The Senate Torture Report - Obama Should Prosecute Bush and Cheny for War Crimes?

The release of the Senate "torture report" today confirmed the worse fears of many - the United States with authorization engaged in torture and committed acts which read like something right out of the narratives about Nazi torture techniques and atrocities.  Since all of this occurred under the foul Bush/Cheney regime, it is no surprise that Congressional Republicans - many of whom rubber stamped everything Bush/Cheney did  - did not want to have this report see the light of day.  The bottom line: any moral standing that America may have had in the world is now gone and murderous foreign despots can throw back in our diplomats' faces the activities on American authorities should criticisms be made of foreign atrocities.  The only way to avoid this is for America - and by this I mean Barack Obama and the Justice Department - to live up to its obligations under the UN Convention on Torture.  These would mean that either America prosecutes George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and a number of their minions, or they extradited and turned over to other nations for prosecution.  Mother Jones provides a taste of the horrors done in the name of the American people:

On Tuesday morning, the Senate intelligence committee released an executive summary of its years-long investigation into the CIA's detention and interrogation program. President George W. Bush authorized the so-called "enhanced interrogation" program after the 9/11 attacks. The United States government this week has warned personnel in facilities abroad, including US embassies, to be ready in case protests erupt in response.

The full report includes over 6,000 pages and 35,000 footnotes. You can read the executive summary here. Here are some of the lowlights:

1. The CIA used previously unreported tactics, including "rectal feeding" of detainees (p. 100, footnote 584):

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2. CIA officers threatened the children of detainees (p. 4):

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3. Over 20 percent of CIA detainees were "wrongfully held." One was an "intellectually challenged" man who was held so the CIA could get leverage over his family (p. 12)

4. One detainee, Abu Hudhaifa, was subjected to "ice water baths" and "66 hours of standing sleep deprivation" before being released because the CIA realized it probably had the wrong man.

5. The CIA, contrary to what it told Congress, began torturing detainees before even determining whether they would cooperate.

6. CIA officers began torturing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed "a few minutes" after beginning to question him (p. 108):

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9. In 2003, Bush gave a speech at a UN event condemning torture and calling on other nations to investigate and prosecute torture allegations. The statement was so at odds with US practices that the CIA contacted the White House to make sure enhanced interrogation techniques were still okay (pp. 209-210).

14. Bush Justice Department official Jay Bybee, who is now a federal judge, told Congress the torture of Al Qaeda detainees led to the US capture of Jose Padilla. That wasn't true.

16. Even President George W. Bush wasn't informed where the facilities were—because he feared he'd "accidentally disclose" the information.

The Daily Beast has additional details.  Here are excerpts:

Interrogations that lasted for days on end. Detainees forced to stand on broken legs, or go 180 hours in a row without sleep. A prison so cold, one suspect essentially froze to death. The Senate Intelligence Committee is finally releasing its review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation programs. And it is brutal.

Here are some of the most gruesome moments of detainee abuse from a summary of the report, obtained by The Daily Beast:

‘Well Worn’ Waterboards.  The CIA has previously said that only three detainees were ever waterboarded: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Abd Al Rahim al-Nashiri. But records uncovered by the Senate Intelligence Committee suggest there may have been more than three subjects. The Senate report describes a photograph of a “well worn” waterboard, surrounded by buckets of water, at a detention site where the CIA has claimed it never subjected a detainee to this procedure. In a meeting with the CIA in 2013, the agency was not able to explain the presence of this waterboard.

Near Drowning.  Contrary to CIA’s description to the Department of Justice, the Senate report says that the waterboarding was physically harmful, leading to convulsions and vomiting. During one session, detainee Abu Zubaydah became “completely unresponsive with bubbles rising through his open full mouth.” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded at least 183 times, which the Senate report describes as escalating into a “series of near drownings.”

Standing on Broken Legs.  In November 2002, a detainee who had been held partially nude and chained to the floor died, apparently from hypothermia. This case appears similar to the that of Gul Rahman, who died of similarly explained causes at an Afghan site known as the “Salt Pit,” also in November 2002. The site was also called “The Dark Prison” by former captives.

Forced Rectal Feeding and Worse.  At least five detainees were subjected to “rectal feeding” or “rectal hydration,” without any documented medical need. “While IV infusion is safe and effective,” one officer wrote, rectal hydration could be used as a form of behavior control.

