- As The New York Times reported on January 22, Barack
Obama signed Executive Orders (EOs) banning torture and "directing
the CIA to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering
the closing of the Guantanamo detention camp within a year, government
official said."
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- The closure EO is titled: "Executive Order -- Review
and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
and Closure of Detention Facilities."
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- Sec. 3 reads: "Closure of Detention Facilities at
Guantanamo. The detention facilities at Guantanamo for individuals covered
by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than
1 year from the date of this order. If any individuals covered by this
order remain, they shall be returned to their home country, released,
transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States
detention facility in a manner consistent with law and the national security
and foreign policy interests of the United States."
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- The EO also orders an "immediate review of all"
detainees (by the Secretary of Defense within 30 days), diplomatic efforts
with other governments relative to this order, halting all proceedings
in the "United States Court of Military Commission Review to which
charges have been referred but in which no judgment has been rendered,"
and assuring that "humane standards of confinement" are observed
in accordance with international humanitarian laws, including Common
Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
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- It prohibits the following:
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- -- "violence to life and person, in particular murder
of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
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- -- outrages of personal dignity, in particular humiliating
and degrading treatment;"
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- -- carrying out sentences or executions "without
previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording
all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by
civilized peoples;" and
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- -- caring for the wounded and sick, including by an impartial
body like the ICRC "offer(ing) its services to the Parties to the
conflict."
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- On February 23, the Center for Constitutional Rights
published a report titled: "Current Conditions of Confinement at
Guantanamo - Still in Violation of the Law." Below is a summary of
its findings.
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- Guantanamo's existence and practices violate the letter
and spirit of international and US laws, including the Constitution's
First, Fifth, and Eighth Amendments. The latter two prohibit cruel and
unusual punishment and protect prisoners against treatment "that
shocks the conscience," such as unsafe conditions, denial of social
or family contact, and prolonged isolation. The First Amendment assures
prisoners are allowed religious texts and books and may observe their
faith freely.
-
- Yet for over seven years, 240 men have had no rights
and remain under the worst of "inhumane conditions." Most have
never been charged and are innocent. Many were seized for bounty, and
few have been able to challenge their detention in a habeas hearing, let
alone get a fair trial in a US court.
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- Most are kept in supermax solitary confinement in Camps
5 and 6 or Camp Echo. Treatment is harshly punitive and includes isolation,
sensory and sleep deprivation, brutal assaults, forced tube-feeding of
hunger strikers, and environmental manipulation that combined gravely
impair physical and psychological health and well-being.
-
- Despite Obama's EO, "conditions at Guantanamo have
not improved" and continue in violation of the law. Since it opened
in 2002, CCR enlisted over 500 pro bono lawyers to represent hundreds
of detainees. This report is based on "direct accounts from (them)
and their attorneys," as recently as January and February 2009. The
results are deeply disturbing.
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- Current Guantanamo Conditions
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- In a word, they're unchanged, outrageous, and illegal.
Inmates struggle for their sanity and say conditions are like living in
a tomb. The Pentagon and Obama administration deny it and describe isolation
as greater "privacy" and "single-occupancy cells."
Conditions, however, "speak for themselves."
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- Solitary Confinement
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- -- inmates spend 20 or more hours daily "confined
to small steel and concrete cells (with) virtually no human contact or
mental stimulation;"
- -- they eat alone;
- -- discipline violations result in loss of "privileges"
like toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap and blankets that can be denied for
any reason or none at all;
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- -- Camp 6 has no windows facing outside, and Camp 5 "has
only a thin opaque window slit in each cell;
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- -- toilets are just holes;
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- -- faucets are provided but no wash basins;
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- -- Camp 5 lights burn 24 hours a day;
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- -- "recreation" consists of two - four daily
hours in an outdoor cell; in Camp 6, it's in a pen surrounded by high
mesh wire-topped concrete walls blocking out most sunlight; in Camp 5,
it's in a "cage-like pen;" attempts to use "recreation"
for exercise result in immediate removal to their cells, at times forcefully;
some "recreation" is scheduled late at night, and if declined,
inmates stay isolated for days;
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- -- the penalty for any infraction is 24-hour isolation;
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- -- except for "the gloved hands of guards,"
practically no human contact is allowed; and
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- -- current conditions under Obama are no different than
earlier and in some respects are worse.
