Please Recommend this diary. This action needs to be massive & immediate.
DAY 3 of the HAYNE'S NOMINATION HEARINGS
William Haynes, a man who has promoted torture even BEYOND what the Bush Regime found allowable, deserves to be disbarred and put in jail for his contributions to war crimes, not installed as a Federal Judge.
As General Counsel of the Department of Defense, Mr. Haynes helped to formulate policies governing detainee interrogation and detention that violated U.S. and international law. He recommended that detainees in Guantanamo could be subjected to abusive interrogation techniques, including stripping them naked, depriving them of light, forcing them into stress positions, forcibly shaving them, and using dogs to intimidate them. He also advised that using wet towels and dripping water to make the detainees believe they are suffocating (waterboarding) and threatening them and their families with death might be "legally available" options.
The nomination of William Haynes MUST be stopped now. JOIN OUR EFFORT PLEASE!
Action items and today's news...
Whatever you are doing, stop now, recommend this diary so that others find out about this heinous nomination that is slipping under the radar,
email every senator on the Judiciary Committee with one click,
fax their offices for free via TPC online, and make plans to call their offices tomorrow....or call and leave a message tonight.
All contact info is at the end of this diary. They MUST hear from every single one of us. This nomination can NOT be allowed to get out of committee.
Thanks to Avila and docangel for the link to that great emailing tool, thanks to Buhdydharma for the link to the free pc faxing site, and thanks to all who have joined in this effort to stop this outrageous nomination.
I have not yet found news about today's hearings and what transpired but there were a few articles published today about yesterday's hearings.
Associated Press:
Haynes told the panel he was glad the Justice Department reversed an opinion he had requested that cleared the way for the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Right....um no shit? What the hell did we think he would say since the only issue blocking his confirmation is torture and detainment policies? The only way he has a prayer is to distance himself from them and disavow them as a mistake. Sorry Charlie....it shouldn't have taken the fuckin Supreme Court for you to know that torturing human beings and sentencing them to life incarceration with no charges and no trials is a bad thing to do. Most of us realize that this is wrong simply by virtue of simply being human beings with consciences and a hearts.
Away from the hearing room, Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada left open the prospect of blocking Haynes' nomination with a filibuster.
Call every single Democratic Senator and demand that they block this nomination with whatever tools it ends up requiring. We will not stand for torture in our names via our paychecks.
Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said afterward he had not yet decided whether to vote for Haynes' confirmation. Reid cited a letter by 20 retired military officers strongly opposing sending Haynes to the court in Richmond, Va.
"What compels us to take this unusual step," the letter stated, "is our profound concern about the role Mr. Haynes played in establishing -- over the objections of uniformed military lawyers -- detention and interrogation policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo which led not only to the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody but to a dangerous abrogation of the military's long-standing commitment to law."
Three Republican members of the so-called "Gang of 14" senators, who have significant say in whether controversial nominations survive, also have expressed concern about Haynes' nomination. They are Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine.
Call every single Republican Senator and demand that they vote NO on Haynes because the Supreme Court has ruled that the legal policies which he wrote are
Unconstitutional, a violation of United States Federal Law, and a violation of International Law. This is nobody fit to serve as a judge. There are Republicans on the fence right now. Call them all!
This nomination must NOT be allowed to move forward. William Haynes is a major part of why the world is turning against us, why our nation has been disgraced by becoming a practitioner of torture and thus WAR CRIMES, and why there are hundreds of people detained without charges for years now in our torture prisons.
Make these calls, emails, and faxes! We can make this happen!
Avila summarized best the main bullet points of outrage in her diary:
William Haynes has already done great damage to our country; while he might belong in a courtroom, it shouldn't be as a judge.
What does William Haynes, President Bush's appointee to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stand for?
- Direct questioning
- "Fear up"
- Pride and ego
- Futility
- Good cop/Bad cop
- Dietary manipulation
- Exploiting individual phobias
- Mild, non-injurious physical contact
- Mock executions
- Sleep deprivation
- Sexual humiliation
- Religious desecration
- Stress positions
- Isolation
- IRFings
- Water boarding
- Physical beatings
Damn straight that man does not belong on the bench. He deserves to be in prison for war crimes.
