'These People Fear Prosecution': Why Bush's CIA Team Should Worry About Its Dark Embrace of Torture

[marmar]

'These People Fear Prosecution': Why Bush's CIA Team Should Worry About Its Dark Embrace of Torture

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted April 11, 2009.

The New Yorker's Jane Mayer discusses the fallout from the Red Cross' shocking report on CIA torture and its serious legal implications.



On the night of April 6, a long-secret document was published -- in its entirety for the first time -- that provided a clear, stark look at the CIA torture program carried out by the Bush administration.

Dated Feb. 14, 2007, the 41-page report describes in harrowing detail the "ill treatment" of 14 "high-value" detainees in U.S. custody, as recounted by the prisoners in interviews with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Besides listing the various kinds of harsh interrogation tactics undertaken by the CIA -- among them "suffocation by water," "prolonged stress standing," "beatings by use of a collar," "confinement in a box," "prolonged nudity," "threats," "forced shaving" and other methods -- the report reveals the disturbing role of medical professionals in the torture of suspects, which included using doctors' equipment to monitor their health, even as torture was carried out.

Just as Americans have known about Bush-era torture for years, lawyers and human rights activists have long known about the ICRC report and its contents. Both are due in large part to the work of journalists and the sources who have brought to light the many post-9/11 abuses committed in the name of counterterrorism. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/136123/%27these_people_fear_prosecution%27%3A_why_bush%27s_cia_team_should_worry_about_its_dark_embrace_of_torture/

[salguine]

1. I don't know what they're afraid of. It's not like anything's going to happen to them.

[acmavm]

2. Really. We've got to move on, be bipartisan.

:sarcasm:

[chill_wind]

3. "They're at a fork in the road." Exactly right. There is no more plausible deniability.

That was gone a LONG time ago.

"They're at a fork in the road, where either they're going to open things up, or they're going to have to cover things up. There's not a real neutral position to be there. And that's what I think they're beginning to realize.

K & R.

[formercia]

4. Travel may be a problem

the "torture team" may not be charged in the US, but anywhere they travel, they may be arrested under warrants issued in other countries.

Over time, their names will become available and start showing up on watch lists.

Like the Nazi war criminals at the end of WWII, few of them were known, but over time it became dangerous to appear in public.

[Meeker Morgan]

5. Did someone just defeat us in a world war? I hadn't noticed. n/t

[formercia]

6. I figured the apologists would show up sooner or later.

Does that make them any less of a criminal?

[Meeker Morgan]

8. You accuse me of being an apologist for torture, just because ...

... I don't share your revenge fantasy?

Make no mistake about it. The only way to have such a trial is to defeat the USA in a world war.

No US administration, Republican or Democrat, will allow it. It sets a precedent.

[formercia]

9. It's not about revenge. It's about justice.

I worked at CIA and was put in a very similar situation. I told management to stick it and resigned, which is what they should have done.
People have given up their lives defending this country and the Constitution for a hell of a lot less.

I paid the price, they chose not to and go along with the program. Fuck them. Fuck you.

You have a lot of balls lecturing me.

[Meeker Morgan]

10. You worked for the CIA?

:rofl:

[formercia]

12. I was a Technical Officer

DDS&T/OTS

[Stinger2]

7. They will not do anything and will hope time will dull the memory. The only justice ................

They will not do anything and will hope time will dull the memory. The only justice will come from some other country.

[Meeker Morgan]

11. What other country will the US government allow to punish out former officials? n/t