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A former U.S. intelligence agent said that terror suspect Abu Zubaydah was subjected to simulated drowning months before the Bush administration’s Department of Justice had written memos approving the use of waterboarding.
The claim strikes a serious blow to repeated Bush administration arguments that no laws were broken in the torture of prisoners because legal guidelines had been closely followed.
The United States is classifying the writings and testimony of an alleged terrorist whom interrogators waterboarded dozens of times, possibly in an effort to keep nettlesome CIA secrets under wraps, his attorneys say.
Lawyers for Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein — known more widely by the name Abu Zubaida — say the Pentagon has capriciously classified their client’s writings and statements to investigators, raising questions of why the government has sought to keep Zubaida’s assertions private. They argue, plausibly, that the US’ penchant for secrecy in Zubaida’s case may be linked to efforts to keep controversial intelligence activities out of the public eye.
The true depth of British involvement in the torture of terrorism suspects overseas and the manner in which that complicity is concealed behind a cloak of courtroom secrecy was laid bare last night when David David MP detailed the way
Ray McGovern: My Take
Editor’s Note:
Prior to giving a series of talks in Texas later this week, the author offered
the following op-ed to the Dallas Morning News and the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram.
Both newspapers in George W. Bush’s home state turned it down.
Seldom
does a crime scene have so clear a smoking gun. A two-page presidential
memorandum of Feb. 7, 2002, leaves no room for uncertainty regarding the
“decider” on torture. His broad-stroke signature made torture official
policy.
This should come as no surprise. You see, the Feb. 7, 2002,
memorandum has been posted on the Web since June 22, 2004, when then-White House
Counsel Alberto Gonzales mistakenly released it, along with other White House
memoranda.
The title seemed innocent enough – “Humane Treatment of al
Qaeda and Taliban Detainees” – but in the body of the memo President George W.
Bush authorized his senior aides to withhold Geneva Convention protections from
suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban detain
The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday accused the Obama
administration of using statements elicited through torture to justify
the confinement of a detainee it represents at the U.S. military prison
in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“A forensic examiner found that he (the prisoner) had essentially been crucified; he died from asphyxiation after having been hung by his arms, in a hood, and suffering broken ribs,”...
People like Rizzo and Fredman should not be working for our government a single day longer. They should be impeached. They should be prosecuted. They should be given fair trials and imprisoned if convicted...
The White House dismissed reports that it has drafted an executive order allowing indefinite detention in the United States of some of the top terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.
Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that
could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are
crafting language for an executive order that would reassert
presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely,
according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White
House deliberations.
Former detainees have alleged they were beaten, deprived of sleep and
threatened with dogs at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan based on interviews with more than two-dozen former prisoners held at Bagram between 2002 and 2006.
The U.N.'s top human rights advocate appealed to the Obama administration to release Guantanamo Bay inmates
or try them in a court of law, and said officials who authorized
the use of torture must be held accountable for their crimes.
Many people of faith appear willing to tolerate unspeakable cruelty. Christians who follow one who himself was tortured by the powers of his time evidently are now ready to justify our own government's use of torture.
Anniversaries can be important. This Friday marks the 22nd anniversary of the U.N. Convention against Torture, ratified and signed under President Reagan. Last Friday marked the 150th day of the presidency of Barack Obama, who is trying to put a definitive end to the torture approved by the Bush-Cheney administration.
That Obama has not been able to do so is our collective shame. Worse still, the president has apparently concluded that he lacks the support to deter future abominations of this sort by launching a proper investigation and holding to account those responsible.
Something evil has seeped into the soul of our nation. Those many years when we looked the other way, choosing to ignore the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, eroded our morality.
Americans who claim to believe in human dignity and the law do not seem scandalized by this inhumane and illegal activity. Many people of faith appear willing to tolerat
A federal judge ordered a Guantanamo detainee released after chastising prosecutors for claiming a man tortured, imprisoned and abandoned by Al Qaeda and the Taliban could be working for them.
Holder said officials were discussing how to handle such suspects and whether new legislation would be required to hold them. He said even without a trial, a judge would have to review the basis for holding such detainees.
"The thought we had was that there would be some kind of review with regard to the initial determination and then a periodic review," Holder said.
The CIA is pushing the Obama administration to maintain the secrecy of significant portions of a comprehensive internal account of the agency's interrogation program, according to two intelligence officials. The officials say the CIA is urging
Mohammed says he told his questioners he didn’t know the location of Osama Bin Laden, and was tortured as a result.
“”Where is he? I don’t know,” Mohammed said. ‘Then he torture me. Then I said, ‘Yes, he is in this area or this is al Qaeda which I don’t know him.’ I said no, they torture me.’”
[ooops, wrong guy, our bad]
Abu Zubaida: "doctors told me that I nearly died four times" and that he endured "months of suffering and torture" on the false premise that he was an al-Qaeda leader.
He was subjected 83 times to waterboarding. The Palestinian was held at a secret CIA facility after his capture in Pakistan in March 2002.
In this deeply disturbing interview, the trailer trash torturer who appalled the world by appearing in shocking 'souvenir' photographs remains utterly unrepentant and says she has 800 MORE torture photos that could rock the White House...
Palau President Johnson Toribiong denied his government's move was influenced by any massive aid package from Washington, saying that the Uighurs have become "international vagabonds" who deserve a fresh start. China said it opposes any country taking them.
It's the first time since 2006 that the U.S. has successfully resettled any of Guantanamo's Uighurs. The U.S. government had determined
The four are part of a group of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been in legal limbo at the military detention center in Cuba.
Both men said they fear more disclosure would trigger heightened violence against Americans overseas.
The torture claims are part of a wide-ranging investigation which also includes accusations that officers fabricated evidence and stole suspects’ property. It has already led to the abandonment of a drug trial and the suspension of several police officers.
