aclu: bush ordered torture

[zimv20]

link

as i've been saying for nearly two years, bush is a sociopath.

FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques

Newly Obtained FBI Records Call Defense Department’s Methods "Torture," Express Concerns Over "Cover-Up" That May Leave FBI "Holding the Bag" for Abuses

NEW YORK -- A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.

"These documents raise grave questions about where the blame for widespread detainee abuse ultimately rests," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Top government officials can no longer hide from public scrutiny by pointing the finger at a few low-ranking soldiers."

The documents were obtained after the ACLU and other public interest organizations filed a lawsuit against the government for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized.

Another e-mail, dated December 2003, describes an incident in which Defense Department interrogators at Guantánamo Bay impersonated FBI agents while using "torture techniques" against a detainee. The e-mail concludes "If this detainee is ever released or his story made public in any way, DOD interrogators will not be held accountable because these torture techniques were done [sic] the ‘FBI’ interrogators. The FBI will [sic] left holding the bag before the public."

(more)

[miloblithe]

Wow. That last part just brings this to a new low. Lets commit crimes and cover our tracks so that another agency gets the blame.

I think the administration should be tried for treason.

[3rdpath]

i downloaded a few of the reports from the aclu site and this stuff is truly sickening. the fact that an executive order is referenced authorizing certain prohibited methods of torture is nothing less than reprehensible.

damn the geneva convention...freedom is on the march.

[Xtremehkr]

Person of the Year! oh wait, he is Times person of the year.

[amnesiac1984]

Is this stuff getting much media attention over there? Even if untrue, if something half as dodgy as this started getting spread around about blair in this country it would be all over the papers and TV news and Blair would be answering very difficult questions in public. He would still get away with it, but at least there would be a fuss. Any media frenzy going on there? If not I guess its solid proof that the 'liberal' media is a load of ********.

[Zaid]

It's been picked up by the BBC [link ]

[IJ Reilly]

Front page in the Los Angeles Times this morning.

FBI Agents Complained of Prisoner Abuse, Records Say

Documents obtained by ACLU show continued reports of mistreatment in Iraq and Cuba.

WASHINGTON — FBI agents have lodged repeated complaints of physical and mental mistreatment of prisoners held in Iraq and Cuba, saying in reports that military officials have placed lighted cigarettes in detainees' ears and humiliated Arab captives by wrapping Israeli flags around them, according to new documents released Monday.

The FBI records, which are among the latest set of documents obtained by the ACLU in its lawsuit against the federal government, also include instances in which bureau officials said they were disgusted by military interrogators who pretended to be FBI agents as a "ruse" to glean intelligence from prisoners.

The FBI complained that military interrogators had gone beyond the restrictions of the Geneva Convention that prohibit torture; the agents cited Bush administration guidelines that permit the use of dogs and other techniques to harass prisoners.

...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,3653011.story

[jadam]

Wow I didn't know the ACLU became the Iraqi Civil Liberties Union.

[IJ Reilly]

So what's your point?

[mactastic]

Actually they are the Rush Limbaugh Civil Liberties Union.

[skunk]

Civil Liberties is Civil Liberties, wherever you are.

[mactastic]

Originally Posted by skunk

Civil Liberties is Civil Liberties, wherever you are.

Shush that talk... The Iraqi's might hear you!

[skunk]

With all the loud explosions going on there, I doubt that's an issue!

[solvs]

Originally Posted by jadam

Wow I didn't know the ACLU became the Iraqi Civil Liberties Union.

Yeah, it's not like they have rights or anything! We went there to free them, after all. And they're going to get freedom... whether they want it or not.

(God, I hope you were being sarcastic)

BTW, anyone who's been paying attention isn't surprised at all. This has been the defense all along. "We were only following orders". Sure is a skewed idea you have of freedom there Georgie Boy.

Guess the next argument is that they don't follow the Geneva rules, why should we. Oops, already tried that one. We'll better start attacking the liberal media for a couple of papers mentioning it briefly to deaf ears, or just preaching to the converted. It's not our fault we screwed up, it's the media's fault for uncovering what we've covered up. Yeah, they're the ones making us look bad. Maybe you should, I don't know, not screw things up in the first place.

Anyone else have a feeling something truly awful is about to happen?

[skunk]

Something truly awful happens every day: it's just that until 9/11 it didn't happen to you. Welcome to the Reality Club.

[IJ Reilly]

More...

Abuse Inquiries Were Cut Short

Documents released by the ACLU detail deaths and mistreatment of detainees held by the U.S. military, as well as fumbled investigations.

WASHINGTON — Internal Army investigations into the suspicious deaths of several Iraqi detainees were cut short when authorities lost records, failed to conduct autopsies and contaminated evidence, according to government documents made public Tuesday amid mounting questions over prisoner abuses by the U.S. military.

The documents, the latest released by the American Civil Liberties Union in its ongoing lawsuit against the government, also report new allegations of mistreatment, including mock executions, death threats during interrogation and the use of dogs to force frightened prisoners to urinate at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

The newly disclosed incidents were detailed in reports filed during the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, during the war in Afghanistan and at the detainee prison camp at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many of the episodes occurred after revelations of abuse at Abu Ghraib prompted Bush administration pledges to curtail the mistreatment of captives.

Other incidents occurred in the fall of 2003, when the worst of the Abu Ghraib abuses were underway, and showcase an Army criminal investigative division, or CID, that was unable to properly review an increasing number of abuse allegations.

...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,1427152.story

This story has fallen back to page 20 of my morning paper from front page yesterday. I wonder why...?

[solvs]

Originally Posted by skunk

Something truly awful happens every day: it's just that until 9/11 it didn't happen to you. Welcome to the Reality Club.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to being oblivious and not caring. Ignorance is bliss.

[zimv20]

Originally Posted by skunk

Welcome to the Reality Club.

thanks. i feel underdressed.

[skunk]

We're pretty relaxed about dress codes...