Daily Kos

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  •  Stephanie Miller (4.00 / 2)

    Just read some of this and said you were the Patron Saint :) .
    •  Protest US Media Blackout Illegal Iraq War (4.00 / 8)

      Stop Violations of First Ammendment.

      State Sponsored Censorship of US Free Press violates Constitution.

      Join Veterans for Peace on Solemn MEMORIAL DAY March on Washington

      Join Congressman John Conyers in his efforts to bring war criminals to justice.

    •  I want the White House to answer whether... (4.00 / 25)

      they approved or not:

      1. a torture technique used by female interrogators known as, "change of scenery down", which is a "grave war crime" under the Geneva Conventions?

      2. short shackling prisoners in a painful squat for hours?

      3. stripping prisoners of their pants during prayer?

      4. a training program called "training the tiger" that would teach guards how to cause series pain by stricking "pressure points".

      5. Techniques designed to cause pain including - grabbing or kneeing their genitals or poking them hard in the eye or holding their eyes open and spreying them with pepper spray?

      6. Beating them to force compliance with an illegal order such as requiring them to strip for a search or shower or to change clothes in the presence of female guard (s)?

      7. Creating a group called an "extreme reaction force" that would severly beat prisoners for complaining about cold food or asking for blankets or even for just speaking to another prisoner?

      8. Leaving prisoners in isolation in a totally dark and empty cell for up to 30 days straight with no human contact?

      9. Denying access to a toilet and being required to soil themselves?

      10. Desecrating the Koran?

      11. Forced enemas?

      12. Forcing prisoners to perform oral sex on each other?

      13. Forcing devout Muslims to watch pornographic movies?

      14. Dragging them along by a leash?

      15. Threatening to sick dogs on the prisoners?

      16. Sending prisoners overseas to be boiled?

      17. Stripping prisoners and leaving them nude in their cell?

      18. Shoving foreign objects up their rectum during a "body cavity search".

      19. Shaving their entire bodies - including genitals?

      20. Sleep depriving prisoners for days?

      21. Purposely shackling them so tightly that the shackles would cut into their skin and then forcing them to race each other in leg shackles while the guards laughed?

      22. Hooding prisoners for long periods of time?

      23. stripping prisoners naked and then bringing in female guards who would fondle their genitals?

      24. Denying the prisoners toilet paper or anything to clean themselves with after using the toilet?

      25. Being forced to wear a prison jumpsuit that had a slit in the side that was designed to expose the prisoners genitals when they knelt down and bent over for prayer in violation of their faith?

      26. Not being permitted to request and get male medics for routine exams and being forced to expose themselves for examination in front of female medics in violation of their religous beliefs?

      27. Being denied necessary medical care for injuries caused by the "extreme reaction force"?

      28. sexual taunting by both male and female guards?

      29. religous taunting by both male and female guards?

      30. rape of female prisoners by male guards

      31. forcing female prisoners to expose themselves in front of male guards?

      32. taking hostages such as the wives or children of suspected insurgents?

      33. fondling female detainees?

      34. Detaining and abusing children?

      35. stripping the child of a detainee naked and throwing the kid in the back of a truck and driving the kid to a mud patch and throwing him in the mud.

      All of these things violate the Geneva Conventions and our treaty obligations and I want to know if the administration approved this stuff and if so they should be held responsible; if not then the interrogators and other perpetrators should be held responsible.

      In addition, every prisoner is to be given full Geneva Protection until their status is reviewed by a competant tribunal. So far no detainees have been reviewed by a competant tribunal. Either charge them or let them go.

      We need an investigation to get to the bottom of who all is responsible for all of this abuse and torture!

      Honor bound to defend freedom. Freedom is long-standing army regulations.

      by RichardG on Tue May 17, 2005 at 09:42:40 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  What is (none / 0)

        What is change of scenery down?  

        Dana Garrett http://delawarewatch.blogspot.com/

        by Dana Garrett on Tue May 17, 2005 at 12:50:32 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  Basically it is sexual humiliation... (none / 0)

          the female interrogator would walk in on the detainee while he is in the shower or on the toilet and stare at his genitals and make sexual comments and degrade the prisoner by referring to penis size, how the prisoner wipes himself or cleans himself - just trying to humiliate the detainee as much as possible. This is the technique that the ICRC said was "tantamount to torture" and the FBI said in its memos amounted to "torture".

          This could also be done shortly after a forced enema.

          Whether this is abuse or mental torture it dosn't really matter, because it is a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions.

