This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Torture Is Continuing Under the Obama Administration, Creating More Terrorists and Further Destabilizing the Economy
As I pointed out in May 2008:
The U.S. has imprisoned 2,500 children since 9/11 as "enemy combatants", in violation of the Geneva Convention against classifying children as POWs ...
Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Seymour Hersh says that the U.S. Government has videotapes of boys being raped at Abu Ghraib prison (and see this; see also this - General Taguba discusses the sexual humiliation of a father with his son - see this and this).
This doesn't come as a complete surprise, given that assistant deputy Attorney General John Yoo has publicly argued that the president can order the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles.
In April 2009, I noted:
Respected political scientist Michael Haas
has confirmed that children were tortured, and Raw Story has explained
that the newly-release Bush torture memos may corroborate claims that
at least some detainees' children were tortured using insects.
The number two man at the State Department, Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, said
that many of those tortured at Guantanamo Bay were innocent, but that
the Bush administration did not really care whether they were innocent
or not.
Last December, I wrote:
Many reporters have said that the Bagram prison facility in Afghanistan is worse than Guantanamo ever was. Moreover, abuse is apparently still occurring there.
As Spiegel wrote on September 21, 2009, in an article entitled "Prisoner Abuse Continues at Bagram Prison in Afghanistan":
US
President Barack Obama has spoken out against CIA prisoner abuse and
wants to close Guantanamo. But he tolerates the existence of Bagram
military prison in Afghanistan, where more than 600 people are being
held without charge. The facility makes Guantanamo look like a "nice hotel," in the words of one military prosecutor...Bagram
is "the forgotten second Guantanamo," says American military law expert
Eugene Fidell, a professor at Yale Law School. "But apparently there is
a continuing need for this sort of place even under the Obama
administration."From the beginning, "Bagram was worse than
Guantanamo," says New York-based attorney Tina Foster, who has argued
several cases on behalf of detainee rights in US courts. "Bagram has
always been a torture chamber."And what does Obama say?
Nothing. He never so much as mentions Bagram in any of his speeches.
When discussing America's mistreatment of detainees, he only refers to
Guantanamo...From the beginning, Bagram
was notorious for the brutal forms of torture employed there. Former
inmates report incidents of sleep deprivation, beatings and various
forms of sexual humiliation [and rape with sticks]...
At
least two men died during imprisonment. One of them, a 22-year-old taxi
driver named Dilawar, was suspended by his hands from the ceiling for
four days, during which US military personnel repeatedly beat his legs.
Dilawar died on Dec. 10, 2002. In the autopsy report, a military doctor
wrote that the tissue on his legs had basically been "pulpified." As it
happens, his interrogators had already known -- and later testified -- that there was no evidence against Dilawar...
However attorney Tina Foster feels that the new initiative is just a cosmetic measure. "There
is absolutely no difference between the Bush administration and the
Obama administration's position with respect to Bagram detainees' rights," she says during an interview with SPIEGEL in her office in the New York borough of Queens.And see this.
Moreover, Obama is still apparently allowing "rendition flights" - where prisoners are flown to countries which freely torture - to continue...
Finally, Jeremy Scahill - the reporter who broke most of the stories on Blackwater - says that some forms of torture at Guantanamo have continued under Obama, and may even have gotten worse. For example, Scahill points out that:
The
Center for Constitutional Rights released a report titled "Conditions
of Confinement at Guantánamo: Still In Violation of the Law," which
found that abuses continued. In fact, one Guantanamo lawyer, Ahmed
Ghappour, said that his clients were reporting "a ramping up in abuse"
since Obama was elected.
Now, reports are circulating that boys were tortured last year - after Obama was sworn in as President - at the Bagram prison in Afghanistan:
As the Washington Post reported Friday:
The
U.S. military has begun investigating allegations that two Afghan
teenagers were beaten and humiliated by guards while in American
custody last year at a secret detention center at Bagram air base,
according to U.S. and Afghan officials.
U.S. military officials
took statements from the teenagers last month and are contacting others
who say they were held at what Afghans call Bagram's "black prison," a
detention center run by U.S. Special Operations forces. This classified
facility is separate from the main prison at Bagram, which holds about
700 detainees.
The allegations of physical violence and sexual humiliation.
And see this:
Change?
Not much ...
Way to create more terrorists and to further disrupt the civilian economy, Obama administration.
- advertisements -
I guess we are not as squeaky clean as we like to believe this can only lead to more terrorist atacks against us and not sure how this public revelation helps.
Must be the age of 24/7 news. The British SAS were routinely throwing suspects out of helicopters half a mile up during the Yemen/Oman conflicts in the 1950's to get the one suspect who was still left in the helicopter to talk. It worked. They did not have the burden of 24/7 news and managed to keep this technique very very quiet....
