On my first day of school as a 7th grader, I witnessed something so vile, so absolutely horrific that I ran into the school building to find help, slipped on the tile floor, hit my head, and passed out. I ended up being taken home for the rest of the afternoon. Since that injury, I have been a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
What did I witness? In the park across the street from the school, there were three, what-seemed-like huge 9th grade boys forcing an obviously mentally challenged 7th grade boy to eat grass.
That was the first time in my heretofore-sheltered life that I had seen one human being torturing another human being. To this day, it still makes me sick. What makes me even sicker is that I failed in my duty to protect him and stop the abuse. Since that time, nothing makes me more ashamed of being a human being that witnessing the purposeful abuse of one person by another.
How many of you have witnessed a form of torture? How many have been tortured themselves? As horrific as this incident was to me, I cannot fathom how the young boy had to have felt. Or how it makes him feel to this day. However, his treatment was nothing compared to the torture Williams Haynes recommended be used on detainees held by the United States.
According to a very extensive report on the nomination of William J. Haynes to the Fourth Circuit Court by Alliance For Justice:
[http://www.independentjudiciary.org/...]
Mr. Haynes recommended that several formerly forbidden interrogation techniques be used on detainees, including hooding, using dogs for intimidation purposes, removing clothing, and shaving facial hair. Brushing aside legal criticism from military lawyers and others in the administration, Mr. Haynes also oversaw a working group that argued in favor of defining torture extremely narrowly so as to exclude numerous controversial, unlawful interrogation techniques. The working group argued that U.S. laws banning torture were "inapplicable to interrogations undertaken pursuant to {the president's} commander-in-chief authority" - an argument the Supreme Court effectively repudiated in Hamdan V. Rumsfeld.
At his hearing and in response to questions posed afterwards, Mr. Haynes refused to shed light on his role in creating said policies. Since that initial hearing in 2003, some memos and letters authored by Mr. Haynes have become available to the public. Based on those alone, this is NOT a man who should be sitting in judgment on anyone else's actions. He should instead be tried as a war criminal and sentenced to life in prison, imho.
Mr. Haynes has consistently revealed that he has no respect for the Constitution of the United States. He has argued that the president has the right to override United States law and label someone an enemy combatant based solely on the president's own feelings. He maintained that the anti-torture laws already enacted in the U.S. did NOT apply at all to the actions at Guantanamo Bay or other locations outside the United States.
Additionally, these opinions represent just the ones that the public knows about. Who knows what he has authored on memos that have been shredded or classified so that they cannot be released, because it would be a supposed security risk? I shudder to think.
If Haynes had grown up in Wyoming instead of Texas, I would wonder if he was one of the 9th grade bullies forcing a defenseless 7th grader to eat grass. It would not surprise me if he engaged in this type of activity when he was young, because he is engaging in even worse behavior as an adult.
Why, when Bush knows that Haynes' previous nomination was one of the very FEW that the Democrats were willing to filibuster, has he renominated him? Why take the risk? Especially now when his political capital coffers are not exactly full?
I cannot answer that definitively. But I speculate that there are 2 main reasons. One - Haynes is being rewarded for his service to the team - for helping to make torture the norm rather than something illegal and abhorrent. Two - the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is the court that will hear the majority of cases against terrorists - by the administration's own design. This Court has shown a willingness to be very aggressive and push the boundaries - in an effort to push SCOTUS even further to the right. Imagine how convenient it will be for Bush et al if Haynes' nomination is confirmed and he is able then to hear the cases that this administration would rather see disappear. Despite the fact that Haynes helped to devise and implement the despicable treatment of detainees, he refused to state at his November 2003 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he would recuse himself from cases involving them.
There are multiple reasons why Haynes should not be confirmed for this judgeship. You can find them enumerated in previous diaries by Avila, thl lib, bhudydharma, Bhishma, and me.
You have only to google Haynes and torture for more information.
If, after reading this barrage of information, you remain unconvinced that preventing his confirmation is not the most pressing issue currently facing this country, please keep researching. Keep reading. But don't take too long, because his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee resumes today. The Republicans are trying to push this confirmation through quietly while people are on vacation and worrying about elections and trying to figure out what is wrong with their gardens, etc.
WE MUST NOT ALLOW THEM TO DO THIS!!! The Democrats went to bat against Haynes that last time he was nominated AND that was before they had all the above information. We need to be sure that they KNOW we are paying attention and that we expect them to use EVERY means necessary to block this vile excuse for a human being from being confirmed as a judge on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Please call, fax, email, and basically harass the Senate Judiciary Committee members today, all day, to get this nomination blocked. DON'T DELAY. DO IT NOW!
I promise if you don't, I will have to harangue you yet again tomorrow with another one of these very tiresome diaries. Please don't force me to do it. I beg of you.
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)
[Ranking Member]
202-224-4242 202-224-3479
[http://leahy.senate.gov/]
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
202-224-4543 202-224-2417
[http://kennedy.senate.gov/....]
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
202-224-5042 202-224-0139
[http://www.biden.senate.gov/....]
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
202-224-5653 202-224-9787
[http://kohl.senate.gov/....]
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
202-224-3841 202-228-3954
[http://feinstein.senate.gov/....]
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
202-224-6542 202-228-3027
[http://schumer.senate.gov/....]
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
202-224-5323 202-224-2725
[http://www.senate.gov/....]
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
202-224-2152 202-228-0400
[http://durbin.senate.gov/....]
Majority Members (Republicans)'
Arlen Specter (R-PA) [Chairman]
202-224-4254 202-228-1229
[http://specter.senate.gov/....]
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
202-224-5251 202-224-6331
[http://hatch.senate.gov/....]
Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
202-224-3744 202-224-6020
[http://grassley.senate.gov/....]
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
202-224-4521 202-224-2207
[http://kyl.senate.gov/....]
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
202-224-2315 202-224-6519
[http://dewine.senate.gov/]
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
202-224-4124 202-224-3149
[http://sessions.senate.gov/....]
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
202-224-5972 202-224-3808
[http://www.senate.gov/....]
John Cornyn (R-TX)
202-224-2934 202-228-2856
[http://cornyn.senate.gov/....]
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
202-224-6521 202-228-1265
[http://brownback.senate.gov/....]
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
202-224-5754 202-224-6008
[http://coburn.senate.gov/....]
OR you can take action at the following websites:
[http://www.pfaw.org]
[http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/....]