Obama Officials Release Terror Memos That Guided CIA

[L. Coyote]

Source: bloomberg.com

(Update3)
By Justin Blum and Jeff Bliss

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration ruled out prosecution of government interrogators as it released censored versions of legal memos that guided harsh questioning of terror suspects by the CIA under President George W. Bush.

The four memos show that Justice Department lawyers authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to use such techniques as sleep deprivation, slapping, nudity and waterboarding that simulates drowning.

Lawyers also said it would be all right to put one high- ranking al-Qaeda suspect in a cramped box with what he was told would be a stinging insect. The idea was discarded, a footnote in one memo said, “for reasons unrelated to any concern” it might be unlawful.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement today that intelligence officials who relied on the Justice Department’s legal advice won’t be prosecuted for carrying out what critics called torture. The memos, written from 2002 to 2005, were released in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

..........

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adc...

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CIA Has 3,000 Docs on Torture Tapes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[bemildred]

1. I was just following orders is not good enough.

You have to look at who did what to whom, and you definitely have to look at who gave the orders.

[Hydra]

2. Sure it is

Everyone claims that "I was just following orders" is not good enough...until someone like Obama tells them that we have to "move on.

This will probably get deleted again, but I'll keep saying it until people get it. We piss on our words at Nuremberg all the time, because we are the victors, and therefore our Gov't writes history and decide what is acceptable and what isn't, despite written law.

[bemildred]

3. So suck on a lemon.

If you want to just give up, why are you wasting time on this futile posting stuff on DU?

[TaranAlvein]

8. I think he was being sarcastic.

And I frankly agree with the general sentiment; that Obama is taking only symbolic actions, but that these actions are placating people as though they had substance. We really need to start pushing him harder, acquire a groundswell of grassroots support and petition him to do the right thing. Hell, I'm a political coward. I don't like to make my politics known to others, because I don't like conflict. But even I'm starting to seriously consider starting a petition and going door-to-door...

Who knows? Maybe he really will do the right thing if make ourselves heard? It's possible he's the type who has to be made to do the right thing? To believe this is really the only hope we have. Otherwise, we're little better off than if the Republicans had won in 2008.

At any rate, I think we should remind him that no matter how much money the corporations put into his coffers, it is ultimately We the People who put him in office. We need to let him know that if he will not act in our true interests, we will just have to look elsewhere for our leader in 2012.

[bemildred]

14. These things take time.

He is not a King either. It appears to me that he has been both active, effective, and efficient in tackling problems, and that there are a boatload of problems to be tackled. I mean, criticism is all very well, it's the bread and butter of democracy, but there is no need for despair and nihilism, and it's silly to undermine the guy we just elected to try to effect needed change. There will be plenty of time to add things up in a year or two.

[No Elephants]

9. Posting at DU is not inconsistent with having given up. I am not saying all posters here

have given up. To the contrary, many are quite active IRL. Being active IRL is, IMO, inconsistent with having given up. Posting here, in and of itself, not so much.

[TaranAlvein]

7. Hear, hear!

We need to stop hiding behind the "Just following orders" excuse! Obama needs to recognize that political cowardice is only going to alienate him from his more progressive supporters, just like Pelosi has done to herself. Black or white, man or woman, makes no difference to me. I just want our leaders to start doing what's right. Obama's starting to take baby steps in the right direction on many issues, but this is just one of many where he's not doing nearly enough.

[KayLaw]

20. I really think they should kill themselves. NT.

[Downwinder]

4. Can we file individual complaints with the bar?

[No Elephants]

10. Good point! Sure you can. The bar may not disbar anyone, but you never know. It would

be the Board of Bar Overseers (or some name like that) in the state or states where the individual is currently licensed to practice law (or "admitted to the bar"). For Gonzo, for example, that's no doubt Texas. I'm guessing the lawyer's wiki would tell you.

[ProSense]

5. Russ Feingold's Reaction

Russ Feingold's Reaction

From the office of Sen. Russ Feingold, a suggestion that the administration is open to future prosecution. Do know that Feingold and other key members of Congress have been formally briefed on this, so he presumably is not thinking wishfully here:

"The president has stated that it is not his administration's intention to prosecute those who acted reasonably and relied in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice. As I understand it, his decision does not mean that anyone who engaged in activities that the Department had not approved, those who gave improper legal advice or those who authorized the program could not be prosecuted. The details made public in these memos paint a horrifying picture and reveal how the Bush administration's lawyers and top officials were complicit in torture. The so-called enhanced interrogation program was a violation of our core principles as a nation and those responsible should be held accountable."