People are capable of unimaginable horrors..Col Kurtz
Damn freedom of speech!
Oh wait ...
If our government stops torturing in our name, then there won't be bad press ...
I'm not sure how much torture goes on or what your definition is but I suspect it's no different than what goes on in every war. You seem to be describing brutality which is what happens when combatants become desensitized to suffering or actually enjoy inflicting suffering on others. I've watched it happen but the participants usually have low I.Qs and are emotionally stunted. I don't support our militarism but I'm not a pacifist either. Unless you've been there, it's hard to understand what combatants are capable of under extreme stress. Jesus preached love and peace to no effect. Perhaps lions will always be lions and sheep will always be sheep.
GW, are you going to discuss finance at some point on this financial blog, or are you just going to continue parroting unsubstantiated rumors to confirm your leftist tendencies?
it may be a finance blog, but i see a place for them here if kept to say 20%
and why are u responding in the playground with your endless left/right name calling
i'm inclined to think your posts are purposeful junk for throwing out the false dichotomy and then having people waste time trying to show you 2+2 on that issue - basically a distraction, spam in other words
your left-right dichotomies are about as helpful
as that second asshole you have on your head....
i hope he keeps calling crap on crap - and speaking
of which you have just been called on....
the usa government led by the cia has pushed systematically to institute torture....when i was in the army
many officers were sympathetic toward or outright
advocates of torture...it is no surprise that it
is occurring....
it is also no surprise given the congenital disease
which these "people" inherit from the thugs of the
cold war....the joint chiefs of staff, state
department, and others in kennedy's administration were advocating a first strike nuclear attack on the ussr - not just first strike capability...
nelson "asshole" rockefeller demanded of kennedy during a whitehouse meeting why tactical nuclear weapons were not being used to handle the viet cong - this in 1963 before
massive escalation of that godforsaken humiliating
war to line the pockets of your plutocrat thug
friends....
the atrocities of the army and cia in vietnam
were legendary and it is no different - it's worse -\
today....
the crimes are well documented as is your
denial of truth....missing link was well chosen...
Leftist?
You may wish to talk to the REAL conservative heroes who are putting their butts on the line to protect our country.
They are anti-torture.
You may wish to stop listening to Dick Cheney and the other armchair wannabe macho men who have never served a day in their lives. In fact, REAL interrogation experts say that:
Real Men Don't TortureYou may wish to start listening to top interrogation experts, most of whom are military and intelligence:
Top Interrogation Experts Agree: Torture Doesn't WorkMore important than any of the above, I think the readers of ZH are too smart to fall for a false right-left paradigm. I think they are smart enough to have learned that the ancient game of "divide and conquer" by calling someone a "righty" or a "lefty" is just a ruse.
I think they are smart enough to know that the only question is "Is this good for America?"
I think conservatives know that the GOP sold out true conservative values, and the Democrats know that the Dems sold out true progressive values, and that the giant banks and military industrial complex are calling the shots no matter which "team" is in power.
Not too sure about the premise that radical Islam needs Gitmo or Abu abuses to justify their radical agenda to subdue the West. These dudes exploit weakness....been at it for centuries fighting one another. These Radicals know more about us than our own citizens. They just get out the old VietNam playbook and wear us out one corrupt politician at a time.
U.S. weakness is that it is not allowed to be as sneaky, underhanded and brutal as those wishing to crush us. A serious handicap in my view. Being civilized doesn't mean jack shit to these boyz.
Sorry. Being a pussy in today's world will get us all killed and our kids in shackles.
"Sorry. Being a pussy in today's world will get us all killed and our kids in shackles."
Ding, Ding, Ding,...
We have a winner!
What's the issue?
I thought it was STOPPING TERRORISM (which is bad for the economy, according to The National Bureau of Economic Research study I cited in a previous essay and others, and which is INCREASED by torture, according to many top military and intelligence service interrogation experts).
Okay ... so how do we stop terrorism?
One of the top interrogators in Iraq got information from a high-level Al Qaeda suspect not through torture, but by giving him cookies.
And top American World War 2 interrogators got more information using chess or Ping-Pong instead of torture than those who use torture are getting today.
And the head of Britain's wartime interrogation center in London said:
Indeed, one of the top military interrogators said that torture does not work, that it has resulted in hundreds or thousands of deaths of U.S. soldiers, and that torture by Americans of innocent Iraqis is the main reason that foreign fighters started fighting against Americans in Iraq in the first place (in fact, the experts agree that torture reduces national security).
And - according to the experts - torture is unnecessary even to prevent "ticking time bombs" from exploding (see this, this and this). Indeed, a top expert says that torture would fail in a real 'ticking time-bomb' situation And Dick Cheney's claim that waterboarding Khalid Shaikh Mohammed stopped a terror attack on L.A.? As the Chicago Tribune notes:
(see this confirmation from the BBC: "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ... was captured in Pakistan in 2003").
