most detailed account to date of how the Bush administration and Defense Department implemented interrogation methods widely regarded as torture.
Levin and the SASC’s investigation is a gold mine of information about how the Bush administration implemented its torture program. Both the documents produced by the investigation, and the declassified 19-page summary released by Sen. Levin last year contained important new information, such the details surrounding John Yoo’s drafting of the torture memos.
Sep 25 2008
Condi Rice admits White House officials planned torture
For the first time, a senior Bush administration official has admitted to discussing the use of torture by the CIA.
In a written statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged that in 2002 and 2003, she and other high-ranking White House officials discussed the use of torture, including waterboarding, and other coercive methods.
Rice’s and her legal council’s statements were released by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the committee’s chairman. No specific dates were given.
At the time of the White House torture planing meetings, Rice was George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor. According to the Los Angeles Times, Rice admits Bush officials held White House talks on CIA interrogations, she and other White House officials “discussed simulated torture techniques that elite U.S. soldiers were subjected to as part of a survival training program”.
Aug 22 2008
Condi, Condi, Condi…………………..
You gotta get your ducks all in a row there before tooting those horns:
At a press conference she and Zebari said the negotiators were close to signing the deal but cautioned it had not yet been clinched.
Everyone says how intelligent you are, and after all you’re the Secretary of State with a whole department working for you, or are they being allowed to.
May 13 2008
Overlooked by Media, Important Torture Testimony!
Cross-posted at DailyKOS
Memos written at the request of high-ranking government officials by Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo on August 1, 2002 (also signed by Jay Bybee, now a federal judge) and March 14, 2003, assured the Bush administration that
. . . . the Department of Justice would not enforce the U.S. criminal laws against torture, assault, maiming and stalking, in the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants.”
Of course, we know that the purpose of Yoo’s memos were simply established as a means of legal clearance for all that ensued thereafter.
Daniel Levin, Acting Assistant Attorney General Office of Legal Counsel (December 30, 2004)
. . . . specifically rejects Yoo’s definition of torture, and admits that a defandant’s motives to protect national security will not shield him from a torture prosecution. The rescission of the August 2002 memo constitutes an admission by the Justice Department that the legal reasoning in that memo was wrong. But for 22 months, the [sic] it was in effect, which sanctioned and led to the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody.”
Note: all quoted material above from Marjorie Cohn, President National Lawyers Guild.
Apr 21 2008
Rice: Bush safe in Washington while U.S. troops die in Iraq
A story in today’s Los Angeles Times quotes U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mocking Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In Rice, in Iraq, lashes out at Muqtada al-Sadr, she said of al-Sadr:
“He is still living in Iran,” she said. “I guess it’s all-out war for anybody but him.
“His followers can go to their death and he will still be in Iran.”
Has George W. Bush served alongside American troops in Iraq, or can they go to their death while he is safe in the United States? Is Dick Cheney part of the “surge” in Iraq, or does he have other priorities? Is Rice going to be leading troops on the ground now in Iraq?
Of all the hypocritical things to have ever come out of Rice’s mouth, this is Hall of Shame worthy.
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