Torture

Done In Our Names, and guess who "Really Won't Forget!", the now hollow words this Country uses as to 9/11, hollow in most of the World!

WikiLeaks Iraq files reveal torture

Al Jazeera's access to leaked documents reveals secret US military order not to investigate Iraqi torture.

22 October 2010 - It is the biggest leak of military secrets in history. Al Jazeera has details of nearly 400,000 classified US documents. They are the secret Iraq files, leaked to whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

Khadr lawyer won't confirm plea talks involve Clinton

Oct. 21, 2010 - Lawyers for Canadian terror suspect Omar Khadr are refusing to comment on media reports that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is personally arranging a deal to resolve the case.

Nate Whitling, a Canadian lawyer for the Toronto-born Khadr, steadfastly refused to speculate about Clinton's involvement in a possible deal that would see the 24-year-old plead guilty to murdering a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in exchange for serving most of his sentence in Canada.

"I'm not commenting about the talks," Whitling told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from his Edmonton office. "If there's a deal it will become apparent in court on Monday."

War rages. Soldiers suffer. America sleeps

October 19, 2010 - How is it possible for a country to be at war on two fronts for nearly a decade and not be plunged into constant fits of epic soul-searching? Whatever trick of light makes it possible to pretend "We, the People" have nothing to do with wars waged in our name overseas also blinds us to its tragic legacies at home.

In a little more than two weeks, a nation suffering from willful amnesia about Iraq and Afghanistan will either vote for new representatives who share their myopia -- or retain those incumbents most skilled at exploiting it.

If polls are to be believed, these wars are too low on the list of voter priorities to prompt much turnout on Election Day. Although more than a trillion dollars has been spent on the wars, that's an unthinkable abstraction to the vast majority of us.

End of the “pinned against the wall” myth

18 October 2010 - Chris Ames did not agree with the use of military force in Iraq, but I am consistently impressed by his fairmindedness and the thoroughness with which he compiles information on the British decision to join the US-led invasion at his Iraq Inquiry Digest.

Lion and the Lamb: U.S. no longer a protector of human rights

October 19, 2010 - The idea that individual human beings have rights, claims upon their society or government, and that these rights are universal, has been evolving since the time of Hammurabi's Code 4,000 years ago. In 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sought to clarify this idea for our own time.

The subject of human rights, however, is still a controversial one, and our nation's reputation as a "human rights defender" has come under threat. At the heart of this controversy is the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program which under President Bush sent terrorism suspects abroad to be tortured. Recently this became the subject of a lawsuit.

By Missy Comley Beattie

I call one of my sons and say, “Listen, I have something to tell you."

He says, “As long as it isn’t about bedbugs.”

Expertly, with parental precision, I slickly shift from the bedbug scene in my head to one of the many issues among a plethora of plagues (POP). I talk about the “Emergency Call to Action” email I received about stopping hate, hatred of gays, hatred of Muslims, hatred of anything that is not sliced, white-bread, Bible-thumping, heterosexual America—this climate of shameful rhetoric, leading to violence, even in New York City, the location I love, and the place I see when I think of tolerance.

How much has our war mongering Really cost this Country? Have searched on and off these years looking for reports on the real costs of building the so called coalition, especially related to Iraq, but also the private citizens who reaped War Profiteering Blood Money in this Country and elsewhere, could this faucet of information finally start opening!!!

CIA paid Liverpool buyout tycoon millions...to use his jet for 'torture' flights

Paid by the CIA: Philip Morse, right, with ex-U.S. president George Bush Sr.

Behind-the-scenes negotiations in Khadr case

Oct 15 2010 - Negotiations in the Omar Khadr case involve senior members of the Obama administration, as the White House continues to push for a plea deal and avoid a trial of Guantanamo’s youngest detainee, U.S. and Canadian sources have told the Toronto Star.

While news of the deal leaked only Thursday, hours before the Pentagon official delayed Khadr’s trial, lawyers and government officials both in Washington and Ottawa have been working behind the scenes for weeks.

One source said diplomatic notes between the countries have dealt with the possibility of Khadr serving part of his sentence in Canada.

And still no accountability from this country as to the bush and cheney on down!!

Under negotiated settlement, detainee would serve eight years, seven of them in Canada

October 15, 2010 - Omar Khadr has agreed to plead guilty to all war crimes charges he faces -- including murder -- and is ready to serve a total of eight years in prison, seven of them in Canada, Postmedia News has learned.

Khadr, 24, had previously said he would never stand up in court and admit to having thrown the grenade that fatally wounded Sgt. 1st Class Chris Speer, a U.S. special forces soldier, during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan.

Among the four other charges to which Khadr is admitting are attempted murder and conspiracy, according to the deal between prosecutors and his defence.

European Court Will Review Macedonia's Role in Extraordinary Rendition

U.S. Must Hold Government Officials Accountable for Bush-Era Torture, Says ACLU

October 14, 2010 - The European Court of Human Rights announced it will review Macedonia's role in the CIA's extraordinary rendition and torture of innocent German citizen Khaled El-Masri. As part of a case brought by the Open Society Justice Initiative, the Macedonian government will be called on to answer questions about its involvement in the abuse of El-Masri, who was kidnapped from Macedonia and transported to a secret prison in Afghanistan where he was held for several months and tortured before being dumped on a hillside in Albania.

