TORTURE IS EVIL !!!

The FBI knew about CIA torture - and did nothing

2008-04-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

from Congressman Robert Wexler ( http://wexler.house.gov/ ) that I recieved in an email...

This morning, during a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, I questioned FBI Director Robert Mueller on his agency's response to claims - made by his own FBI agents - that the CIA was torturing prisoners. I wanted to find out why, if the FBI's own agents had alleged illegal actions were taking place, there was no investigation into the CIA's illegal and immoral practices.

Mueller's responses, which I would like you to read below, create new concerns and call for further investigation in the days ahead.

I believe Mr. Mueller owes more to Congress and the American people than the half-answers he gave in his testimony today.

I would urge you to contact the editors and news departments of your local media and ask them to look into the responses below. It is critical that this discussion takes place beyond emails and blogs – and is covered by the mainstream media.

In two weeks the Judiciary Committee will be holding hearings to investiga te the fact that the highest levels of the Bush Administration sanctioned and ordered the torture of prisoners in United States custody. This is intolerable and we must vigorously oppose this policy that demeans our nation and offends our conscience.

Please read the below transcript of my exchange with Mr. Muller.

This is a deeply troubling interchange which should be alarming to all Americans.

Congressman Robert Wexler

(TRANSCRIPT:)

Robert Wexler: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Director, in January of 2006, the New York Times reported that the NSA wireless wiretapping program had produced thousands of leads each month that the FBI had to track down, but that no Al-Qaeda networks were discovered. During a July 17, 2007 briefing, FBI deputy director John Pistole indicated that the FBI was not aware of any Al-Qaeda sleeper cells operating in the United States. In August of 2007 Congress passed the Protect America Act, giving the intelligence community greater access to electronic communications coming into and out of the United States. I have two questions in this regard.

RW: Has the FBI found any sleeper cells yet? One…

RW: Two. Has the NSA’s wireless wiretapping programs either before the Protect America Act or after led to the prosecution and conviction of any terrorists in the United States?

Robert Mueller: Well, as to your first question as to whether we have found affiliates or, as you would call them, cells of Al-Qaeda in the United States, yes we have. Again, I cannot get into it in public session, but I would say yes we have. With regard to the relationship of a particular case or individual to the terrorist surveillance program, again that is something that would have to be covered in a closed session.

RW: Alright, Mr. Director. An LA Times article from October, 2007 quotes one senior federal enforcement official as saying quote "the CIA determined they were going to torture people, and we made the decision not to be involved" end quote. The article goes on to say that some FBI officials went to you and that you quote "pulled many of the agents back from playing even a supporting role in the investigations to avoid exposing them to legal jeopardy" end quote.

RW: My question Mr. Director, I congratulate you for pulling the FBI agents back, but why did you not take more substantial s teps to stop the interrogation techniques that your own FBI agents were telling you were illegal? Why did you not initiate criminal investigations when your agents told you the CIA and the Department of Defense were engaging in illegal interrogation techniques, and rather than simply pulling your agents out, shouldn’t you have directed them to prevent any illegal interrogations from taking place?

RM: I can go so far sir as to tell you that a protocol in the FBI is not to use coercion in any of our interrogations or our questioning and we have abided by our protocol.

RW: I appreciate that. What is the protocol say when the FBI knows that the CIA is engaging or the Department of Defense is engaging in an illegal technique? What does the protocol say in that circumstance?

RM: We would bring it up to appropriate authorities and determine whether the techniques were legal or illegal.

RW: Did you bring it up to appropriate authorities?

RM: All I can tell you is that we followed our own protocols.

RW: So you can’t tell us whether you brought it; when your own FBI agents came to you and said the CIA is doing something illegal which caused you to say don’t you get involved; you can’t tell us whether you then went to whatever authority?

RM: I’ll tell you we followed our own protocols.

RW: And what was the result?

RM: We followed our own protocols. We followed our protocols. We did not use coercion. We did not participate in any instance where coercion was used to my knowledge.

RW: Did the CIA use techniques that were illegal?

RM: I can’t comment on what has been done by another agency and under what authorities the other agency may have taken actions.

RW: Why can’t you comment on the actions of another agency?

RM: I leave that up to the other agency to answer questions with regard to the actions taken by that agency and the legal authorities that may apply to them.

RW: Are you the chief legal law enforcement agency in the United States?

RM: I am the Director of the FBI.

RW: And you do not have authority with respect to any other governmental agency in the United States? Is that what you’re saying?

RM: My authority is given to me to investigate. Yes we do.

RW: Did somebody take away that authority with respect to the CIA?

RM: Nobody has taken away the authority. I can tell you what our protocol was, and how we followed that protocol.

RW: Did anybody take away the authority with respect to the Department of Defense?

RM: I’m not certain what you mean.RW: Your authority to investigate an illegal torture technique.

RM: There has to be a legal basis for us to investigate, and generally that legal basis is given to us by the Depart ment of Justice. Any interpretations of the laws given to us by the Department of Justice….(talking over each other)

RW: But apparently your own agents made a determination that the actions by the CIA and the Department of Defense were illegal, so much so that you authorized, ordered, your agents not to participate. But that’s it.

RM: I’ve told you what our protocol was, and I’ve indicated that we’ve adhered to our protocol throughout.

RW: My time is up. Thank you very much Mr. Director.
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Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL), Patriot
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Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House

Obama: Torture takes away our civil liberties

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more info today...

White House under siege: Will pointed questions burst Bush bubble?

Eric Brewer Thursday April 24, 2008
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/White_House_Under_Siege_Will_Pointed_0424.html

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CIA admits they will continue rendition program, which allows torture overseas

John Byrne Thursday April 24, 2008 http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_knew_secret_detention_interrogation_program_0424.html
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Hiding those pesky little war crimes
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Extraordinary Rendition
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prosecute the head torturer in chief

2008-04-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

Cheney authorized 'harsh interrogations'
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cheney_authorized_harsh_interrogations_0411.html

New reports and disturbing stories of torture and injustice
http://www.amnestyusa.org/Torture/New-reports-and-disturbing-stories-of-torture-and-injustice/page.do?id=1051232&n1=3&n2=38

US/Jordan: Stop Renditions to Torture
CIA Transfer of Suspects to Jordan for Interrogation Violates International Law
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/08/usint18463.htm

from RAW STORY

CIA has 7,000 documents relating to rendition, detention, torture programs, filing shows

Published: Wednesday April 23

2008http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_has_7000_documents_relating_to_0423.html

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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. Torture is and always has been evil. This is 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. Confessions as the result of torture and ill-treatment make them completely invalid.

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. 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, of the results of our actions.

Bush likes 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.

You people who have welcomed this filthy practice of torture have disgraced our flag, our ancestors' sacrifices and the dust of their bones. 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’.

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Torture only destroys

2007-12-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

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

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

Torture disgraces us

2007-11-17T11:18:00.001-08:00

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

2007-11-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-11-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

Amnesty International USA

http://www.amnestyusa.org/

Was David Hicks tortured into confessing?

2007-11-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T11:53:00.001-08:00

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

2007-11-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

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…..

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

"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

Mr. President,

2007-11-07T11:31:00.001-08:00

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.