Others were deprived of sleep, which could involve staying awake for as long as 180 hours—sometimes standing, sometimes with their hands shackled above their heads.

Some detainees were forced to walk around naked, or shackled with their hands above their heads. In other instances, naked detainees were hooded and dragged up and down corridors while subject to physical abuse.

Sexual Assault by Interrogators.  Officers in the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program included individuals who the committee said, “among other things, had engaged in inappropriate detainee interrogations, had workplace anger management issues, and had reportedly admitted to sexual assault.”

  

CIA Torturers Running Scared - Karma Can Be a Bitch

Funny how perspectives change when one ceases being the torturer and suddenly realizes that the day of reckoning for past crimes may be just around the corner. Oh, and don't try to say one was just following orders.  Nazi officials tried that one and it rightfully did not work.  Each of us at times has to decide whether we will commit moral wrongs or not.  Sometimes, the easier course is to "follow orders," but that doesn't make what you do morally right.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at CIA operative who now fear the day of reckoning may be at hand.  Here are excerpts:

The CIA has offered to perform security assessments for former intelligence officers that may be identified in the so-called Senate torture report, expected to be released Tuesday.

Most of these officers are not identified by their real names in the report, which was drawn up by the Democrats of the Senate Intelligence Committee. But the CIA remains concerned that close readers will be able to figure out, based on cross-referencing and context clues, who the anonymous officers are. (Some very senior and well-known officials will be mentioned by name in the report.)

Current and former CIA personnel say they are fearful for their personal safety, and that of their families, should they be identified after the report is released and become targets for harassment or retribution. So the agency has agreed to determine their degree of exposure to any risk of identification, according to one senior intelligence official who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “They will help people assess their individual situations, assessing their homes, and helping them keep a low profile,” the official told The Daily Beast.

Roughly 15 agency employees were directly involved in running the program, . . . 

Separately, a lawmaker said the CIA had briefed him on the possible need for “personnel moves” related to the security fallout from the interrogation report. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the security preparations publicly.

The CIA has long been concerned that if any of its personnel were identified following the release of the report, which details interrogation techniques President Obama has called torture, it could jeopardize employees’ physical safety and make it impossible for them to work overseas. 

There's more, so read the entire piece. The hypocrisy of many now worried about the report's release had no qualms about engaging in torture and ignoring the Geneva Conventions at the time.  Perhaps they should have thought more about the crimes they were committing at the time. 

George W. Bush Cancels Europe Trip Over Fear of Legal Action over Torture

Until George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their minions who authorized torture and other violations of the Geneva Conventions, in my view, America has little moral standing to criticize foreign powers that utilize similar practices.  And sadly, there is no movement in this country to punishes those who committed war crimes.  Thankfully, in other countries such reticence to call out Bush and Cheney et. al.  In fact the cretinous Bush has cancelled a planned trip to Europe over fears that he might be subjected to legal action should he venture out of the USA.  Personally, I applaud those who would bring Bush to justice.  The total number of lives ruined because of this man will perhaps never be known, but just in American lives wasted we know that the number far exceeds 4,000.  Democracy Now looks at the Chimperator's cancelled trip.  Here are highlights:

Former president George W. Bush was scheduled to be heading to Switzerland this weekend for his first trip to Europe since leaving office. He was set to speak on Saturday at a dinner in Geneva in honor of United Israel Appeal. But Bush canceled the trip after human rights attorneys threatened to take legal action against him for sanctioning the use of torture. 

One of the key pieces of evidence against the former president has been his own words. In an interview last November with NBC’s Matt Lauer, Bush openly admitted authorizing the use of torture 

MATT LAUER: Why is waterboarding legal, in your opinion?

GEORGE W. BUSH: Because the lawyers said it was legal, said it did not fall within the Anti-Torture Act. I’m not a lawyer. And — but you got to trust the judgment of people around you. And I do.

MATT LAUER: You say it’s legal, and the lawyers told me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Yeah.

MATT LAUER: Critics say that you got the Justice Department to give you the legal guidance and the legal memos that you wanted.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Well —

MATT LAUER: If it’s legal, President Bush, then if an American is taken into custody in a foreign country, not necessarily a uniformed American —

GEORGE W. BUSH: Look, I’m not going to debate the issue, Matt. I really —

MATT LAUER: I’m just asking. Would it be OK for a foreign country to waterboard an American citizen?

