The tortures described in the long-awaited memos are obviously the tip of the iceberg, as obviously as they reek of pure sadism. Putting an insect in with you in a coffin-like box to exploit your fear of insects? Specifically approved by Yoo? These are some sick puppies. Winston in Orwell’s "1984" was afraid of rats. It’s clear that Yoo/Gonzales read that book, and liked what they read.
The old "but Bush thought he had to do it because he was trying to prevent another 9/11" bromide is wearing a little thin. In case after case, these things happened to men who committed the crime of being worth $10,000 to the Pakistani ISI. Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s old Chief of Staff, said the real reason the innocent were not released, after we realized they were innocent, was that Bush realized he had a political problem. In sweeping up many of the wrong guys, he made a mistake. Letting them go would mean admitting to a mistake, and we know how well Bush entertains that idea.
Wilkerson:
largely unreported is that several in the U.S. leadership became aware of the reality...
that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had little intelligence value, and should be immediately released. But to have admitted this reality would have been a black mark on their leadership from virtually day one of the so-called Global War on Terror and these leaders already had black marks enough: the dead in a field in Pennsylvania, in the ashes of the Pentagon, and in the ruins of the World Trade Towers. They were not about to admit to their further errors at Guantanamo Bay. Better to claim that everyone there was a hardcore terrorist, was of enduring intelligence value, and would return to jihad if released.
There has to be a reason nearly 100 interrogation tapes were destroyed: they make the stuff in the memos look downright humanitarian . Lord knows what went on in those CIA black boxes, and even worse, in the cases of extraordinary rendition to other countries. You had better talk to us. You don’t want to send you to those guys, on a chartered flight. And if you didn’t know anything, they would send you anyway.
The Justice Jackson Center’s prosecution project lists a few tortures that we do know about:
• Savage Beatings. Prisoners were severely and regularly beaten with clubs, rifles and fists. They were beaten to the point that bones were broken, ribs were fractured, and prisoners sometimes were killed.
• Peroneal Strikes. Peroneal strikes are a specific form of savage beating, consisting of blows to the soft tissue and nerves just above the knee. The falsely accused prisoner beaten to death at Bagram had been given so many peroneal strikes that a coroner testified that his leg tissue had ‘"basically been pulpified.’"
• Hanging By The Arms. A highly excruciating "stress position" torture used on many prisoners, sometimes every day for two to three months, is hanging them by their arms, often or usually on tiptoe.
• Slamming A Prisoner’s Head Into Concrete Walls. In this torture a towel is wrapped around a prisoner’s neck and is then used to propel the prisoner head first into a concrete wall. This torture was so fraught with risk of serious injury to or death of a prisoner that the CIA kept a doctor on hand at all times to guard against death or crippling injury.
• Additional "Stress Positions" And Electric Shocks. "Palestinian hangings," they were hung by the arms with their feet on a drum through which electric shocks were applied to their feet; the shocks would cause the feet to "dance."
I agree that just following orders is no excuse, but only one in a thousand human beings has the courage to break ranks, or else THEY become a target. A military unit in war is a like a wolf pack. Don’t do what everyone else is doing, and you are the risk, at the cost of your career, or in a war zone like Iraq, a stray bullet. I am more angry at those who create the entire climate for such atrocities, knowingly, deliberately, and knowing better.
Obama’s defense of CIA officers involved in torture practically gives them immunity to step forward with their tales. We must reach out to the whistleblowers who were there, who participated and are living with feelings of shame and guilt because their leaders told them these were the "worst of the worst" and it was ok to torture them. People like Daniel Ellsberg, Col. Ann Wright, and General Anthony Taguba could be a support network for those wanting to step forward, like this brave young man below, Brandon Neely. These whistleblowers are the key. They will put the human face on this story which will have BushCo sweating bullets.
As for the political consideration of Pelosi and the "gang" having been briefed that "enhanced interrogation methods" were being used, her defense is simple. You told us they were being used. You didn’t tell us you had many of the wrong guys.
Home of the Brave: Brandon Neely
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Army Pvt. Brandon Neely was scared when he took Guantanamo's first shackled detainees off a bus. Told to expect vicious terrorists, he grabbed a trembling, elderly detainee and ground his face into the cement — the first of a range of humiliations he says he participated in and witnessed as the prison was opening for business.
Neely has now come forward in this final year of the detention center's existence, saying he wants to publicly air his feelings of guilt and shame about how some soldiers behaved as the military scrambled to handle the first alleged al-Qaida and Taliban members arriving at the isolated U.S. Navy base....
"If Guantanamo has taught us anything, it's the importance of abiding by the rule of law," said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel for Human Rights Watch.
Or as Neely put it in an interview with The Associated Press this week, "The stuff I did and the stuff I saw was just wrong."...FULL ARTICLE
A NOTE: Many of the links to this story have been "scrubbed" from the web. This was the original link, click it and see what happens, and click others:
http://news.yahoo.com/...
What going on, Obama?
Please circulate and forward this to your congressmember and the White House. The Netroots have power!
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