Harper's: The Justice Department's Culture Of Torture

[Hissyspit]

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001606

The Justice Department’s Culture of Torture
DEPARTMENT No Comment
BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED November 6, 2007



On Friday, Nov. 2, ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson carried a story with a series of stunning accusations. Jan Crawford Greenburg provided a report that cleared up a long-standing mystery: why did Daniel Levin, the acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel who authored the second in the Justice Department’s series of highly controversial “torture memoranda” suddenly depart his post? The story that unfolded was grotesque, almost impossible to believe. I have been a critic of the Bush Justice Department for some time, but this story even I was reluctant to believe. It was depraved. So I waited, expecting that the Justice Department would denounce ABC’s report as some sort of hoax or falsehood. In the intervening four days, however, the Justice Department has maintained a steady silence on the story which can be explained only one way: the story is true.

A senior Justice Department official, charged with reworking the administration’s legal position on torture in 2004 became so concerned about the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding that he decided to experience it firsthand, sources told ABC News. Daniel Levin, then acting assistant attorney general, went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure to inform his analysis of different interrogation techniques.

After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn’t die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning. Levin, who refused to comment for this story, concluded waterboarding could be illegal torture unless performed in a highly limited way and with close supervision. And, sources told ABC News, he believed the Bush Administration had failed to offer clear guidelines for its use.

Daniel Levin is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republican. Now recall Michael Mukasey’s suggestion that he didn’t know what waterboarding was? Levin took a logical approach: he decided to experience it firsthand. And he came to a conclusion that, in my mind, shows unacceptable flexibility in accepting the technique. But how did the Bush White House react to this? It was swift and simple: Levin was forced out of office.

When Levin took over from Goldsmith, he went to work on a memo that would effectively replace the Bybee memo as the administration’s legal position on torture. It was during this time that he underwent waterboarding. In December 2004, Levin released the new memo. He said, “Torture is abhorrent” but he went on to say in a footnote that the memo was not declaring the administration’s previous opinions illegal. The White House, with Alberto Gonzales as the White House counsel, insisted that this footnote be included in the memo.

But Levin never finished a second memo imposing tighter controls on the specific interrogation techniques. Sources said he was forced out of the Justice Department when Gonzales became attorney general.

The Bush Administration’s swift reaction: any deviation from the torture litmus test results in dismissal.

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[SpiralHawk]

1. The republicon homelander inquistion

All the EVILS of the Inquisition are now a part of the debased soul of the REPUBLCION HOMELAND* Along with war profiteering, massive corruption, lies and sexual deviancy, these are the occult republicon "family values" now floating into view, like turds in a sewer, through the scummy veil of propaganda the republicons have used to try and hide their amoral EVIL DOING.

When it comes to torture, republicon homelanders HAVE to ask themselves, "What Would Jesus Do?" The correct answer: he would drive all the dishonorable republicon homelander chickenhawk torturers and liars from the Temple of government. Without hesitation.



* Formerly known, with honor, as the United States of America

[fasttense]

2. So republicans are advocating 1556 interrogation techniques.

I wonder if they will get those "enemy combatants" to admit they are witches?