Torture only destroys

Torture provides nothing positive, it only destroys, both the victim and all who come in contact or support of it.

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Psychologist: Gitmo detainee to be released is 'broken into pieces'
David Edwards and Jason Rhyne
Published: Friday December 28, 2007 http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Gitmo_detainee_faces_psychological_struggle_after_1227.html

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Direct from Guantánamo Bay
March 27, 2007
Jumana Musa
Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice
http://www.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/reportonhicks.html

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David Hicks pleads guilty on one count.

AI observer attends arraignment at Guantánamo
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGAMR510522007

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Justice delayed and justice denied?
Trials under the Military Commissions Act (PDF)
http://www.amnesty.org/en/alfresco_asset/04466604-a2cd-11dc-8d74-6f45f39984e5/amr510442007en.pdf

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Close Guantanamo! Amnesty Speaks Out


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picture from:
Amnesty International Volunteers
http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/

Hiding those pesky little war crimes

Destroying the evidence of a war crime is a crime deserving the strictest of penalties. These people will be out of power in a little over a year and those Dems in the Whitehouse and Congress better not let the investigations, charges and penalties languish. However, this is just another example of why impeachment should be on the table now!

CIA destroyed video of 'waterboarding' al-Qaida detainees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2223738,00.html

Hayden: Destruction Of Tapes Was ‘In Line With The Law’ Because Torture Advocate Rizzo Said So
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/07/hayden-rizzo-tapes/

Dems Call for Inquiry in CIA Tape Case
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071207/cia-videotapes/

Bush doesn't recollect being told of CIA tapes
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_doesnt_recollect_being_told_of_1207.html

children are 'detained' & tortured

60 Minutes: Boy charged with war crimes at age 15 faces life sentence in US military trial
Mike Aivaz and Muriel KanePublished: Tuesday November 20, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/60_Minutes_The_Youngest_Terrorist_1119.html

Witness Names to Be Withheld From Detainee
By William Glaberson
Published: December 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/nationalspecial3/01gitmo.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1196532500-m0OtYojLewoutZlBW4RVSQ

more from AI
http://news.amnesty.org/pages/torture-case8-eng

Amnesty International Volunteers
http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/

Torture disgraces us

I thought they decided not to print this but it was in the paper the next day after I faxed it to them. Somehow I just overlooked it.

Letters to the editor

Torture disgraces us
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Waterboarding is torture.
Torture is and always has been evil. Information gained is unreliable and dangerous to the well-being of our troops. We hanged people in Nuremberg for the practices we carry out today.
You who accept this horrendous practice are too blind to see you are denying your faithfulness to what you so proudly proclaim as God and country. You are swept up by passion, following along aimlessly, duped by voluntary ignorance and fear of going against what seems popular with your peers, causing you to halt any questions you may have floating around in your conscience.
You're willing to throw away what others who came before you suffered and died for because of fear mixed with a healthy dose of ignorance and a smattering of hate for those who have the strange religion and frightening ways. No amount of evidence can convince you seriously misguided adherents of anything Bush that you are willing victims of propaganda and lies. You don't realize you have foolishly surrendered your loyalty to the USA to a man.
You people who have welcomed this filthy practice of torture have disgraced our flag, our ancestors' sacrifices and the dust of their bones.

Ken Wells - Spokane

The Spokesman Review
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/
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Once we believe that torture is okay, that we're still pure and clean and good for having accepted it, we open ourselves up to many evil embraced horrors of our own making. We already believe in pre-emptive war and collateral damage without a conscience thought, for even a moment of the results of our actions.
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Nuremberg Trial Proceedings - Indictment: Count Three - WAR CRIMES
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Count3.html
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Collateral Damage

Bushies have made a home for torturers

Senator: US provides haven to war criminals from abroad
RAW STORY Published: Thursday November 15, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Senator_US_provides_haven_to_war_1115.html

Extraordinary Rendition

from Fronline World...
Extraordinary Rendition
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/rendition701/video/video_index.html


from Think Progress...
Pentagon Counsel William Haynes Bars Gitmo Prosecutor From Testifying About Torture
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/08/stuart-couch/


Extraordinary Rendition of the Truth



EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION HEARING


Torture isn't a part of our being !?!



