CIA waterboarded 2 suspects 266 times
international |
crime and justice |
other press 
Monday April 20, 2009 15:08
by Funderland
Today's New York Times reveals that ["C.I.A. interrogators used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique that top Obama administration officials have described as illegal torture, 266 times on two key prisoners from Al Qaeda, far more than had been previously reported.
The C.I.A. officers used waterboarding at least 83 times in August 2002 against Abu Zubaydah, according to a 2005 Justice Department legal memorandum. Abu Zubaydah has been described as a Qaeda operative."]
The White House is reported by the BBC as having announced that President Obama will visit Langley Virginia to reassure CIA employees during this time of "low morale"
New York Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/world/20detain.html?_...=1&hp
BBC article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8007891.stm
In case you have wondered what waterboarding is like, you might read this back article from the New York Times which reported on the artist Steve Powers “Waterboard Thrill Ride” on West 12th Street, just off Surf Avenue, which afforded day trippers the chance to peer into a chamber with "a lifesize figure in a dark sweatshirt, the hood drawn low over his face, leaning over another figure in an orange jumpsuit, his face covered by a towel and his body strapped down on a tilted surface." For the cheap enough price of one dollar fed into a slot - "the lights went on, and Black Hood poured water up Orange Jumpsuit’s nose and mouth while Orange Jumpsuit convulsed against his restraints for 15 seconds."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/arts/design/06wate.html
O.K., kids, who wants more cotton candy!
anyone up for airsoft coup d'etat games?
the NSA have your number.
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2Obama as reported yesterday by the BBC found time in his busy schedule, (this is only his 92nd day in office), to visit Virginia Langley, trying to reassure the Central Intelligence Agency that it would not be blamed for following legal advice.
["...Mr. Obama said it was time to admit “mistakes” and “move forward.” But there were signs that he might not be able to avoid a protracted inquiry into the use of interrogation techniques that the president’s top aides and many critics say crossed the line into torture. And while Mr. Obama vowed not to prosecute C.I.A. officers for acting on legal advice, on Monday aides did not rule out legal sanctions for the Bush lawyers who developed the legal basis for the use of the techniques..."]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/us/politics/21intel.h...=1&hp
one could muse that the kernal of this peptalk is exactly the same as that given to Latin America : "mistakes made : move along"
Dick Cheney whose idea both Gitmo and legalising Torture was, has started complaining bitterly from the sidelines
["...Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney has urged the CIA to release memos which he says show harsh interrogation techniques such as water-boarding work. Mr Cheney said that the decision to publish the memos was a mistake. And it was misleading, he said, because the documents did not include those demonstrating that harsh interrogation delivered intelligence "success". "One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is that they put out the legal memos... but they didn't put out the memos that show the success of the effort," Mr Cheney told Fox News. "There are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified. I formally ask that they be declassified now.".......]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8009571.stm
Cheney has now publicly stated that he knew of and approved torture; so why isn't he indicted, along with Rumsfeld? The latter cannot leave the US, because of fears he will be served with warrants in Europe. Once again the US harbours war-criminals. The Irish government will make disapproving noises but won't do anything, of course: why can't a campaign be started to bring these people to the Hague? If it could be done for Pinochet . . . . If Rumsfeld or Cheney were, let's say, Iranians or members of Hamas, the international outcry would be deafening. (If they were Israelis they would also get away with it, it must be said.) Obama has softened his position on so many things so often it was only natural he would soften his, eh, approach to the CIA's use of torture by their officers. (Compare this, incidentally, with the Israeli judiciary's dismissal of an investigation into war crimes in Gaza committed by their military.) The two most dangerous countries on the planet, both nuclear states, both with scant regard for human rights - Hillary Clinton's remark to the Chinese on her visit there that trade took precedence over human rights would have made Stalin blush - have bullied and pilloried Europe into doing their bidding. Hypocrisy is standard behaviour: it was interesting to note the stage-managed texture of the 'demonstration' walk-out by European representatives, signalled even before Iran spoke by a chap with a wig shouting him down. One cannot say that Israel, an apartheid state, is an apartheid state, for fear of wounding sensibilities. But back to the point - let's get Cheney and Rummy to the Hague and then we can work on bringing some Israeli military heads before the court too.
Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.