The US administration is pushing forward in its attempts to make torture acceptable. Yesterday, John Kiriakou, a retired CIA agent, received widespread coverage when admitting that water-boarding was probably torture, and then went on to defend its use.
This is of course only one of the unspecified torture techniques authorised in an executive order signed by President Bush in July 2007. The order stated that the CIA was allowed to conduct a special “program of detention and interrogation”.
However, the CIA is under some pressure, with its head, Gen Michael Hayden, testifying to two key congressional intelligence committees about the deliberate destruction of two video tapes of interrogations carried out in 2002. Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union had this to say:
“The destruction of these tapes suggests an utter disregard for the rule of law. It was plainly a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence that could have been used to hold CIA agents accountable for the torture of prisoners. Both Congress and the courts have repeatedly demanded that this evidence be turned over, but apparently the CIA believes that its agents are above the law.”
The destruction of these tapes appears to be part of an extensive, long-term pattern of misusing executive authority to insulate individuals from criminal prosecution for torture and abuse, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
The ACLU is in the midst of a legal challenge calling for the release of three documents issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that are believed to have authorized the CIA to use extremely harsh interrogation methods. The memos, which were written in May of 2005, were not included in the government’s response to the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all documents pertaining to the treatment and interrogation of detainees in U.S. custody. The government also withheld the documents from key senators during a congressional inquiry.
Update: The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a motion asking a federal judge to hold the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in contempt, charging that the agency flouted a court order when it destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the harsh interrogation of prisoners in its custody.
Isn't torture in essence a form of terror? If we use terror against essentially defenceless prisoners, how can we claim moral supperiority in relation to those who use terror against us? Or are we arguing that our terror is somehow 'good', whilst theirs is bad? Do our leaders really believe that the ends justify the means? If so, how do we differ from the terrorists, who also believe this?
Where do we draw the line in our use of torture? Or is this a quaint concept too? If we believe it's right to use torture to save lives, why shouldn't we torture the terrorist's wife and children as well? Don't we risk becoming monsters if we use monterous methods?
There is an interesting article on http://www.redress.cc which is relevant to yours Mr Murray, entitled Torture and Torment 2007 AD.
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/dhalpin20071211
Came across this site today…
http://tinyurl.com/22z8ye
"Coleman noted that the consequences of the increased mental breakdown of US soldiers could be seen not only in their propensity to take their own lives, but also in the crimes committed against the Iraqi people"…
http://tinyurl.com/26outz
"What does the interrogator Maimon tell his children when he goes home? What do Eldad and Sagiv tell their wives about their daily labors before they turn in?"…
http://tinyurl.com/3yalkm
Craig Murray on how the U.S. is pushing forward the torture agenda.
http://kashmiri-nomad.blogspot.com/2007/12/islam-…
"A Gulfstream II jet that crash landed in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in late September bearing a load of nearly four tons of cocaine. This particular Gulfstream II (tail number N987SA), was used between 2003 and 2005 by the CIA for at least three trips between the U.S. east coast and Guantanamo Bay ?" home to the infamous "terrorist" prison camp ?" according to a number of press reports"…
http://tinyurl.com/38omkx
"Poppy harvest at a record level"…
http://tinyurl.com/2lfdqc
"President Reagan declared a while ago something like "we know that the Sandinistas are very deep into drug dealing". This was front page of the New York Times and Washington Post. A few days later you could have spied, if you looked at the back page, a couple of paragraphs saying that the assertion that the Sandinistas were in high-level drug dealing was unsupported. The President lied, blatantly, nakedly, unashamedly. The drug dealing as is now known from every angle and authority was done by the CIA, who gave the money from drugs to the Contras"…
http://tinyurl.com/2t6g25
"Alberto Gonzales – Lawyer of the Year"
"Mike Papantonio of GoLeft TV and Air America's Ring of Fire talks about how the American Bar Association has become so corrupt that it actually named torture-supporting Alberto Gonzalez as their "Lawyer of the Year"…
http://goleft.tv/view.asp?v=808
"Report indicates White House encouraged torture tape destruction"
"There have been no investigations because the Democrats have no interest in revealing to the American people the nature of the actions carried out by the US government, actions that the Democrats support"…
http://tinyurl.com/2r8jyk
"The picture that proves 'torture flights' are STILL landing in the UK"…
http://tinyurl.com/ypgjpx