Did CIA hand over Pearl murder suspect to be tortured nearly to death?
Nick JulianoPublished: Monday November 12, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/WSJ_Did_CIA_hand_over_Pearl_1112.html

The evil of torture touches the whole nation.

Water boarding is torture.

There's no way anyone who cannot answer correctly that waterboarding is in fact torture has no business being anything in a leadership position in the government. Michael Mukasey does not deserve the position of attorney general. Approving him for this position would be the same as approving the horrendous practice of torture by this corrupt administration. This is just another area the Dems can't cave on; but I fear they will.

Torture is and always has been evil. Information gained is unreliable and dangerous to the well being of our own troops. We hung people in Nurumberg for the practices we carry out today.

Waterboarding is torture - I did it myself, says US advisor
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 01 November 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3115549.ece




from Human Rights Watch...
CIA Whitewashing Torture
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/21/usdom12069.htm





Torture brings sadness and shame to Spokane

Torture and Civilian Deaths in Iraq
The Nuremberg Principles Today
By NANCY ODEN
http://www.counterpunch.org/oden01192005.html


Abu Ghraib Torture (very upsetting)



Olbermann-Dean on Bush Torture


ACLU Calls on American Psychological Association to Ban Torture

Denounce Torture: Get Involved!

Geneva Conventions

Seeking Truth and Accountability

Torture

Torture and Abuse

United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
More 'tough talk' words today from the war president in support of torture spying and war and death. I'm so repulsed by the 'tough talk' BS that's being used once again to drive us into another war. Waving the flag all the way into WWIII.

Attack: Bush calls out Dems, MoveOn, Code Pink in speech
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday November 1, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/White_House_Confirm_Mukasey_before_asking_1101.html

Code Pink ladies are very special!!!




Code Pink
http://www.codepink4peace.org/

Move On
http://moveon.org/

Countdown: Feinstein & Schumer Fold - DoJ Official Pushed Out For Calling Waterboarding Torture
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Retired JAGs On Waterboarding:
‘It Is Inhumane, It Is Torture, And It Is Illegal’
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/03/jag-leahy-waterboarding/
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Special Comment: George Bush’s Criminal Conspiracy of Torture
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Malcolm Nance - Waterboarding Is Torture




House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on Torture


Democrats who voted for Mukasey who disrespected themselves, the party, the nation and all those who must undergo torture in our names.

Bayh (IN)
Carper (DE)
Feinstein (CA)
Landrieu (LA)
Nelson (NE)
Schumer (NY)

Democrats who didn't vote for or against (NV) Mukasey who disrespected themselves, the party, the nation and all those who must undergo torture in our names.

Biden (DE)
Clinton (NY)
Dodd (CT)
Obama (IL)

Close Guantanamo Bay

Amnesty International USA

http://www.amnestyusa.org/

Was David Hicks tortured into confessing?

from Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Once again this is an attempt to justify the fruits of torture to the American people, or at least to those who follow along so sheepishly. The whole thing is extremely un-American.
Close Guantanamo! Amnesty Speaks Out



His confession was the result of torture and ill-treatment making it completely invalid. We are also expected to take the word of only his military accusers. This was a highly unconstitutional immoral and again it must be stressed a completely un-American exercise in shame with much more in likeness to the old Soviet Union, China, or any other authoritarian government.

This is from Amnesty International.
Direct from Guantánamo Bay
March 27, 2007

Jumana Musa
Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice

At a hearing in Guantánamo on 26 March 2007, in his sixth year of detention and at the start of the US administration’s second attempt in the last three years to try him before a military commission, Australian national David Hicks pleaded guilty to one specification under the charge of “providing material support for terrorism”.
This plea was made after years of indefinite detention, isolation and allegations of torture and ill-treatment, and after a day in which Hicks’ legal representation was reduced by the military judge overseeing the commission. After the plea, proceedings were adjourned and were expected to be reconvened later in the week after the details of the plea had been worked out.
more......
http://www.amnestyusa.org/waronterror/reportonhicks.html?msource=w73gmo&tr=y&auid=2506544
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from Human Rights Watch
US: Transfer Hicks to Federal Court
Military Commissions Are Fundamentally Flawed
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/03/26/usdom15562.htm

Amnesty Protest to Close Guantanamo Bay


Guantanamo conditions 'worsening'
"With many prisoners already in despair at being held in indefinite detention... some are dangerously close to full-blown mental and physical breakdown.
"The US authorities should immediately stop pushing people to the edge with extreme isolation techniques and allow proper access for independent medical experts and human rights groups."
more.....
http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2F2%2Fhi%2Famericas%2F6526589.stm

The confession of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

from Thursday, March 15, 2007

First off this is another attempt at administration misdirection designed to divert our attention from administration crimes such as the purging of federal prosecutors and the vast number of congressional investigations. It is also interesting that the evangelical churches finally came out strongly against torture within the last couple of days. This is an attempt to justify the fruits of torture to the American people, or at least to those who follow along so sheepishly.