[PSPS]

6. "what critics called torture"

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement today that intelligence officials who relied on the Justice Department’s legal advice won’t be prosecuted for carrying out what critics called torture.

As long as the media uses terms like that, we've still got bush in the white house.

[Nihil]

11. +1

[kpete]

12. CIA interrogation tactics: a terrifying ordeal

Source: Associated Press

CIA interrogation tactics: a terrifying ordeal

By MATT APUZZO – 5 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The journey into the CIA's most extreme interrogation program began in darkness.

Blindfolded, hooded and wearing earmuffs, suspected terrorists were shackled and flown to secret interrogation centers. The buildings themselves were quiet, clinical and designed to fill prisoners with dread. Detainees were shaved, stripped and photographed nude.

The questioning began mildly, a shackled detainee facing a non-threatening CIA interrogator. But for detainees who refused to cooperate, the interrogation escalated in terrifying ways.

Few people have ever witnessed the process, which was designed to extract secrets from "high value" suspects during the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks on the U.S. But Justice Department documents, which the Obama administration simultaneously released and repudiated Thursday, describe the process from darkness to waterboarding in skin-crawling detail.

Prisoners were naked, shackled and hooded to start their interrogation sessions. When the CIA interrogator removed the hood, the questioning began. Whenever the prisoner resisted, the documents outlined a series of techniques the CIA could use to bring him back in line:

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iuJ3D...

[ConcernedCanuk]

13. The World knows the USA better than USA citizens do

.
.
.

I have chatted with people from China, India and other nations.

Their impressions of the USA are not flattering - I'm being VERY polite here.

I get the impression that much of the globe will dance with glee when the US Empire falls on its face.

It appears that the only nation that the USA has fooled is its own.

USA could have been the beacon of freedom and democracy,

but the power trip of having the biggest guns ruined it.

Opportunities lost . . .

So sad . .

(sigh)

[L. Coyote]

16. They know the real world actor, not the myth of internal propaganda

[CRK7376]

15. Painful reading these memos....

This shows the world what GWB and his crowd stand for. Unfortunately it is reflective of many other Americans and paints us in horrible light with the rest of the world. Not to mention what it does for any Service personnel or merchant Marine taken captive by Somalian Pirates...hey the USA does this and that, so will we......

[L. Coyote]

17. Obama needs to repudiate this in no uncertain terms, or just wait for the next attack.

[LynnTheDem]

18. NO. NO. NO.

"what critics called torture"

What INTERNATIONAL LAW calls TORTURE.

What US LAW calls TORTURE.



http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm

http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html

http://www.amnestyusa.org/war-on-terror/reports-stateme...

http://torture.stanford.edu/2007/02/understanding_ameri...

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sup_01_18_10_...

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/detainees/prohib...

It's not "CRITICS CALL TORTURE"; it's what THE LAW CALLS TORTURE.

[ConcernedCanuk]

19. Sadly, - it appears that President Obama is not going to prosecute the BFEE and PNAC gangs.

.
.
.

Instead, he has stated he intends to send extra tens of thousands of the military to Afghanistan . . .

BARACK!

THE PROBLEM IS ON USA SOIL!

Bush1 and 2 and their gangs, slaughtered tens of thousands, spread toxins over millions of square miles, and displaced millions of people in their two decade reign.

And raped the USAmerican taxpayers for trillions of $$$ . . .

and all ya wanna do is move FORWARD and let the BFEE and PNAC gangs carry on?????

World is watching - very closely.

The "superpower" stigma is dead - USA can't win wars in weenie "defenseless" countries like Iraq and Afghanistan that have NO effective Air Forces, Navies, or even "organized" ground troops.

After more than 5 years in each country, the USA is nowhere near "victory", or even control.

Bully on the block has a limp dick . . .

Ponder that . .


OH

I furgot

The USA CAN do AMAZING sniper head shots on young pirates

The World is impressed . . .