Torture Memos - Reports/OpEd from around the world

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The Memos:
here

Disturbing secret memos released yesterday detail the sadistic interrogation methods the Bush administration authorized the CIA to use on detainees. These memos provide shocking confirmation of high-level involvement in the Bush torture program.

It's appalling to see how far our nation strayed from our commitment to human rights. To restore our values we must demand accountability from those responsible.

The last thing America can do now is adopt a “let bygones be bygones” approach to these despicable and indefensible activities.

In America, no one is above the law -- and when crimes have been committed, our legal system demands accountability.

It took five long years for the ACLU to force these memos out into the open. And, no matter how long it takes, we’re going to keep pushing until those responsible for these heinous acts are held accountable.

Enforcing the law is not a political decision. In America, there aren’t seasons when we enforce the law and other seasons when we simply ignore it.

Slamming people against walls. Placing them in stress positions for prolonged periods. Waterboarding them. These are the kinds of “enhanced interrogation techniques” that these outrageous memos seek to justify.

In short, as one of the Bush torture memos openly acknowledges, they seek to permit activities that our own State Department routinely condemns as torture.

We can’t just say “Tsk. Tsk. That should never have happened” and walk away. We must demonstrate our commitment to the rule of law and demand accountability if our country is going to move forward.

We need your continued support to make sure those who broke the law by authorizing these heinous crimes are brought to justice. As a Guardian of Liberty, your small, monthly gift can provide the support we need to be successful in this work.

It will be a long and difficult fight -- but it is the only way to restore our values at home and our reputation abroad.

Thank you for standing with us,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union

P.S. It was up to you and the ACLU to force the release of these memos. And it’s up to us to make sure those who authorized and condoned torture are held to account.
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Go to ACLU dot org to find out other ways to support this effort.
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These Memos Parallel Others' Reports and make more possible that US has lied & covered up for the torture inflicted on Children
here
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Find all items just below here

Report: Bush-era torture orders enforced by top officials

By Agence France-Presse

The first use of waterboarding and other harsh treatment against suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was ordered by senior Central Intelligence Agency officials over objections from his interrogators, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Citing unnamed former intelligence officials and a footnote in a newly released legal memorandum, the newspaper said the harsh interrogation techniques had been ordered despite the belief of interrogators that the prisoner had already told them all he knew.

Former president George W. Bush had publicly described Zubaidah, who was captured in 2002, as Al-Qaeda's chief of operations while other top officials called him a "trusted associate" of Osama bin Laden and a major figure in the planning of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

UN expert criticizes US torture decision
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2009-04-18 15:57.

VIENNA (AP) — An Austrian newspaper quotes the U.N.'s top torture investigator as saying President Barack Obama's decision not to prosecute CIA operatives who used questionable interrogation practices violates international law.

Manfred Nowak is quoted in Der Standard as saying the United States has committed itself under the U.N. Convention against Torture to make torture a crime and to prosecute those suspected of engaging in it.

Obama assured CIA operatives on Thursday they would not be prosecuted for their rough interrogation tactics of terror suspects under the former Bush administration.

Nowak also says in the newspaper interview published Saturday that a comprehensive independent investigation is needed, and that it is important to compensate victims.

Schakowsky Thinks Crimes Should Be Prosecuted, and "Just Following Orders" No Excuse
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2009-04-18 15:35.

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky has just publicly said that "I was just obeying orders" is an illegitimate and Nazi excuse, and that "looking forward" as a method of (non) law enforcement is nonsensical. Please THANK HER, and please ask her and ask your congress member to jointly or individually send to Eric Holder the letter that Schakowsky and 55 other congress members sent to Michael Mukasey requesting a special prosecutor last summer, or an updated version thereof. Or ask your representative or senator to simply make a public statement like Jerrold Nadler's, or like Schakowsky's...

More Illegal Spying, More Looking Forward (into your communications)
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2009-04-18 15:20.

From NY Times:

Rod Beckstrom, who resigned in March as director of the National Cyber Security Center at the Homeland Security Department, said in an interview that he feared that the N.S.A.’s push for a greater role in guarding the government’s computer systems could give it the power to collect and analyze every e-mail message, text message and Google search conducted by every employee in every federal agency.

Find all the above here
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From The Public Record:

What did Democrats really know?
here

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Find all these items: here

Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Current News

4/17, Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane, New York Times, Released Memos Could Lead to More Disclosures

4/17, Marlise Simons, New York Times, Spanish Prosecutors Formalize Objections to Torture Indictments

4/17, Rebecca Santana, Associated Press, Disappointment with US not prosecuting CIA

4/17, Ewen MacAskill, Guardian (UK), Bush officials defend physical abuse described in memos released by Obama

4/17, Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Illegal immigrants detained, then freed to work

4/17, Daphne Eviatar, Washington Independent, Conyers Renews Call for Investigation of Bush Administration Actions

4/17, Declan McCullagh, CNET, FBI spyware used to nab hackers, extortionists

4/16, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, Control of Cybersecurity Becomes Divisive Issue

4/15, Robert Gehrke, Salt Lake (UT) Tribune, Chaffetz will seek to limit airport body scans

Find all these items: here
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Alerts for: nuremberg trials
Dissent Magazine
Today we are in a situation very much like the one Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson described in 1946 when, in his opening statement at the Nuremberg Trials, he said that the brutality of Nazi Germany had “brought shudders to ...
Dissent Blog - here

Experimental Theology: The Banality of Evil, Torture, and Mindlessness
By Richard Beck
Unable to cover the Nuremberg Trials, Hannah Arendt was keen the cover the Eichmann trial which took place from April 11 to August 14, 1961. At the end of the very public trial Eichmann was found guilty on all counts and was sentenced ...
Experimental Theology - here

The Anonymous Liberal: A Response to Glenn
By noreply@blogger.com (AL)

It seems the Nuremberg Trials are a different thing. These were against high ranking Nazi officials. Not the specific soldiers who operated the ovens. As well, the crimes done by the OLC via the CIA interrogators were done during an act ...
The Anonymous Liberal - here