Obama Thanks U.K. for Concealing Evidence of U.S.-Sponsored Torture

[BlueJessamine]

Source: The Washington Independent

By Daphne Eviatar


In a followup to yesterday’s news that a British court ruled that it would conceal information about the rendition and alleged torture of Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed at the U.S. government’s request, the BBC today reports that in a statement, the Obama White House said it “thanked the UK government for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information,” adding that this would “preserve the long-standing intelligence sharing relationship that enables both countries to protect their citizens”.

Although a U.S. embassy spokesman in London also said that the U.S. government did not “threaten allies” such as the United Kingdom, that may just depend upon what you think “threaten” means.

Here’s how the U.K. court described the United States’ move: “he United States Government’s position is that, if the redacted paragraphs are made public, then the United States Government will re-evaluate its intelligence sharing relationship with the United Kingdom with the real risk that it would reduce the intelligence provided.”

That sure sounds like a threat to me.

Call it what you will, the Obama administration is continuing the Bush administration’s policy of concealing evidence that the U.S.-sponsored torture and other abuse, humiliation and mistreatment of detainees. That is, as the U.K. court aptly noted, evidence of war crimes.

It looks like the Obama administration is increasingly being boxed into a corner: either it keeps concealing evidence that crimes were committed, in violation of the President’s recent pledges for a newly transparent government, or it lets the evidence come out and confronts the fact that it’s going to have to authorize some sort of an investigation of what abuses took place under the Bush administration and who was responsible.

Attorney General Eric Holder has said he didn’t make any promises to Republicans not to investigate Bush administration wrongdoing. His commitments will be tested in the coming months.


Read more: http://washingtonindependent.com/29156/obama-administration-thanks-uk-for-concealing-evidence-of-us-sponsored-torture

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Obama Supports Bush Secrecy About U.S.-Sponsored Torture

http://washingtonindependent.com/29051/obama-supports-bush-secrecy-about-us-sponsored-torture

[bunnies]

1. WHAT?!

:nuke:

[marketcrazy1]

2. CHANGE IS COMING TO AMERICA!!!

:sarcasm:

[Buzz Clik]

3. Gratefully, the title of your OP (which is 100% bullshit) is the title of the quoted article.

[cottonseed]

4. wrong reply

[Buzz Clik]

7. Then provide a quote where Obama "thanks U.K. for concealing evidence of U.S.-sponsored torture"

[cottonseed]

15. I agree with your reply to the OP 100%

I had tried to reply to the OP -- I replied to your comment instead. In trying to cleanup the issue I put in "wrong reply" for you. In hindsight I can see that it could actually be interpreted as a smart alek comment.

The OP is crap, we went through this last night with an even more egregious title referencing a crappy and wrong article -- actually a regurgitation of many. I'm with you on this one.

[EFerrari]

5. Robert Wood at State thanked Britian again a few minutes ago for

protecting classified information regarding this case in which the prisoner confessed to terrorism after his penis was sliced.

Basically, our government is threatening retribution on Britain if they allow this information into the record. Clive Stafford Smith called it blackmail and that's what it is.

Obama needs to find a way to make the info part of the public record immediately. As it is, every day that DoJ doesn't start a criminal prosecution of Bush, Cheney, and their war council, he/we are in violation of the convention against torture.

[Buzz Clik]

9. Right. I don't disagree. That, however, doesn't make the title of the quoted article truthful.

[EFerrari]

27. The progressive outlets reporting this today could have been more careful.

There's a poster being skewed in GDP for about the same thing. I guess "transition" isn't over yet.

[global1]

11. I Guess We'll Just Have To Wait Until The Repugs Are Back In Power......

and they try Obama for violations of the convention against torture. (sarcasm)

[EFerrari]

12. When there's clear evidence of torture, a prosecution must be started.

Both Bush and Cheney have said ON CAMERA that they engaged in torture. The law is clear.

[bunnies]

6. Why is the OP bullshit?

Serious question. :shrug:

[Buzz Clik]

8. The title is bullshit. 100%. Pure bullshit.

[bunnies]

10. ahhh. The title. Gotcha. Doh! nt

[Lionel Mandrake]

14. Because the US doesn't sponsor torture.

All the US does is rendition. What happens after that is "not my department, said W. v. Braun" (according to T. L.)

[acmavm]

13. A real great big hearty BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

SURPRISE.

Meet the new boss...

[Solly Mack]

16. Here's an article about the threat from the Bush admin.

from August 2008

US warning to court in alleged torture case

"The US state department yesterday warned that disclosure of secret information in the case of a British resident said to have been tortured before he was sent to Guantánamo Bay would cause "serious and lasting damage" to security relations between the countries"


"Stephen Mathias, a legal adviser to the department, also claimed that the "national security of the UK" would be affected by disclosure of the details of the detention and interrogation of Binyam Mohamed, 30, who is accused of conspiring with al-Qaida."


