It’s Passover and not much time for writing. But since there is no current Open Thread I’ll put these links and quotes in a diary. This is worse than the John Yoo memos.
How the military was hoodwinked into torture.
Below::
Please check out both links to The Guardian:
Top Bush aides pushed for Guantánamo torture
Senior officials bypassed army chief to introduce interrogation methods
America’s most senior general was “hoodwinked” by top Bush administration officials determined to push through aggressive interrogation techniques of terror suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, leading to the US military abandoning its age-old ban on the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners, the Guardian reveals today.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff from 2001 to 2005, wrongly believed that inmates at Guantánamo and other prisons were protected by the Geneva conventions and from abuse tantamount to torture.
The way he was duped by senior officials in Washington, who believed the Geneva conventions and other traditional safeguards were out of date, is disclosed in a devastating account of their role, extracts of which appear in today’s Guardian.
[…]
The lawyers, all political appointees, who pushed through the interrogation techniques were Alberto Gonzales, David Addington and William Haynes. Also involved were Doug Feith, Rumsfeld’s under-secretary for policy, and Jay Bybee and John Yoo, two assistant attorney generals.
The revelations have sparked a fierce response in the US from those familiar with the contents of the book, and who are determined to establish accountability for the way the Bush administration violated international and domestic law by sanctioning prisoner abuse and torture.
The Bush administration has tried to explain away the ill-treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by blaming junior officials. Sands’ book establishes that pressure for aggressive and cruel treatment of detainees came from the top and was sanctioned by the most senior lawyers. […]
Stress hooding noise nudity dogs
It was the young officials at Guantánamo who dreamed up a list of new aggressive interrogation techniques, inspired by Jack Bauer from the TV series, 24. But it was the politicians and lawyers in Washington who set the ball rolling. Philippe Sands follows the torture trail right to the top
On Tuesday, December 2 2002, Donald Rumsfeld signed a piece of paper that changed the course of history. That same day, President Bush signed a bill to put the Pentagon in funds for the next year. The US faced unprecedented challenges, Bush told a large and enthusiastic audience, and terror was one of them. The US would respond to these challenges, and it would do so in the “finest traditions of valour”. And then he signed a large increase in the defence budget.
Elsewhere in the Pentagon, an event took place for which there was no comment, no fanfare. With a signature and a few scrawled words, Rumsfeld reneged on the tradition of valour to which Bush had referred. Principles for the conduct of interrogation, dating back more than a century to President Lincoln’s famous instruction of 1863 that “military necessity does not admit of cruelty”, were discarded. He approved new and aggressive interrogation techniques that would produce devastating consequences.
[Read on for excerpts of the book]
I first suspected this might be disinformation (scrubbing the reputation of the armed forces), but the articles are published in The Guardian and when looking up Professor Sands, he comes across as very credible.
Professor Philippe Sands calls Tony Blair to account
Professor Philippe Sands (UCL Laws) has argued cases, published books and advised governments, but this year his legal expertise is taking him beyond the classroom and courtroom into the theatre.
Professor Philippe SandsFor the past few weeks, he has been cross-examining tantalisingly high-ranking members of the British Establishment in support of the argument that Tony Blair could be indicted for the crime of aggression due to the decision-making process that led the UK into war with Iraq. The resultant transcripts will be turned into a script for a play to run at the Tricycle Theatre in London from April to May 2007.
Also author of: Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules–From FDR’s Atlantic Charter to George W. Bush’s Illegal War
Myers comes across as quite naive.
He does come across as naive. And spineless…he could have prevented the torture, even just by going public at the time. 2001-2005 is a long time to be quiet about something.
l would counsel that maintaining a healthy bit of skepticism is in order until this is confirmed by other sources.
the guardian has been known to be the source of, shall we say, questionable stories, which are then picked up by the u.s. msm, and touted as “foreign sources report” thereby giving the “story” legs it might not otherwise have.
colour me cynical, but the timing here is awfully convenient in light of recent revelations.
Certainly a good dose of skepticism.
The Guardian is not among the worst in that regard, I think, though I remember a couple of disinformation stories on Iran by one of their reporters last year – Simon Tisdall, as I recall.
One might be hoodwinked playing marbles or buying an old bicycle, but to use that word & think you`re off the hook is laughable.
What is he, a country bumpkin that got hoodwinked into trading the cow for some beans.
Anybody who buys that crap is not peeking behind the curtain, even for a little bit. Now, everybody with a little bit of brains, knew what the hell was going on at Gitmo. Yet Meyers the head honcho of the joint chiefs of staff was hoodwinked. What a poor excuse for a soldier.
He`s a coward. He should have jumped in to put an end to anything that did not conform to the military field manual if only to have the high moral ground if any service member was ever put in a “gitmo” situation. Didn`t he have subordinates that should have been tasked to report any hoodwinkable incidents. The next crap to come out will be “if I knew then, what I know now”. Load him up in the paddy wagon with the rest of the common criminals, that committed war crimes.
I wonder if he knows that over 900 civilian & military people were executed after the Tokyo war trials & hundreds more imprisoned. Many of the trials were conducted in the countries of the victims.
In my opinion, nothing has changed since those trials regarding accountability.
“Joseph Keenan, the chief prosecutor representing the United States at the trial, issued a press statement along with the indictment: ” war and treaty-breakers should be stripped of the glamour of national heroes and exposed as what they really are — plain, ordinary murderers.””
Did I read this correctly? The torture of human beings was based on a tv show?
Dear God-who did the republicans put into office? This is beyond pathetic. It truly is. People were tortured to death-and this was based on the exploits of a fictional character? Jack Bauer, no less.
Being tortured to death is real; there’s nothing ficctional about it. The prosecutions and convictions of these people need to be real, as well.
The National Lawyers Guild is pushing for the dismissal-from his position at Berkeley-and prosecution of John Yoo. I hope they get everything they’re pushing for. I hope it’s just the beginning.