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- Sensory Deprivation and Environmental Manipulation
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- Sensory over and under-stimulation is used as follows:
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- -- cell temperatures are too cold causing discomfort,
health problems, and mental stress;
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- -- discipline is imposed on any inmate trying to block
a/c vents;
-
- -- one inmate described the combination of cold and 24-hour
lights as "indirect torture."
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- Sleep Deprivation
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- Besides round-the-clock lights, guards routinely kick
cell doors and awaken prisoners as late as 2AM for "recreation."
In addition, bed sheets are called a privilege to be denied as a disciplinary
measure.
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- Physical Attacks by an "Immediate Reaction Force
(IRF)"
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- Inmates "live in constant fear of physical violence,"
and anything or nothing may trigger it. Attacks are frequent, violent
and spontaneous. One example was as follows after a minor provocation.
Guards accused an inmate of attacking them. He did not. They left him
in a "recreation" cage as punishment. He fell asleep on the
floor, then was awakened by an IRF team in the dark. They shackled and
beat him, blocked his nose and mouth to create an asphyxiation effect,
hit him repeatedly in the ribs and head, and caused serious injuries.
Back in his cell, a guard urinated on his head.
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- Another inmate described painful forced feedings to hunger
strikers, constant IRF cell intrusions inflicting "cruelty, beatings
and bodily torture....the administration is giving the soldiers all the
authority to practice violence against us....we are in very bad condition,
suffering from aggression, beatings and IRF teams, as well as the inability
to sleep except for a few hours."
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- After years of torture and deprivation, some prisoners
want to die. In the words of one: "I'm in despair right now and I
don't know what to do. I'm going crazy."
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- Abuse of Psychologically Ill Detainees
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- According to experts, the combination of torture, sensory
deprivation, and a state of constant fear and hopelessness "can
cause serious and potentially permanent psychological and physical damage."
The former include hallucinations, severe anxiety, hostility, panic attacks,
nightmares, confusion, loss of memory and appetite, self-mutilations,
profound depression, and suicidal thoughts.
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- Lawyers and others report these observations. Detainees
say many times they tried to harm or kill themselves. Instead of help,
"detainees have faced further abuse - gross mistreatment that exacerbates
their pain and suffering." Psychiatric visits are few and cursory,
and when inmates report problems they're placed in more restricted isolation
and punished.
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- Attempted suicides are downplayed as "manipulative
self-injurious behavior." Torture is "enhanced interrogation."
Medical staff often are complicit. They impose unwanted care, verbally
abuse detainees, and often laugh at their pain. They deny information
about medical tests, existing diseases, what drugs are administered and
their risks. They ignore the brutalizing effects of mistreatment causing
serious physical and emotional harm as well as chronic weight loss, rotted
teeth, receded gums, renal pain, and a constant state of emotional stress
and ill health.
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- Washington under Bush and Obama withholds inmate access
to independent medical help, leaving them exclusively in prison hands
to continue mistreatment or none at all. What happened to Muhammed Khan
Tumani is typical.
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- Imprisoned at age 17, he's been at Guantanamo for a third
of his life, separated from his father who's also an inmate. The effect
is telling:
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- -- signs of serious mental trauma;
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- -- in December 2008, he cut multiple slashes across his
inner arm and a vein in his hand;
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- -- nearby detainees report that he bangs his head against
his cell walls and smears them with his excrement;
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- -- during a recent attorney visit, he was too anxious
to concentrate in spite of "his intense desire to challenge his
detention;"
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- -- "in complete despair, he threatened to harm himself
again;" the same is true for many others;
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- -- after cutting himself, Tumani was harshly disciplined;
when he failed to clean up his excrement, a ten-guard IRF team severely
beat him; sprayed him with tear gas or another noxious substance leaving
his skin red and burning days later; and stripped his cell of everything,
including a thin sleeping mat; instead of treating his psychotic state,
prison personnel beat and punished him.