Boeing should make amends for its link to CIA torture case

Plaintiffs in the case say Boeing jets were used to transport prisoners for interrogation. As the case winds through the federal appeals process, can the company continue hiding behind the argument that it was merely carrying out a client's wishes?

October 14, 2010 - From William Boeing's 1916 B&W Bluebill to Rosie the Riveter and the B29 Superfortress. From Tex Johnston's 1955 barrel roll to the the Boeing Bust inspiring the infamous billboard, "Would the last person who leaves Seattle please turn out the lights?" From the 2001 move-to-Chicago sucker punch to the more recent Air Force tanker competition:

Boeing defines us.

By Jason Leopold and Jeffrey Kaye, t r u t h o u t | Investigative Report

(Illustration: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t)

In 2002, as the Bush administration was turning to torture and other brutal techniques for interrogating "war on terror" detainees, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz loosened rules against human experimentation, an apparent recognition of legal problems regarding the novel strategies for extracting and evaluating information from the prisoners.

Wolfowitz issued his directive on March 25, 2002, about a month after President George W. Bush stripped the detainees of traditional prisoner-of-war protections under the Geneva Conventions. Bush labeled them "unlawful enemy combatants" and authorized the CIA and the Department of Defense (DoD) to undertake brutal interrogations.

Despite its title - "Protection of Human Subjects and Adherence to Ethical Standards in DoD-Supported Research" - the Wolfowitz directive weakened protections that had been in place for decades by limiting the safeguards to "prisoners of war."

READ THE REST

London sets 2011 for Iraqi inquiry report

Oct. 13, 2010 - There are gaps remaining in a London inquiry into the Iraq war that need to be filled before findings are released in 2011, the head of the panel said.

London is examining its role in the Iraq war from the planning stages to the departure of British forces in 2009. Inquiry director John Chilcot said he would lead a team to Iraq to examine the war first hand.

Five members of the inquiry panel interviewed several Iraqi leaders during a September visit to Baghdad, including former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of the Shiite movement Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

Canon Andrew White, the so-called vicar of Baghdad, described his talks with the inquiry panel as helpful.

"President Obama came to office promising to end torture, close down the secret prisons in which it occurred and send the Al Qaeda terrorists — including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind and boastful murderer of journalist Daniel Pearl — into federal court, where they belong. This week, we saw just how difficult that process will be and, more disturbing, how ambivalent the Obama administration really is about the process."

READ THE REST AT THE LA TIMES.

U.S. asked to release Guantanamo detainees to help Afghan talks

AP Photo Afghan President Hamid Karzai prays with members of Afghanistan's new peace council during the inaugural session Thursday in Kabul.

Oct 13, 2010 - Releasing Taliban figures detained at Guantanamo Bay and scratching scores of others off the U.N. sanctions list would jump-start peace talks aimed at ending the 9-year-old war, members of Afghanistan's new peace council said Tuesday.

The council members, who hold their first business meeting on Wednesday, said goodwill gestures from the U.S. and international community could spur reconciliation talks - perhaps at a neutral location in Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Egypt or Turkey.

Today: Protest Rally and March

EVENT: Giant John Yoo Debate

WHEN: Oct. 12, 7-8:30 PM

WHERE: UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall), Bancroft at College, Berkeley

The controversial legal issues posed by John Yoo’s professional work as an administration lawyer who wrote crucial legal memos enabling torture, will be examined in a debate format.

Yoo will appear 20 feet high in video recordings drawn from his speeches, Congressional testimony, public lectures, and self-promotional book appearances. His opponents will then respond. This debate over the controversial issues which have made John Yoo infamous, and which go to serious legal system issues of national and international law, will be presented tonight by.

“No Torture” debate team: Anne Weills, Shahid Buttar, Cindy Sheehan, Larry Everest, Boalt Hall law students, Dan Siegel, Sharon Adams.

"Criminal Standard of Proof" of CIA Torture in Poland

10 October 2010 - The U.S. CIA engaged in torture in its secret prison in Poland with a “criminal standard of proof,” the British Broadcasting Corporation reported October 6. The remarks represent the view of former jurist and Swiss Senator Dick Marty, a the former Council of Europe Rapporteur on Torture who has investigated the case.

Torture victim sues Obama administration over `Kafkaesque nightmare'

A detainee is shown resting inside his cell in Camp Delta at Guantanamo in June 2004.
ANDRES LEIGHTON / ASSOCIATED PRESS

10.09.10 - In a first for a former Guantánamo captive freed by a federal judge, a Syrian man now living in Europe is suing the U.S. government for damages from what he calls a ``Kafkaesque nightmare.''

The 44-page lawsuit by Abdul Razak al Janko, 32, described a decade-long odyssey of detention -- first in Taliban-era Afghanistan, where he was tortured as an alleged pro-American Israeli spy, and later in U.S. military prisons that ignored or misdiagnosed his history as a torture victim.