"In an email to the Foreign Office, which was read out to the court, Mathias said disclosure would cause "serious and lasting damage to the US-UK intelligence-sharing relationship and thus the national security of the UK".

"David Miliband, the foreign secretary, has provided the US with documents about the case. He has declined to release further evidence, arguing that disclosure would harm the intelligence relationship with the US."

[EFerrari]

17. This is Amy's write up from this morning. They're still saying "Bush Administration"

but Robert Wood didn't speak for Bush today:

UK Court: US Threats Thwart Disclosure of Torture Evidence

The British High Court is claiming US government threats have prevented it from revealing details on the alleged torture of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner. On Wednesday, two senior judges said they are unable to release key information, because the US has threatened to end intelligence sharing with Britain. The British attorney general is considering whether to bring charges against Americans involved in the rendition and alleged torture of British resident Binyam Mohamed. Mohamed claims his confession to terrorism charges was given only after he had his penis sliced by a blade. The Bush administration has refused to release key documents to Mohamed’s lawyers and said efforts to obtain them would cause “serious and lasting damage” to US-British relations and jeopardize British “national security.” In its new ruling, the British High Court said it reluctantly caved to US threats, because disobeying them would mean putting the British public “at risk.” Mohamed’s attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, said, “For the foreign secretary to give in to these illegal demands by the Bush administration is capitulation to blackmail, pure and simple.”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/5/headlines#11

(That is the whole write up, although in today's show, there is a great discussion with Scott Horton about rendition.)

[Solly Mack]

19. Thank you!!!

Gonna hafta get used to your "new" name :)

[BlueJessamine]

18. thanks Solly Mack,

here's an excerpt from the BBC article today:

David Miliband has disputed claims by two judges that the US threatened to stop sharing intelligence with the UK over an alleged torture case.

In a ruling, the judges said the US had forced the UK to suppress information about Binyam Mohamed, a former UK resident who claims he was tortured.

But the foreign secretary said there had been "no threat" from the US.

Mr Miliband said confidentiality was key to intelligence sharing, a view later backed by the White House.

In a statement, the White House said it "thanked the UK government for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information".

It added that this would "preserve the long-standing intelligence sharing relationship that enables both countries to protect their citizens".

A spokesman at the US Embassy in London added that it did not "threaten allies".


~snip~

In a ruling published on Wednesday, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said the attorney general would be investigating the issues of "torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" against Mr Mohamed.

The judges said they wanted the full details of the alleged torture to be published in the interests of safeguarding the rule of law, free speech and democratic accountability.

The details, believed to amount to just seven paragraphs, relate to the circumstances of Mr Mohamed's detention and his treatment while he was being held.

But they said they had been persuaded it was not in the public interest to do this due to the potential impact on UK national security of US stopping intelligence sharing.

By doing so, the US government could "inflict on the citizens of the UK a very considerable increase in the dangers they face at a time when a serious terrorist threat still pertains", they said.

Tory MP David Davis, who first raised the matter in the House of Commons, said the UK had been threatened with having security co-operation withdrawn if the information was published.



The full article is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7870896.stm

[Solly Mack]

20. Thanks!!!

[EFerrari]

23. We don't threaten allies. They're all in the Coalition of the Willing!

:)

[mac56]

21. What the hell is the Washington Independent?

Do they have any credibility at all? Serious question.

[EFerrari]

22. The story is true, the headline is misleading. Obama did not say this

with his mouth. But, the State Department is saying this right up to today -- it was a POS started by the torture president which is ongoing. See Solly Mack's first post in this thread and mine under that one. :hi:

I fully expect Obama to do the right thing. He will likely be put under pressure by CIA to keep rendition in place and/or other weaseley tactics. It will take the new admin some time to sort out the horrible ugly mess Bush left. And I support keeping attention on the issue.

[BlueJessamine]

25. Thankyou EFerrari!

I too believe that we all need to keep attention on this issue.:hi:


by the way, CIA Nominee Panetta Testifies - on live now:

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx

[EFerrari]

26. Watching now, thanks!

:hi:

[BlueJessamine]

24. The Washington Independent

The Washington Independent belongs to a network of state-based online news sites founded by the Center for Independent Media.

The Center’s Mission

The Center for Independent Media is a nonprofit 501c(3) organization that fosters diversity of ideas in the national debate by educating and training people on the use of new communications technologies like the Internet as an alternative publishing and distribution system to traditional broadcast and print media. The center brings talented and diverse voices and ideas to the fore of our nation’s discourse, through its training programs, conferences, research and publishing operations. Programs emphasize the importance of citizen-driven journalism as a critical founding principle of our nation, the positive role of democratically elected government in securing the common good and social welfare, and the continuing benefits of our founding culture of egalitarian government by the people, for the people.


http://washingtonindependent.com/about-us