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- Hunger Strikes and Force-Feeding
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- As a result of continued mistreatment, torture, isolation,
and deprivation, detainee hunger strikes are common as their only way
to protest. The response is to restrain them in chairs, force tubes through
their noses and throats abrasively enough to draw blood, and pump food
into their stomachs - a procedure causing excruciating pain.
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- Strikes began as early as February 2002, involving as
many as 200 or more prisoners at a time, and continuing on and off for
months. Constant abuse sparks them or just an individual act.
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- Introduced in December 2005, "restraint chairs"
are called "padded cell on wheels" because they confine legs,
arms, shoulders, and head. A thickness of a finger tube is then forcibly
inserted up the nose to the stomach for as much as 1.5 liters of formula,
or more than a stomach can hold - causing severe pain, bloating, nausea,
vomiting, diarrhea, and shortness of breath.
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- No sedatives or anesthesia are given, and men are kept
strapped in for an hour to prevent purging. The procedure is generally
repeated twice daily with the same tubes, covered in blood and stomach
bile, reportedly used from one inmate to another with no proper sanitation.
"The policy of force-feeding with restraint chairs continues to this
day under the Obama administration."
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- One inmate described the experience as "torture,
torture, torture." Another refusing force-feeding was beaten so badly
he was hospitalized on January 8, 2009 but failed to receive proper treatment
for multiple injuries.
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- US Bureau of Prison regulations require that force-feeding
be humane. The World Medical Association, of which the AMA is part, states
that force-feeding violates medical ethics, and when accompanied by "threats,
coercion, force, and the use of physical restraints is considered inhuman
and degrading treatment." For inmates, it's excruciating torture.
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- Religious Abuses
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- They include humiliation, the invasion of privacy, forced
nudity, preventing communal prayer, and allowing no Muslim chaplain.
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- Forced Separation of Family Members and Denial of Adequate
Family Communications
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- Only recently has even "extraordinarily limited"
familial telephone access been allowed. For the first six years there
was none. Now at most one annual monitored call is permitted compared
to Federal Bureau of Prisons regulations requiring at least one a month,
and at the Florence, Colorado supermax facility, two a month is procedure.
For prisoners under special disciplinary measures, it's one every 90 days.
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- In the few cases where two family members are detained
together, total separation with no communication is enforced, "causing
further trauma." In one such instance at Guantanamo, extreme pressure
continues to be exerted on a son to provide "evidence" against
his father.
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- Efforts to Whitewash Inhumane Conditions
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- Like its predecessor, "the Obama administration
to date has continued (the same practice of) sanitiz(ing) the conditions
for the men detained in the most restrictive facilities (at Camps 5, 6
and Echo)." Deception and deliberate lies suppress the daily brutalization
of inmates.
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- Following Obama's EO to close Guantanamo, officials responded
"by instituting minor changes that fail to address the fundamental
inhumanity (and daily torment) of this facility." Nothing fundamentally
has changed. Nothing from the White House addresses it, and inmates exhibiting
the severest psychological trauma face even harsher restrictive and punitive
responses. "Inexplicably, their psychological deterioration is presented
as a failure to comply with camp rules, rather than a medical issue (demanding)
concern and care."
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- "The most psychologically vulnerable men in the
prison are kept in the most coercive and damaging (state) of confinement,"
further exacerbating their condition. The more traumatized they get, the
more they're punished, and Guantanamo's military command has little interest
in investigating physical, psychological and religious abuses. Mistreatment
instead is whitewashed.
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- Minor cosmetic changes have done nothing to relieve daily
brutality and suffering or the violation of US and international laws.
So far, Obama's EO is empty, meaningless, and fails to address similar
practices at secret Pentagon/CIA prisons globally, housing "ghost
detainees."
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- Some are on "prison ships," addressed by this
writer in July 2008 as follows:
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- "....in 2005, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human
Rights and Counter-Terrorism took note. He spoke of 'very, very serious'
allegations that the US was secretly detaining terrorist suspects aboard
special ships at various locations around the world, notably in the Indian
Ocean.