Polish prosecutors to investigate CIA black site torture allegations

{The CIA allegedly detained and tortured suspects in Europe}

07.10.2010 - The public prosecutor's office in Poland has opened an investigation into claims by a Saudi national that he was tortured in a CIA secret prison in Poland. The Polish government maintains the prison never existed.

Polish prosecutors have accepted requests by a Saudi national to investigate his claims that he was tortured by the CIA on Polish territory, Polish media reported this week. {Documents appear to show some CIA-operated flights from Poland to Romania}

What happened in Europe's secret CIA prisons?

6 October 2010 - The CIA used a secret prison in Poland to detain and torture its most important 9/11 suspect, a former top human rights official alleges in a new BBC documentary.

On 7 March 2003 a CIA Gulfstream Jet landed at a remote airstrip in north-eastern Poland. Human rights officials and campaigners are convinced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the most senior al-Qaeda suspects, was on board.

American agents took him to a secret facility where, he says, he was tortured before being eventually transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

The secret transfer of CIA prisoners is said to have taken place in both Poland and Lithuania - a region where, only a generation ago, people were subject to arbitrary detention and torture at the hands of Communist secret police.

Exclusion of Coercion-Tainted Evidence Echoes Other Gitmo Cases

In a decision delivered Wednesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan blocked the government from calling one of their key witnesses against Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, inset, whose trial is now slated to start next week at the federal courthouse in Manhattan. (Daniel Barry/Getty Images)

6 October 2010 - A federal judge's decision today -- excluding key testimony from the first civilian trial of a Guantanamo detainee -- is the latest, and potentially most significant, in a series of government losses in Gitmo-related cases that relied on evidence gained during coercive interrogations [1].

"No Torture" Week Brings Top Experts to Berkeley To Denounce Torture

photo: redstarphoto.net
Statue honoring Berkeley’s history of protest and rebellion, on the pedestrian overpass on I-80 at University Avenue, Berkeley

A grassroots campaign in Berkeley is drawing national attention to an upcoming week of public educational events, art events and political protests to take place. Now declared the official “Berkeley Says No to Torture” Week by the Berkeley City Council, the week-long series of panels, debates, and cultural events will bring together in one program for the first time:

No Regard for Human Life

D.C. Court Rules That U.S. Officials Can Torture and Murder “Enemy Combatants,” Cover It Up, and Get Away With It

October 1st, 2010 - On September 30, Judge Ellen Huvelle affirmed the D.C. District Court’s decision to dismiss Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld, a civil lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel concerning three men who died in detention at Guantánamo in June 2006. Her decision came despite new evidence from four soldiers stationed at the base, which strongly suggests the three men were murdered at a secret site at Guantánamo and that the government worked hard to cover up the true cause and circumstances of the deaths. The government reported the three men committed suicide by hanging themselves in their cells.

"Nuremberg": A lost war-crimes documentary lives again

Why Stuart Schulberg's film of the famous Nazi trial was destroyed -- and what it can tell us now

Justice Robert H. Jackson, chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trial

Demonstrate at Justice Department on Friday, October 1, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After meeting with the Justice Department’s Office of
Intergovernmental and Public Liaison on June, 15 2010 to discuss the
Obama administration’s controversial record on detention issues, a
coalition of human rights advocates were promised further dialogue with
the Department. That commitment has not been honored.

Coalition members will rally at the Justice Department on Friday,
October 1 at 2:30 pm to demand that the Obama administration answer to
public outrage at its continuation of Bush-era policies, such as
indefinite detention and the use of the states-secrets defense to
dismiss lawsuits of men kidnapped by the United States and tortured.

“After a fruitful meeting in June, during which we were promised
meaningful follow up by Office of Public Liaison Director Portia
Roberson, we have written many letters and made many phone calls, to no

Opinion: IT'S TIME FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS TO INVESTIGATE THE ALLEGED MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION ON U.S.-HELD DETAINEES

09/27/2010 - Over the past several years, the American people have been confronted with mounting evidence of the use of torture by the previous U.S. administration. People of good will, across the nation and across political lines, have been deeply troubled by each new revelation. As faith leaders, we have felt keenly the need to add our voices to the many calling for a Commission of Inquiry that would investigate U.S. torture practices since 9/11.

A recent discovery of new horrors has only sharpened that sense of responsibility.

With the added Atrocities of War and Occupation: How to get more of your fellow soldiers killed and maimed and in these times, of the past couple of decades, innocent civilians, anywhere, targets of international criminal terrorist attacks!

Army restricts access to photos of soldiers with Afghan corpses

The Army is strictly controlling access to several grisly photos of U.S. soldiers holding up Afghan corpses, images that were uncovered as part of an investigation into alleged war crimes.

September 25, 2010 - Earlier this month, Army prosecutors at Joint Base Lewis-McChord turned over the photos to a military representative of civilian attorneys representing five soldiers accused of murdering three Afghan civilians and other crimes.