The memo Bush tried to destroy: Document advising Bush admin against torture resurfaces
The memo Bush tried to destroy
A document advising the Bush administration against torture has resurfaced, despite his best efforts to hide it
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/04/the_memo_bush_tried_to_destroy/
In February of 2006, Philip Zelikow, counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, authored a memo opposing the Bush administrations torture practices (though he employed the infamous obfuscation of enhanced interrogation techniques). The White House tried to collect and destroy all copies of the memo, but one survived in the State Departments bowels and was declassified yesterday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archive.
The memo argues that the Convention Against Torture, and the Constitutions prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment, do indeed apply to the CIAs use of waterboard[ing], walling, dousing, stress positions, and cramped confinement. Zelikow further wrote in the memo that we are unaware of any precedent in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or any subsequent conflict for authorized, systematic interrogation practices similar to those in question here, even when the prisoners were presumed to be unlawful combatants. According to the memo, the techniques are legally prohibited, even if there is a compelling state interest to justify them, since they should be considered cruel and unusual punishment and shock the conscience.
Chillingly, the memo notes that corrective techniques, such as slaps, may be legally sustained, as might be [C]ontrol conditions, such as nudity, sleep deprivation, and liquid diets depending on the circumstances and details of how these techniques are used. However much distress Zelikows memo caused the White House, it was not an ACLU briefing paper.
Im pleased the memo is now part of the historical record and available for study, Zelikow wrote Salon in an email. The White House had determined that the memo which was not binding since Zelikows was a bureaucratic position without legal authority was too dangerous to exist. I later heard the memo was not considered appropriate for further discussion and that copies of my memo should be collected and destroyed, he said in a May 2009 congressional hearing.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)Just today I had a local paper wingnut LTTE INSIST that waterboarding isn't "torture"...
The Stranger
(11,297 posts)Amerigo Vespucci
(30,885 posts)The document link is in the article i posted...I just didn't re-code the links when I posted it.
Here's the document:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20120403/docs/Zelikow%20Feb%2015%202006.pdf
annabanana
(52,791 posts)Smilo
(1,944 posts)And we need to stop.
I would love it if our current President would take a look at the email and say "you know this guy has a point - stop all torture techniques NOW"
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)Bush is a war criminal.
xocet
(3,871 posts)chervilant
(8,267 posts)However, if Obama is continuing the use of these techniques, what does that make him?
sad sally
(2,627 posts)Unmentioned by the article are other forms of torture institutionalized under the Obama administration. One is sensory deprivation, a deeply traumatizing psychological torture described in detail in Naomi Kleins Shock Doctrine. The new Army Field Manual says that the tactic though not called sensory deprivation should be used to prolong the shock of capture, and should include goggles or blindfolds and earmuffs that completely disconnects the senses from the outside world, where the captive is able to experience only the thoughts in their head.
Yet another blatant form of torture that Obama refused to stop practicing is extraordinary rendition, or what critics call outsourcing torture. This is the practice of flying a prisoner to a country where torture is routinely practiced, so that the prisoner can be interrogated. As reported by The New York Times: The Obama administration will continue the Bush administrations practice of sending terrorism suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation, but pledges to closely monitor their treatment to ensure that they are not tortured, administration officials said Monday. (August 24, 2009).
Human rights groups instantly called Obamas bluff: why transport terrorism suspects to other countries at all? If not for the fact that torture and other harsh interrogation methods are routinely practiced there? No justifiable answer has been given to these questions.
Obama, like Bush, has sought to undermine the legal rights of those detained and the victims of torture who seek accountability. Obama continues to refuse to release pictures (evidence) of detainee abuse, preventing Americans from really understanding what their government is guilty of. Obama has also refused detainees in so-called black sites (U.S. Bagram Air Base, for example) access to attorneys or courts. Finally, by not prosecuting anyone for torture crimes in the Bush administration, Obama is guaranteeing that the worst forms of torture will continue, since institutionalized behavior rarely stops unless rewards or punishments are implemented.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17204
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Obama called on the former general chairman of the RNC to stop Spain's investigation of US torture crimes.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/12/25/105786/wikileaks-how-us-tried-to-stop.html
MIAMI It was three months into Barack Obama's presidency, and the administration -- under pressure to do something about alleged abuses in Bush-era interrogation policies -- turned to a Florida senator to deliver a sensitive message to Spain:
Don't indict former President George W. Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees, warned Mel Martinez on one of his frequent trips to Madrid. Doing so would chill U.S.-Spanish relations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/202776?INTCMP=SRCH
6. (C) As reported in SEPTEL, Senator Mel Martinez, accompanied by the Charge d'Affaires, met Acting FM Angel Lossada during a visit to the Spanish MFA on April 15. Martinez and the Charge underscored that the prosecutions would not be understood or accepted in the U.S. and would have an enormous impact on the bilateral relationship. The Senator also asked if the GOS had thoroughly considered the source of the material on which the allegations were based to ensure the charges were not based on misinformation or factually wrong statements. Lossada responded that the GOS recognized all of the complications presented by universal jurisdiction, but that the independence of the judiciary and the process must be respected. The GOS would use all appropriate legal tools in the matter. While it did not have much margin to operate, the GOS would advise Conde Pumpido that the official administration position was that the GOS was "not in accord with the National Court." Lossada reiterated to Martinez that the executive branch of government could not close any judicial investigation and urged that this case not affect the overall relationship, adding that our interests were much broader, and that the universal jurisdiction case should not be viewed as a reflection of the GOS position.
