"Following the implementation of these techniques, more than 108 detainees died in detention."

[kpete]

A Tale of Three Lawyers

BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED April 8, 2008

Diaz spent six months in prison and left it bankrupt and without a job. In addition to his sentence, the Pentagon is working aggressively to have Diaz stripped of his law license so he will not be able to practice his profession. The Bush Administration has sought to criminalize, humiliate and destroy Diaz. Its motivation could not be clearer: Diaz struck a blow for the rule of law. And nothing could be more threatening to the Bush Administration than this.

In the week in which Diaz received the Ridenhour Prize, another Pentagon “secret” was disclosed. This “secret” was a memorandum made to order for William J. Haynes II, Rumsfeld’s General Counsel, and the man at the apex of the Pentagon’s military justice system that tried, convicted and sentenced Diaz. The memo was authored by John Yoo. This memorandum was designed to authorize the introduction of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading interrogation techniques to be used upon prisoners held at Guantánamo, and ultimately also used in Afghanistan and Iraq. The memorandum authorized waterboarding, long-time standing, hypothermia, the administration of psychotropic drugs and sleep deprivation in excess of two days in addition to a number of other techniques. Each of these techniques is long established as torture as a matter of American and international law. The application and implementation of these techniques was and is a crime.

............

The exact circumstances surrounding the dealings between Haynes and Yoo that led to the development of this memorandum are unclear. However, it is clear that Haynes had previously authorized the use of the torture techniques, and had secured an order from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld authorizing them.

Following the implementation of these techniques, more than 108 detainees died in detention. In a large number of these cases, the deaths have been ruled a homicide and connected to torture. These homicides were a forseeable consequence of the advice that Haynes and Yoo gave.

more at:
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/hbc-90002819

[flashl]

1. K&R

[acmavm]

2. I'm all for these guys being dragged by the neck to the Hague.

I have no problem with it at all.

[snot]

26. where's rendition (to the Hague) when you need it. nt

[enough]

3. Matthew Diaz, an incredibly brave lawyer.

snip from the article>

Matthew Diaz served his country as a staff judge advocate at Guantánamo. He watched a shameless assault on America’s Constitution and commitment to the rule of law carried out by the Bush Administration. He watched the introduction of a system of cruel torture and abuse. He watched the shaming of the nation’s uniformed services, with their proud traditions that formed the very basis of the standards of humanitarian law, now torn asunder through the lawless acts of the Executive. Matthew Diaz found himself in a precarious position—as a uniformed officer, he was bound to follow his command. As a licensed and qualified attorney, he was bound to uphold the law. And these things were indubitably at odds.

Diaz resolved to do something about it. He knew the Supreme Court twice ruled the Guantánamo regime, which he was under orders to uphold, was unlawful. In the Hamdan decision, the Court went a step further. In powerful and extraordinary words, Justice Kennedy reminded the Administration that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions was binding upon them, and that a violation could constitute a criminal act. One senior member of the Bush legal team, informed of the decision over lunch, was reported to have turned “white as a sheet” and to have immediately excused himself. For the following months, Bush Administration lawyers entered into a frenzied discussion of how to protect themselves from criminal prosecution.

One of the crimes the Administration committed was withholding from the Red Cross a list of the detainees at Guantánamo, effectively making them into secret detainees. Before the arrival of the Bush Administration, the United States had taken the axiomatic position that holding persons in secret detention for prolonged periods outside the rule of law (a practice known as “disappearing”) was not merely unlawful, but in fact a rarified “crime against humanity.” Now the United States was engaged in the active practice of this crime.

The decision to withhold the information had been taken, in defiance of law, by senior political figures in the Bush Administration. Diaz was aware of it, and he knew it was unlawful. He printed out a copy of the names and sent them to a civil rights lawyer who had requested them in federal court proceedings.

snip>

[kpete]

4. thank you

for posting more, kp

[Window]

5. The whole lot of *BushCo should be put under the jail.

:kick:

[readmoreoften]

6. So we must've been in the situation where the world was going to be nuked 108 times then, right?

Because we know that we only use terror when a subject has information about an impending attack where millions of people are going to die and we just HAVE TO torture because gosh darn it, there's no other choice. Wow, we sure must live in one dangerous world, don't we? :eyes:

Or, maybe, we thought there was going to be ONE incident and we had to torture 108 people to death for the answer.

You know, I'm getting sick of these fucking excuses.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. So it'll be OK to use these "techniques" with Bush, Cheney, Rice, Petreaus et al?

.
.
.

Cuz the gubment says it's ok ya know . . .

And y'all sure got terrorists running your country . .

US military is all over the globe doing the bidding of these terrorists

Present Administration should get to "enjoy" some of those rendition sites.

Then let us know how "humane" they think it is.

[malaise]

18. I'm sure there thousands of volunteers

lining up to serve up karma.

[burythehatchet]

32. I like the Ceaucesceau option. Leave it in our hands, we'll take care of them.

[SpiralHawk]

8. Freaking sick, sick, sick Republicon family values

How absolutely anti-Christian, anti-American, anti-morality...

Republicons have dragged our beautiful nation into the occult ooze of Evil.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/06/13/abughraib_dog_torture_430,0.jpg

[hootinholler]

9. Has anyone found where smearing the detainees with shit was approved?

[Quantess]

10. America has lost it's moral high ground completely.

[EFerrari]

11. Good God.

:cry:

[Kurovski]

12. K&R. (nt)

[Solly Mack]

13. Why are Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Yoo, Haynes and ALL the rest still free?

[jeff30997]

14. Because they're...

Rich,powerful pigs ?