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The rest of this diary is a repost from last night with all of the contact information at the end. If you have not yet read up on this man, please continue reading all the way until the end. If you are already familiar with The Torture Judge, please commit to another round of faxes, phone calls, or emails..... let's keep this ball rolling, people!.
The Hamdan decision is a point-blank condemnation of this man's judicial philosophy and he has no business being on any court bench with or without that ruling. With that ruling though, we now have a nominee for the Federal Appeals court whose legal opinions the Supreme Court has said are unconstitutional and in violation of international and United States Federal law.
Everyone, our calls will make the difference. Realize that this is not going to be a rubberstamp confirmation.
July 11 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats suggested they may try to block the nomination of Defense Department General Counsel William J. Haynes II to be a federal judge a day after 20 retired military officers expressed concern about his qualifications.
Democrats may not need to use parliamentary tactics to defeat Haynes's nomination. A Republican critic of the Bush administration's interrogation policy, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, said he wasn't satisfied with Haynes's answers today about his role in approving techniques to interrogate suspected terrorists. Graham might give Democrats enough votes to block the nomination in committee.
It is crucial that we call every single Senator on the committee.... Republicans especially as Graham is leaning to our side right now. Flood his office with calls, people. Flood every office with calls. All contact information is at the end of this diary.
This is who Michael Haynes is and this is why we MUST stop this nomination NOW:
He continued to support many of these abusive techniques over the strenuous objections of uniformed military lawyers from each of the military services who argued that such techniques violated military law and the United States' obligations under international treaties.
Mr. Haynes also played a leading role in the construction of military commissions to try detainees at Guantanamo. In doing so he took the view that not even the minimum legal protections of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions apply to these detainees. Last month, the Supreme Court rejected that view, and struck down the commissions as violating both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
As General Counsel to the Department of Defense, Haynes:- Was responsible for ensuring U.S. military compliance with the laws of war, the Geneva Convention, and federal law.
- Helped make it harder for the officers with the military's own Judge Advocate General Corps to observe interrogations. Haynes' actions were so alarming that some JAG officers warned of "a disaster waiting to happen" and sought outside intervention.
- Misled a U.S. Senator who had specifically asked about policies for detention and treatment of prisoners. (William J. Haynes, General Counsel, Department of Defense, Letter to U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, June 25, 2003.)
- Signed off on the legality of withholding Geneva Conventions protections from hundreds of persons detained at Guantanamo, defined as prisoners of war.
- Helped develop the Defense Department's military tribunal plan, which the Supreme Court ruled in June (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld) violate the Geneva Convention and federal law.
Members of DailyKos, the time to act is NOW.
Call every single Senator, Democratic and Republican, on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Call now, call tomorrow, email them, fax them and get the message across as one united massive group opposed to this nomination even making it out of Committee. Please recommend this diary so that more people will read it and spread this news. Spread this action alert to everyone you know and ask them to join in with us in stopping this heinous nomination from moving forward.
Pick up the phones. Let's get to work!
Minority Members (Democrats)
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)
[Ranking Member]
202-224-4242 202-224-3479
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
202-224-4543 202-224-2417
Contact.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
202-224-5042 202-224-0139
Contact.
Herb Kohl (D-WI) >br>
202-224-5653 202-224-9787
Contact.
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
202-224-3841 202-228-3954
Contact.
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
202-224-5323 202-224-2725
Contact.
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
202-224-6542 202-228-3027
Contact.
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
202-224-2152 202-228-0400
Contact.
Majority Members (Republicans)
Arlen Specter (R-PA) [Chairman]
202-224-4254 202-228-1229
Contact.
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
202-224-5251 202-224-6331
Contact.
Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
202-224-3744 202-224-6020
Contact.
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
202-224-4521 202-224-2207
Contact.
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
202-224-2315 202-224-6519
Contact.
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
202-224-4124 202-224-3149
Contact.
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
202-224-5972 202-224-3808
Contact.
John Cornyn (R-TX)
202-224-2934 202-228-2856
Contact.
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
202-224-6521 202-228-1265
Contact.
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
202-224-5754 202-224-6008
Contact.
These people need to be called, every single one of them, by every single Kossack.
Let's keep this movement growing! We need everyone of you to join in with us!
Thank you to everyone who has been pushing this to the forefront. We're going to make this happen!