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- The UK legal action charity, Reprieve, believes up to
17 floating prisons (were and likely still are) involved where detainees
are held under torturous conditions and subjected to harsh and brutal
treatment, in some cases worse than Guantanamo. Details have emerged
from US administration and military sources as well as the Council of
Europe, various parliamentary bodies, journalists, and former prisoner
testimonies.
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- The USS Bataan is one ship mentioned, and a former Guantanamo
detainee described his treatment on board. About 50 in total were there.
They were closed off in the ship's bottom area and beaten more severely
than at Camp X-Ray. Reprieve's Director, Clive Stafford Smith, said: 'The
US administration chooses ships to try to keep their misconduct as far
as possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers. We will eventually
reunite these ghost prisoners with their human rights.'
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- 'By its own admission (then and likely now), the US government
(is detaining up to) 26,000 people without trial in secret prisons, and
information suggests that around 80,000 have been 'through the system'
since 2001. The US government must show a commitment to rights and basic
humanity by immediately revealing who these people are, where they are,
and what has been done to them.' The Bush administration's response (at
the time was) silence." So far, it's no different under Obama.
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- On February 22, the UK Independent's Stephen Foley headlined:
"Very Bad News - Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base Will Be Obama's Guantanamo."
It's to undergo a $60 million expansion to hold 1100 more prisoners, above
the 600 now there, and nearly five times the 240 at Guantanamo. Other
than occasional ICRC visits, human rights groups and journalists are barred
from a facility notorious for the worst of mistreatment, according to
the few former inmates released.
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- Reprieve's Clive Stafford called the scheme "the
Bagram bait and switch....a diversionary tactic in the 'war on terror,'
" a willful case of hypocritical deceit to keep thousands of prisoners
in illegal black holes and brutalize them to the point of despair or
death.
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- Executive director Tina Foster of the New York-based
International Justice Network warned that "leaving Bagram open (let
alone tripling its capacity) turns the closure of Guantanamo into essentially
a hollow and symbolic gesture." The status quo is unchanged. Bagram
prisoners "have been tortured to the point that they have died; it
is a rallying cry for those who oppose the US actions in Afghanistan (and
a travesty regarding) everything we (say we) stand for as a country."
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- The Obama administration's justification is that Bagram
is a special case in a war theatre. Unmentioned is that US and international
laws allow no "special cases" for illegal detentions or torture
anywhere, at any time, for any reason with no exceptions ever.
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- CCR demands better. Prior to Guantanamo's closure, it
wants camp conditions improved, legal standards observed, and humane practices
restored as stipulated under Geneva, the Constitution, and all applicable
international human rights laws. This must be initiated "promptly
and thoroughly." Specifically, the following practices must be implemented
at Guantanamo and all other US run or supervised detention facilities:
-
- -- solitary confinement must end, and at Guantanamo Camps
5, 6 and Echo closed;
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- -- religious freedom must be observed;
-
- -- all forms of IRF physical and psychological abuse
must cease;
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- -- force-feeding must stop; forcible medications also;
-
- -- detainees must have immediate access to independent
medical and psychological professionals;
-
- -- illegal interrogations must be halted; and
-
- -- independent and international human rights observers
must have access to inmates.
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- Above all, full and unequivocal US and international
humanitarian law observance is mandatory immediately. No deviations can
be tolerated.
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- Human Rights Organizations Reveal A Secret Pentagon/CIA
Prison Network
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- CCR, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ)
at New York University School of Law, and Amnesty International (AI)
released documents revealing secret Pentagon/CIA black sites housing "ghost
detainees."
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- Most of the material contained news articles. Much else
was heavily redacted, but reference was made to facilities in Iraq and
an undisclosed prison at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
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- A Pentagon "Information Paper" dealt with the
"Applicability of the Geneva Conventions to 'Ghost Detainees' in
Iraq," suggesting that DOD and CIA may conceal their identity if
"absolute military security" dictates to facilitate intelligence
collection and justify denying ICRC visits "for reasons of imperative
military necessity."