The confession of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed means nothing. The whole thing is extremely un-American. His confessions were the result of torture and ill-treatment making them completely invalid. We are also expected to take the word of only his military accusers. No lawyers, press or human rights personnel were present. This was a highly unconstitutional immoral and again it must be stressed a completely un-American exercise in shame with much more in likeness to the old Soviet Union, China, or any other authoritarian government.

Close Guantanamo and give those there the kind of justice of which our nation was once famous. This is a war crime and all those involved should be prosecuted all the way up to the head torturer in chief, George W. Bush, a traitor to ‘mom apple pie and the American way’.

Torture, Ill-Treatment, and US Foreign Policy
http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/live/display.php?topic=38

'I was responsible for 9/11, from A to Z' - a confession from Guantánamo Bay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,2034383,00.html

Can Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's 'tortured' testimony be trusted?
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Can_Khalid_Sheikh_Mohammeds_tortured_testimony_0315.html

The Continuing Horror of the Disappeared

Thanks to Raw Story.
http://www.rawstory.com/

Soviet-era compound in northern Poland was site of secret CIA interrogation, detentions
Larisa Alexandrovna and David DastychPublished:

Wednesday March 7, 2007

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US, Britain asked Poland to join clandestine program
POLAND -- The CIA operated an interrogation and short-term detention facility for suspected terrorists within a Polish intelligence training school with the explicit approval of British and US authorities, according to British and Polish intelligence officials familiar with the arrangements. more at.....
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Sovietera_compound_in_Poland_was_site_0307.html

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CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE

and Other Cruel, Inhuman or DegradingTreatment or Punishment
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html

The Disappeared and the Tortured

Will any of it be left after Bush?

from Human Rights Watch ...

US: Secret CIA Prisoners Still Missing
Washington Should Reveal Fate of People ‘Disappeared’ by US
(New York, February 27, 2007) –

The US government should account for all the missing detainees once held by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/ ) said in a report released today.
The 50-page report, “Ghost Prisoner: Two Years in Secret CIA Detention,” contains a detailed description of a secret CIA prison from a Palestinian former detainee who was released from custody last year. Human Rights Watch has also sent a public letter to US President George W. Bush requesting information about the fate and whereabouts of the missing detainees. More at… Human Rights Watch--http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/02/26/usint15408.htm

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This isn’t American. This isn’t who we are or what we’re about. This is just wrong; something unholy; a cancer. Congress must start investigations on this immediately, to go along with all the other investigations of detainees and prisoners, how they are treated and their housing.

more on torture…..

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Torture and the nation's soul
http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_events_more.asp?id=1085

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Rendition: Tales of torture
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4502986.stm

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"Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right, and we are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law…Throughout the world, there are many who have been seeking to have their voices heard, to stand up for their right to freedom, and to break the chains of tyranny. Too many of those courageous women and men are paying a terrible price for their brave acts of dissent. Many have been detained, arrested, thrown in prison, and subjected to torture by regimes that fail to understand that their habits of control will not serve them well in the long-term."

George W. Bush June 26, 2005

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Mr. President,

Mr. President,

Torture is Unacceptable!

When we became a nation that tortures we became less. It's a dark sinister turn that must be halted and made right. Great shame has been brought on our nation because of this hideous practice. You like to make bellicose speeches about evil all over the world. Well torture is evil here and everywhere it's practiced and it must never be used for information or punishment or intimidation or for any of the other screwy reasons governments or 'freedom fighters' deploy it.

Torture is a cowardly act of weakness. We need to draw away from this behavior; we need to educate ourselves to the damage caused by mistreatment of prisoners. Far more good can be gained for America by listening to those who value civility and human rights than by ignoring them.

I fear we do so at our own peril.