Indeed, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed himself said:
And "the CIA inspector general in 2004 found that there was no conclusive proof that waterboarding or other harsh interrogation techniques helped the Bush administration thwart any 'specific imminent attacks,' according to recently declassified Justice Department memos."
And when long-time FBI director Mueller was asked whether any attacks on America been disrupted thanks to intelligence obtained through “enhanced techniques”, he responded “I don’t believe that has been the case.”
And see this.
And if you believe that the military was pushing for "enhanced interrogation", think again (and see this).
Great article GW. I would not be too concerned about the comments from someone who picks an alias such as ML, as it is so apt in this conversation. The basic moral question is if these techniques were used on American citizens would it be appropriate? People who do not use such rational are stuck in the "my side is right" mind frame and are probably one generation or less away from viewing blacks as sub-human. Thanks ZH for publishing this.
We have no business torturing these motherfuckers. They should be killed immediately like the fucking dogs that they are.
GW you are a stupid prick who deserves to have his throat slit.
Mr. Cheney?
oh my, listen to the sound of false patriotism dying. isn't it just too sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttt!!!!!
Frankly, the torture going on in the Obama administration is the torture of the Constitution with endless bank bailouts, takeover of whole industries, violation of contract, Health Care "reform", and Cap & Trade heading the list. I am far more concerned about these violations of the federal charter (the Constitution) which is the only source of any federal authority.
Well said.
Too bad you feel so strongly negative about the current administration.You may be declared an "enemy combatant" and tortured.
Seriously.
We are next, at this rate it is only a matter of time.
No doubt we will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes (anyone know who coined that phrase?).
Torture is unAmerican. Or should be. Assholes who criticize GW on this are cowards.
GW - Remember that with the Obama administration it's chains we can believe in. Just as it was with several of the previous administrations.
h/t MsCreant
+10
Very catchy: "chains we can believe in"
These same people beheaded a news reporter and televised it. Stop pointing your finger G.W. go get on a plane to Bagdad. Go find out what it's like to live in the 7th century.
frankly we should not care what they are doing in their own country. they are barbaric to us, but it is the their land and their way of life and their culture. what is that to us? are we to go around the world invading countries without cause to show them the ways of "democracy" at the point of a gun? give me a break. nobody wants to go to baghdad. nobody wants to go to afghanistan. we should stay home. it is the constitutional thing to do. we have no reason to go around the world fighting and dying for nothing. it is time to stop this insanity before it destroys us.
Torture rationalization FAIL.
I always thought we were above behaving like rabid dogs.Try a free vacation in Uzbekistan.It's positively medieval in the torture chambers there.Aren't we moral and just?.......NOT.
Your sentiment is disgusting and reprobate.With a healthy whiff of fascism.
Oh, the old since they're soooo bad we're can be bad to and it's ok flail. After all, who in your world anon cares about the Constitution since you can leave it behind when you leave home and it only applies to some of us some of the time back home.
For the people who ordered torture, its a form of terrorism. Specifically, historians tell us that torture has been used throughout history - not to gain information - but as a form of intimidation, to terrorize people into obedience. In other words, at its core, torture is a form of terrorism.
For many of those on the ground, it's more part of a new crusade:
Was Torture Really Part of a Religious Crusade?Agree, GW. Torture propogates more torture.
But I struggle with the definition side of torture. For instance, my dad (now gone) was a WWII infantry captain, Pacific. He once told me a story about how he came upon still-alive GIs with their dismembered genitalia stuffed in their mouths and hanging upside down from a tree. Although his company was ordered to do no such thing ever to the Japanese, they did likewise at every opportunity for months on the sneak.
He said it worked. Scared the living shit out of the Japanese soldier....and Dad tried not to be around to see anything.
Yes, torture is a form of terrorism.
Now let's talk about that waterboarding thing.
Totally with you on this Rain. Don't know about you, but I find my patience for people who think anything more aggressive than playing "Mother, May I?" is torture wearing transparently thin.
Not only is it a form of terrorism, but the creation of more anti-american freedom fighters may just be yet another goal. This 'blowback' will cause yet more unrest, creating even more 'need' for more troops, bombs, planes, etc. War only profits those who can supply Unca Scam with the tools of this unholy trade. I'd like to quote General Smedley Butler here:
"WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
Read the words of this true patriot for yourself at http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
The people who believed in "Change we can believe in" should be aware of "Politics as usual".
"But this time it's different" just like with the economy. The song remains the same. The power structure doesn't change when you put another face man in front of it. Who here thinks that we will be out of Iraq by the time Obama leaves office, or any other of the policies he so railed against Bush on? Like everything said by a politician it's just pillow talk.