[O]n Monday, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights issued a 42-page document they call a preliminary indictment against Bush. Human rights lawyers say Bush could now face a lawsuit wherever he travels outside the United States.

We’re joined by Bill Quigley, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Were you disappointed by the cancellation of Bush’s trip?

BILL QUIGLEY: Well, yes and no. I mean, we really hoped that we could persuade Swiss prosecutors to actually charge him with criminal acts and to issue an arrest warrant. At the same time, everybody knew all along that one of the ways that people who are facing criminal charges in a certain jurisdiction, one of the ways they react is by not going to that place. And so, it was disappointing that we’re not able to actually prosecute him, but I think it has shown worldwide, really, that even though he was the president of the United States, if you engage in torture, which is universally felt to be illegal and unjust and immoral, that there are consequences for that.

So, we filed, along with 60 human rights organizations from around the world, this complaint and backed it up with 2,500 pages of documentation that shows his participation in torture, not to mention his own admission of it in his own book about that. And so, I think it is a big step forward in terms of human rights accountability for torture.

NBC News has coverage on the documentation of torture under Bush/Cheney here.  One of the reasons, in my view, why Bradley Manning is being so aggressively prosecuted is because some of the materials he is alleged to have released confirmed the use of torture and extraordinary efforts to cover it up.  Bush and Cheney rather than Manning is the one who should be prosecuted.

A Time When Torture Was A War Crime

I continue to be dumbfounded as GOP apologists for the lawless Bush/Cheney regime - not to mention their professional Christian allies - continue to try to either deny that illegal torture took place or that somehow it's OK when the USA does it, but not when any enemy does so. The double standard and hypocrisy is appalling and helps to underscore just how morally bankrupt the GOP and its Christian Right allies have become. They whine about abortion and gay marriage, but then close their eyes to incredible evils. There was a time when those who tortured - and this included waterboarding - were tried, convicted and in some cases executed. Unless and until those in the Bush/Cheney regime are held accountable for the horrors that went on at the direction of those at the highest levels, America will never regain its moral integrity around the world. This point needs to be relentlessly hammered home to expose the members of the far right for the foul hypocrites that they are. A reality check of what used to happen to torturers is provided in a piece by Paul Begala at the Huffington Post. Here are some highlights:

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In a CNN debate with Ari Fleischer, I said the United States executed Japanese war criminals for waterboarding. My point was that it is disingenuous for Bush Republicans to argue that waterboarding is not torture and thus illegal. It's kind of awkward to argue that waterboarding is not a crime when you hanged someone for doing it to our troops. My precise words were: "Our country executed Japanese soldiers who waterboarded American POWs. We executed them for the same crime we are now committing ourselves."

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I was referencing the statement of a different member of the Senate: John McCain. On November 29, 2007, Sen. McCain, while campaigning in St. Petersburg, Florida, said, "Following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."

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After World War II, an international coalition convened to prosecute Japanese soldiers charged with torture. At the top of the list of techniques was water-based interrogation, known variously then as 'water cure,' 'water torture' and 'waterboarding,' according to the charging documents. It simulates drowning." Politifact went on to report, "A number of the Japanese soldiers convicted by American judges were hanged, while others received lengthy prison sentences or time in labor camps."

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Regardless of how expedient it might be to walk away from this terrible phase of American government, we need to expose all of the misdeeds to the light of day and try those responsible, and that includes Bush and Cheney if they knew of the torture and allowed it or worse yet ordered it.

GOP Continues Its Descent to a Party of Infamy

While initial focus group polls are showing that Barack Obama won the third presidential debate and McCain has denied that his Party is engaging in racist and thug like conduct, the stories of GOP outrages and politics of hate continue to come in. The first comes from Sacramento, California, where the Sacramento GOP web site calls for the torture of Barack Obama. This isn't a case of some lone nutcase. This is the official party website for a large county unit. Obviously, McCain's statements that he abhors such conduct are lies. Even his smirking and condescending behavior during tonight's debate showed his contempt for Obama. I and I suspect many others are coming to be ashamed that we were ever Republican given the current face of the Party. Here are some highlights from the Sacramento Bee:

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Sacramento County Republican leaders Tuesday took down offensive material on their official party Web site that sought to link Sen. Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden and encouraged people to "Waterboard Barack Obama" – material that offended even state GOP leaders. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has pushed the party to try to broaden its appeal, took issue with the site. "In the governor's view, it's completely and totally inappropriate," said Julie Soderlund, a Schwarzenegger spokeswoman.