          Honor bound to defend freedom. Freedom is long-standing army regulations.

          by RichardG on Tue May 17, 2005 at 01:23:46 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  Not according to Googled sources (none / 0)

            WaPo, for example, defines "change of scenery down" as "putting a prisoner in a worse place". An example given elsewhere is a more barren cell.

            There may be more than one meaning, of course.

            "C'mon -- if THAT were true, you wouldn't be getting the news from some crazy email forwarded by your brother-in-law!"

            by technopolitical on Tue May 17, 2005 at 06:04:22 PM PDT

            [ Parent ]

            •  "A worse place" somehow became the... (none / 0)

              shower or bathroom and involved only female interrogators. Someone approved this illegal abusive treatment and they should be held responsible.

              If you read the definition on withholding "incentives" it won't say withholding toilet paper or access to a toilet, but that is what happened.

              The point is who approved all of this interrogator abuse that violates the Geneva Conventions and the UCMJ and why are they not being held responsible?

              It is also clear that techniques were designed to specifically violate the religous convictions of the detainees, which means there was probably high level involvment.

              Honor bound to defend freedom. Freedom is long-standing army regulations.

              by RichardG on Wed May 18, 2005 at 07:10:02 AM PDT

              [ Parent ]

      •  add to that (none / 1)

        Sodomizing little boys in front of their parents to get them to talk. (re: Seymour Hersh)

        Forcing women to walk on all fours while nude. (Don't remember where I read that)

        •  I forgot about the sodomizing of the kids at.. (none / 0)

          Abu Ghraib. Good call.

          I didn't read the story about forcing women to walk on all fours while nude, but don't doubt at all that it happened. Perfectly consistent with all of the other verified abuse.

          Honor bound to defend freedom. Freedom is long-standing army regulations.

          by RichardG on Tue May 17, 2005 at 02:05:00 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  It's hard to tell what is the most heinous (none / 0)

            but raping children, I think that one is probably one of the worst.  (though outsourcing prisoners to Uzbekistan is pretty bad too).
            •  I was trying to note all of... (none / 0)

              the ILLEGAL and abusive prison activity that I could recall, however it is in no means in any particular order.

              I also did not include the fact that prisoners were beaten to death at Bagram and a few other places as well as chained to the ceiling by their wrists at Bagram.

              I would also consider raping children the worst, however alot of these activities probably would qualify as torture like raping women, beating prisoners to death, boiling them and the consistent abusive treatement collectively, in my view amounts to torture.

              Honor bound to defend freedom. Freedom is long-standing army regulations.

              by RichardG on Wed May 18, 2005 at 08:09:24 AM PDT

              [ Parent ]

              •  Of course (none / 0)

                These all are tantamount to torture as well as war crimes, according to the Geneva conventions...and rape is considered a war crime, as it is used as a tactic of war.  But we are also breaking our own laws in sedning prisoners to a country that has a reputation of torture.

                Uzbekistan is a horrible regime and well known as a regime of torture.  

                For that matter we shouldn't be taking any prisoners now either, we are breaking our own law.

                •  Grave War crimes under the... (none / 0)

                  Geneva Conventions are; "outrages upon personal dignity" in particular "humilating and degrading treatment".

                  Grave War crimes require prosecution on behalf of the host country.

                  Honor bound to defend freedom. Freedom is long-standing army regulations.

                  by RichardG on Wed May 18, 2005 at 11:06:47 AM PDT

                  [ Parent ]

        •  answers (4.00 / 2)

          I hope you can help us find the answers.

          Frankly, I don't know what a lot of the questions above are.  It's pretty bad when an average American citizen cannot even look at the questions.

          I guess that is part of the problem.  To find the answers, we have to acknowledge the possibility, and I don't even want to look.

        •  But you already know the answer... (none / 0)

          It never hurts to ask it but you know the answer will be "No, we never approved these techniques."  

          And they probably never did explicitly.  These guys are smart enough to not leave a paper trail.  They probably tell their subordinates what they want done in vague general terms or and let the subordinates carry it out.  The top guys maintain their deniability and nothing ever touches them.  

          I think the more fruitful question is more along the lines of whether these things actually happened.  Once you establish that and who was involved, you try to work your way up the chain.

          By the way, I hear tell that you used to work at the old Workers Comp Bureau in Detroit.  Best wishes from a former workers comp appeal writer who lives in your district.

          "Unseen, in the background, Fate was quietly slipping the lead into the boxing glove." P.G. Wodehouse

          by gsbadj on Wed May 18, 2005 at 02:55:20 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

      •  Add Murder? (none / 0)

        Republican Senator Lindsay Graham: "The American public needs to understand, we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience. We're talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges."

        And that's Graham talking!

        We need to call them to account!  Justice, please! What has happened to our country???

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