Judd Gregg, Obama's Republican nominee for Commerce secretary, didn't like the investigations either.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/202776?INTCMP=SRCH
4. (C) As reported in REF A, Senator Judd Gregg, accompanied by the Charge d'Affaires, raised the issue with Luis Felipe Fernandez de la Pena, Director General Policy Director for North America and Europe during a visit to the Spanish MFA on April 13. Senator Gregg expressed his concern about the case. Fernandez de la Pena lamented this development, adding that judicial independence notwithstanding, the MFA disagreed with efforts to apply universal jurisdiction in such cases.
Why the aversion? To protect Bushco, of course!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/200177
The fact that this complaint targets former Administration legal officials may reflect a "stepping-stone" strategy designed to pave the way for complaints against even more senior officials.
Eric Holder got the message.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7410267&page=1
As lawmakers call for hearings and debate brews over forming commissions to examine the Bush administration's policies on harsh interrogation techniques, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed to a House panel that intelligence officials who relied on legal advice from the Bush-era Justice Department would not be prosecuted.
"Those intelligence community officials who acted reasonably and in good faith and in reliance on Department of Justice opinions are not going to be prosecuted," he told members of a House Appropriations Subcommittee, reaffirming the White House sentiment. "It would not be fair, in my view, to bring such prosecutions."
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/cia-exhales-99-out-of-101-torture-cases-dropped/
This is how one of the darkest chapters in U.S. counterterrorism ends: with practically every instance of suspected CIA torture dodging criminal scrutiny. Its one of the greatest gifts the Justice Department could have given the CIA as David Petraeus takes over the agency.
Over two years after Attorney General Eric Holder instructed a special prosecutor, John Durham, to preliminar(ily) review whether CIA interrogators unlawfully tortured detainees in their custody, Holder announced on Thursday afternoon that hell pursue criminal investigations in precisely two out of 101 cases of suspected detainee abuse. Some of them turned out not to have involved CIA officials after all. Both of the cases that move on to a criminal phase involved the death in custody of detainees, Holder said.
But just because theres a further criminal inquiry doesnt necessarily mean there will be any charges brought against CIA officials involved in those deaths. If Holders decision on Thursday doesnt actually end the Justice Departments review of torture in CIA facilities, it brings it awfully close, as outgoing CIA Director Leon Panetta noted.
On this, my last day as Director, I welcome the news that the broader inquiries are behind us, Panetta wrote to the CIA staff on Thursday. We are now finally about to close this chapter of our Agencys history.
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html
Part I
Article 1
For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.
Article 2
Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.
Article 3
No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler" or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.
Article 4
1. Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.
2. Each State Party shall make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature.
Article 5
1. Each State Party shall take such measures as may be necessary to establish its jurisdiction over the offences referred to in article 4 in the following cases:
1. When the offences are committed in any territory under its jurisdiction or on board a ship or aircraft registered in that State;
2. When the alleged offender is a national of that State;
3. When the victim was a national of that State if that State considers it appropriate.
2. Each State Party shall likewise take such measures as may be necessary to establish its jurisdiction over such offences in cases where the alleged offender is present in any territory under its jurisdiction and it does not extradite him pursuant to article 8 to any of the States mentioned in Paragraph 1 of this article.
3. This Convention does not exclude any criminal jurisdiction exercised in accordance with internal law.
Article 6
1. Upon being satisfied, after an examination of information available to it, that the circumstances so warrant, any State Party in whose territory a person alleged to have committed any offence referred to in article 4 is present, shall take him into custody or take other legal measures to ensure his presence. The custody and other legal measures shall be as provided in the law of that State but may be continued only for such time as is necessary to enable any criminal or extradition proceedings to be instituted.
2. Such State shall immediately make a preliminary inquiry into the facts.
3. Any person in custody pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article shall be assisted in communicating immediately with the nearest appropriate representative of the State of which he is a national, or, if he is a stateless person, to the representative of the State where he usually resides.
4. When a State, pursuant to this article, has taken a person into custody, it shall immediately notify the States referred to in article 5, paragraph 1, of the fact that such person is in custody and of the circumstances which warrant his detention. The State which makes the preliminary inquiry contemplated in paragraph 2 of this article shall promptly report its findings to the said State and shall indicate whether it intends to exercise jurisdiction.