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- Reference is made to "spies and saboteurs; persons
who have committed such acts (and have) forfeited the rights of communication."
A partly redacted email cites the "need to definitely think about
hold(ing) off (bad press by delaying inmate releases) for 45 days or so
until things cool down." CCR attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez called
it "astonishing that the government (might delay) releasing men from
Guantanamo (or elsewhere) to avoid bad press." Obama vowed to close
black sites. So far, his words are an empty gesture.
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- ACLU Report of US Prisoners Tortured to Death
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- On February 11, the ACLU released previously classified
documents concerning "abusive" interrogation practices (to the
point of death) in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo. The report referred
to "clearly abusive (behavior), clearly not in keeping with any
approved interrogation policy or guidance." It noted instances of
"deaths follow(ing) interrogation sessions in which unauthorized
techniques were allegedly employed, but (in two cases cited) these sessions
were followed by further alleged abusive behavior outside of the interrogation
booth."
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- Deaths took place in Iraq and Afghanistan:
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- -- two at Bagram "determined to have been killed
by pulmonary embolism caused as a result of standing chained in place,
sleep deprivation and dozens of beatings by guards and possibly interrogators;"
other evidence reveals torture at Guantanamo and American-Afghan prisons
in Kabul;
-
- -- a homicide or involuntary manslaughter of detainee
Dilar Dababa by US forces in Iraq;
-
- -- torture and abuse at the US Special Operations Force
Compound at Mosul Airfield, Mosul, Iraq;
-
- -- torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib; and
-
- -- causing death to a detainee by asphyxiation.
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- Torture was official policy under George Bush through
numerous "findings," Military and Executive Orders, memoranda,
and memos like the infamous March 14, 2003 "Torture Memo," written
by John Yoo, Alberto Gonzales (as White House counsel), Jay Bybee (now
a federal judge), and David Addington. It bypassed existing laws, sanctioned
all interrogation methods short of producing organ failure, and legalized
everything in the "war on terror," including supreme presidential
power.
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- On January 22, Obama signed a series of Executive Orders,
including the banning of torture. The proof of the pudding is in the
execution, and so far very little is in sight, including at Guantanamo
where the worst of abuses continue.
-
- Most important is accountability - prosecuting Bush administration
officials for crimes of war and against humanity, including the practice
of torture. CCR states:
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- "Evidence of the criminal activities of the Bush
administration is exceedingly well documented. It is apparent in (its)
memos," various memoranda and other internal papers, "FOIA documents,
congressional hearings, court documents, the testimony of victims, innumerable
investigative news articles and books and direct admissions by intelligence,
military and administration officials."
-
- The evidence points right to the top, including the president,
vice- president, two defense and state secretaries, and heads of CIA among
others. Given volumes of damning evidence, "now is the time for accountability
(to) hold these officials (liable) for their (crimes) and dissuade future
government officials" from committing them again knowing full well
the consequences if they do.
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- It's critical for the Obama administration to "reassert
the rule of law," affirm that no one is exempt, and set an example
that lawlessness no longer will be tolerated. Nothing less is acceptable.
-
- Military officials like Major General Antonio Taguba
and retired judge and head of the Guantanamo military commissions, Susan
Crawford, acknowledged high official guilt. Taguba said:
-
- "There is no longer any doubt as to whether the
current (Bush) administration has committed war crimes. The only question....is
whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
-
- The Convention Against Torture's Article 4 requires the
Obama administration to convene a criminal investigation to hold those
responsible accountable. Torture is prohibited under all circumstances,
at all times, with no exceptions allowed ever. Those in violation must
be investigated, tried, prosecuted and sentenced in accordance with the
law. Nothing short of full and meaningful justice is acceptable, and no
administration promising change can do less.
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- Adds CCR president Michael Ratner:
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- "The only way to prevent this from happening again
is to make sure that those who were responsible for the torture program
pay the price for it. I don't see how we regain our moral stature by
allowing those who were intimately involved in the torture programs to
simply walk off the stage and lead lives where they were not held accountable."
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- Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre
for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached
at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
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