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Taking credit for the site (sacramentorepublicans.org) and its content was county party chairman Craig MacGlashan – husband of Sacramento County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan. The Bee asked MacGlashan about the content after seeking his reaction to hate-filled graffiti that was spray-painted over an Obama display on a fence at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Garfield Avenue.

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But he defended his Web site. "I'm aware of the content," he said. "Some people find it offensive, others do not. I cannot comment on how people interpret things." MacGlashan said he would "consider people's complaints" before taking any action. By Tuesday night, much of the questionable material – which ranged from depicting Obama in a turban to attacking Michelle Obama – had been removed, replaced with political cartoons attacking Obama.

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The second example of behavior beyond the pale involves the circulation of "jokes" by a top Tampa, Florida, Republican. I am truly starting to believe that some in the GOP are secretly hoping their unconscionable behavior may prompt some nut job to try to actually harm or kill Obama. The behavior looks like something one would expect in a banana republic, not the USA. Here are highlights from the Tampa Tribune:

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Al Austin, a longtime, high-level Republican fundraiser from Tampa, today sent to his list of political contacts an e-mail containing a joke that refers to the assassination of Barack Obama.

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The joke concerns a group of schoolchildren discussing the definition of “tragedy” as opposed to “great loss” or “accident.” The punch line comes when one child says that if an airplane carrying Obama and his wife, Michelle, “was struck by a ‘friendly fire’ missile and blown to smithereens,” the event might be a tragedy “because it certainly wouldn’t be a great loss, and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”

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Austin, a prominent real estate developer long known as one of the state’s leading Republican campaign fundraisers, has served in recent years as finance chairman for both the national and state Republican parties.

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In my view, it is crucial that McCain/Palin go down to a diastrous defeat so that this type of politics can be repudiated once and for all. People like Craig MacGaslan, John McCain, Sarah Palin and Al Austin are disgusting and utterly unfit to hold political positions.

Water Boarding Is Legal According to the White House

If we needed any more proof that the Chimperator is a war criminal, the White House’s admission that water boarding – a technique that is illegal under both U.S. and international law - has been utilized against detainees should seal the case. I truly do not understand the mindset of how the Christianists who continue to lick the Chimperator’s and Cheney’s boots reconcile their enthusiastic support of the use of torture with their allegedly Christian beliefs. All I can figure is that since they see Muslims (along with gays, blacks, brown skinned Hispanics, Jews – in short everyone not just like them) as less than fully human, they think it is alright to torture them and treat them in inhuman ways. Talk about perverting the message of Christ. The plain and simple truth is that Bush and Cheney should be tried and convicted for their illegal actions. Here are some highlights from the LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-torture7feb07,0,1028317.story):

WASHINGTON -- The White House said Wednesday that the widely condemned interrogation technique known as waterboarding is legal and that President Bush could authorize the CIA to resume using the simulated-drowning method under extraordinary circumstances. The surprise assertion from the Bush administration reopened a debate that many in Washington had considered closed. Two laws passed by Congress in recent years -- as well as a Supreme Court ruling on the treatment of detainees -- were widely interpreted to have banned the CIA's use of the extreme interrogation method.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, now the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has led efforts to outlaw waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods previously employed by the CIA.In a recent GOP presidential debate, McCain said it was inconceivable that "anyone could believe that [waterboarding is] not torture. It's in violation of the Geneva Convention. It's in violation of existing law." The leading Democratic contenders for the White House, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, have taken similar positions.

CNN's Situation Room reported that Vice President Dick Cheney, an ardent defender of U.S. tactics in the war on terror, was "defiant" about the use of waterboarding on suspects in an appearance today at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

Cheney said that he supported President Bush's national security decisions, which included the approval of waterboarding along with other harsh interrogation tactics. "I've been proud to stand by [Bush], by the decisions he's made," said Cheney, who then asked aloud, "Would I support those decisions today?" "You're damn right I would," he answered himself, to loud cheers.