Article 7
1. The State Party in territory under whose jurisdiction a person alleged to have committed any offence referred to in article 4 is found, shall in the cases contemplated in article 5, if it does not extradite him, submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution.
2. These authorities shall take their decision in the same manner as in the case of any ordinary offence of a serious nature under the law of that State. In the cases referred to in article 5, paragraph 2, the standards of evidence required for prosecution and conviction shall in no way be less stringent than those which apply in the cases referred to in article 5, paragraph 1.
3. Any person regarding whom proceedings are brought in connection with any of the offences referred to in article 4 shall be guaranteed fair treatment at all stages of the proceedings.
Article 8
1. The offences referred to in article 4 shall be deemed to be included as extraditable offences in any extradition treaty existing between States Parties. States Parties undertake to include such offences as extraditable offences in every extradition treaty to be concluded between them.
2. If a State Party which makes extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty receives a request for extradition from another State Party with which it has no extradition treaty, it may consider this Convention as the legal basis for extradition in respect of such offenses. Extradition shall be subject to the other conditions provided by the law of the requested State.
3. States Parties which do not make extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty shall recognize such offences as extraditable offences between themselves subject to the conditions provided by the law of the requested state.
4. Such offences shall be treated, for the purpose of extradition between States Parties, as if they had been committed not only in the place in which they occurred but also in the territories of the States required to establish their jurisdiction in accordance with article 5, paragraph 1.
Article 9
1. States Parties shall afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with civil proceedings brought in respect of any of the offences referred to in article 4, including the supply of all evidence at their disposal necessary for the proceedings.
2. States Parties shall carry out their obligations under paragraph 1 of this article in conformity with any treaties on mutual judicial assistance that may exist between them.
marshall gaines
(347 posts)bush, cheney, rice rumsfeld, war criminals all, i smell rove in there somewhere.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)And Bybee,,,,so does "sly" Davy Addington!
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)Pachamama
(16,887 posts).....former Bush lawyer who stated how he had been asked to destroy the memo and how Bush officials were trying to track down all copies. They didnt want this coming out....I remember seeing this interview a few years back and thinking "one of these days, a copy will surface....".
Question now is, "what will the Obama administration do?"......
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Children were raped in front of their mothers...for information? In a country that had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11.
There is no reason Bush and Cheney should ever spend a day outside of a prison cell.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)Along with all their legal team!
Uncle Joe
(58,349 posts)Thanks for the thread, Amerigo Vespucci.
Diclotican
(5,095 posts)Amerigo Vespucci
I think this was up in a discussing I had many years ago - when it also was pointed out, that the Bush admin wanted all the copies, and all the documentation of it... And I pointed out, that this type of documents never really go away - somewhere it is some who are "of the old style" and want it for the future - and it Will be documented somewhere in the basement in a office...
And I was right - some did saved a document, outlined the protest of torture by US, and not least, the legality of it all..
Not that that matter for the victims of US torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere... But it should make the case for a criminal case against the Bush admin more of a posibility... If US was ever to make the transition from GWB and the neo-conservatives - they have to get a trial to document what this type of regimes can, and Will do if they ever get power again..
Hopefully mr Obama can do something with it - when/if he was elected president again this year.. Then he doesn't need to play nice with the GOP, and can do far more to make right what was wrong before... And make himself a decent name in the annals of history.. Even tho he WILL be hated by the extreme right in US.. Not that he is loved as it is today anyway, so why not just go the whole yard?
Diclotican
grasswire
(50,130 posts)In September 2011, President Obama apointed Philip Zelikow to his Intelligence Advisory Board.
Too bad the appointee doesn't apparently have enough influence to stop the torture under the Obama administration.
321Morrow
(37 posts)Good for Zelikow!
mercymechap
(579 posts)that might indicate they would go ahead and do as they pleased anyway. Bush/Cheney are totally corrupt and evil and I hope they get what they have coming.
90-percent
(6,829 posts)Prosecute all GWB White House War Criminals for treason.
That we do not is all the proof I need there is a separate justice system for the elite, therefore no justice at all.
-90% Jimmy
PS - The sentencing of the murderous police from Katrina is a nice signal that our militarized vigilante racist police are accountable to our remnants of the rule of law, now and then.
90-percent
(6,829 posts)Back in the good old days we prosecuted the Nazi's for JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS. (PS - my favorite Nazi is Hermann Goering. A charming guy, once he quit the morphine while imprisoned at Nuremburg.)
Nowadays we just look forward.
This thinking is a time bomb to explode in the faces of future generations, in much the same way the repeal of Glass Steagel in 1999 blew up Wall Street and Big Banks in 2008. It is sabotaging the future of our country. Not to mention undermining America's faith in it's own justice system. If our justice system is corrupt, we as a nation are no better than any tin pot banana republic.
-90% Jimmy