[Solly Mack]

15. that's part of it, I'm sure

[Jackpine Radical]

16. Because there is no justice.

As a patient of mine once told me, "'Fair' only exists as the first four letters in 'fairy tale.'"

[Solly Mack]

17. and there never will be peace because of it

[defendandprotect]

19. Well, that's 108 cases of TORTURE . . .. that can't be denied ---

THIS is what they have to resort to in order to terrorize a nation ---
and, IMO, they are terrorizing more than the Middle East ---
they have terrorized Americans.

Presumably, that's the plan ---

How would we possibly ever have this nation atone for the violence and mayhem it's caused throughout
the world?

We've been bombing Iraq for 20 years!!!

One of the first things that the right-wing did was destroy the United Nations earliest leadership -
Dag Hammarsjkold -- and they've been attacking the UN and human rights since then.

If we had a valid and operating United Nations, these thugs would be in jail.

[NCDem60]

21. Well not really

"Well, that's 108 cases of TORTURE . . .. that can't be denied ---"
Posted by defendandprotect

Of course it will be denied. Haven't you heard of the flu? Kills thousands of people every year.

[Jackpine Radical]

23. Not to mention choking on grapes at lunch.

Or maybe they all slipped & fell & knocked themselves unconscious & drowned in their toilets while trying to rescue their Korans after the guards threw them in there.

[annabanana]

20. How can we help this brave patriot?

Matthew Diaz deserves our support and encouragement.

[bobthedrummer]

22. What was once called U.S. mind control were actually refinements to torture techniques,

as well as the development of new forms of torture that did not necessarily involve physical violence of any sort. These U.S. mind control tactics and techniques have been around for more than 50 years-today mind control is found in the militarization of fields like the behavioral sciences, neurosciences, and psychiatry.

That's all I've got to say in this thread-the quotes and links below document the facts I've been stating about mind control since I became a member here in 2001.

January 31, 1975 internal CIA Memo posted by The National Security Archive referencing Project ARTICHOKE (pdf)

"ARTICHOKE is the Agency cryptonym for the study and/or use of 'special' interrogation methods and techniques. These 'special' interrogation methods have been known to include the use of drugs and chemicals, hypnosis, and 'total isolation' a form of psychological harassment."

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB54/st02.pdf

John Young's Cryptome.org web site has posted excerpts from a collection of U.S. mind control documents, including a 7-26-1963 Report by the CIA's Inspector General/IG.

http://cryptome.org/mkultra-0003.htm

Other selections of Cryptome's CIA MKULTRA documents begins with excerpts from a 1957 CIA IG's Report, clearly discussing torture.

http://cryptome.org/mkultra-0001.htm

Cheryl Welsh extrapolated from the work of University of Wisconsin Professor Alfred McCoy when she published an article at her Mind Justice.org web site in January.

"After the horrific pictures of prisoners being tortured at Abu Ghraib were displayed in front pages of newspapers around the world, the United States maintained that the U.S. does not torture, Abu Ghraib was about a few bad officers.

Evidence now proves that CIA 'no touch' torture and worse were ordered by the executive branch and approved by top military officers. Surprisingly, this scandal has much in common with another national security issue, neuroweapons, commonly referred to as mind control."

"In Contravention of Conventional Wisdom: CIA 'no touch' torture makes sense out of mind control allegations" by Cheryl Welsh (January 2008 Mind Justice)
http://www.mindjustice.org/wisdom.htm

There have been FOIA lawsuits to obtain mind control documents, one of them went to the United States Supreme Court (that's why most people won't call this subject tinfoil anymore except here)

"U.S. Supreme Court CIA v. Sims, 471 U.S. 159 (1985)" from Supreme Justia.com
http://supreme.justia.com/us/471/159/

Mind control is another component of U.S. torture.

[defendandprotect]

24. As Naomi Klein tells us . . . Milton Friedman's economics were introduced with TORTURE . . .

and followed up with torture -- in the nations which have already experienced "shock and awe" economics/corruption -- Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile.
Milton Friedman was advising General Pinochet --- !!!

And, though I knew about the Phoenix Program in Vietnam which killed 60,000+, I didn't know that
they had used repeated electroshock there ---

What is wrong with these people --- ????
Don't the scientists/doctors cooperating with these thugs ever
ask themselves that -- or are they, too, being threatened?

[Canuckistanian]

25. Scott Horton seems to be everywhere

I'd never heard of him before the Siegelman case.

Still, I heartily approve of what he's doing.

K&R.

[AzDar]

27. What have these perverse freaks done to our country?

Can this EVER be made right???

[Enthusiast]

28. It will not be made right.

It won't be made right because these fascists will remain in power. They may not be there in name but the media enablers will try to bring down any Democratic presidency. Just wait for the 24/7 attacks. These fucks control the media. As long as they do this country is screwed.

[Senator]

29. And Failure To Impeach Drives The Getaway Car

Because torture and war crimes can be aided and abetted both before and AFTER the fact.

Certainly Haynes/Yoo/Bybee/Addington/Gonzales/etc -- who provided the rhetorical, circu-legalistic pretext/fig leaf -- earned themselves a place beside the bushcheney kingpins in infamy and moral treason against our once-great nation.

But the oxymoronic mumblings of DC Dems, as they continue to ignore the rotting elephant carcass in our national living room, are no less an enabling of the ongoing horror. And moreover, a willful abrogation of both our treaty obligations and US Constitutional demands.

Only impeachment holds out any hope to reunite the American People around our core principles.

--

[bobthedrummer]

30. All members of the 110th Congress that are complicit with BFEE have blood on their hands. eom.

[The Stranger]

31. Why are the Democrats covering for these murderers?

Why is our own party an accomplice to murder and ongoing war crimes?

[Supersedeas]

33. Victoria Clark sees no red flags