Newsweek: Exclusive: Secret Memo—Send to Be Tortured

[deminks]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8769416/site/newsweek/

Aug. 8, 2005 issue - An FBI agent warned superiors in a memo three years ago that U.S. officials who discussed plans to ship terror suspects to foreign nations that practice torture could be prosecuted for conspiring to violate U.S. law, according to a copy of the memo obtained by NEWSWEEK. The strongly worded memo, written by an FBI supervisor then assigned to Guantanamo, is the latest in a series of documents that have recently surfaced reflecting unease among some government lawyers and FBI agents over tactics being used in the war on terror. This memo appears to be the first that directly questions the legal premises of the Bush administration policy of "extraordinary rendition"—a secret program under which terror suspects are transferred to foreign countries that have been widely criticized for practicing torture.

In a memo forwarded to a senior FBI lawyer on Nov. 27, 2002, a supervisory special agent from the bureau's behavioral analysis unit offered a legal analysis of interrogation techniques that had been approved by Pentagon officials for use against a high-value Qaeda detainee. After objecting to techniques such as exploiting "phobias" like "the fear of dogs" or dripping water "to induce the misperception of drowning," the agent discussed a plan to send the detainee to Jordan, Egypt or an unspecified third country for interrogation. "In as much as the intent of this category is to utilize, outside the U.S., interrogation techniques which would violate if committed in the U.S., it is a per se violation of the U.S. Torture Statute," the agent wrote. "Discussing any plan which includes this category could be seen as a con-spiracy to violate " and "would inculpate" everyone involved.

[Syrinx]

1. "would inculpate" everyone involved

I'm liking the sound of that. drip...

[BamaBecky]

23. me too!

:hi:

[Jawja]

35. BamaBecky,

you wouldn't be an Alabama fan, would you? :P

Just guessing! :hi:

As a big UGA DAWG fan, I can't wait for SEC football. :toast:

[BamaBecky]

47. It's gonna be FUN..........!!!

:hi:

[Syrinx]

45. I like your sig pics!

Only 34 days! :hi:

[indepat]

26. And every American who supports everything illegal its government does?

[goforit]

56. Yes, me like it too.The voices from within. May their conscience be heard

[nosmokes]

2. maybe we are a christian nation after all.

inquisition anyone?


fuck. i cannot believe this is what america has become.















edited because i can't tpye.

[saigon68]

19. WHO WOULD JESUS TORTURE AND KILL ??

WOULD HE BUY EXXON-MOBIL STOCK

OR SIT ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF HALLIBURTON OR BECHTEL?

[Amonester]

38. The Roman Empire Legionaries Who Tortured Him.

Nahhh... InsHannity would just name-call Jesus a 'Librul Peacenik' and that would pretty much be it. The sheeple would then smirk like their Pharisee-in-chief (king chimpi) and pray for the deport...

(They've got it all wrong, IMHO.)

[saskatoon]

48. wanted to respond with an image

but highlighting, Copy and Paste doesn't work why?

[Rhiannon12866]

66. Try copying the url for "properties"

Paste that and see if it works.:-)

[Stand and Fight]

3. "...directive signed by President George W. Bush after 9/11."

Jesus.

:yoiks:

Recommended for the Greatest Page.

This is deeply disturbing. If this is allowed to be ignored by the MSM or if DUers allow it to sink, our "democracy" is as good as murdered and buried in a shallow grave.

[Richard Steele]

11. "Shallow Grave" my ass; that corpse is rotting in the front yard! nm

[POAS]

18. Jesus has very little to do with this..........n/t

[goforit]

57. Here here!!

[warrens]

4. Dang, maybe we can see the entire administration tossed into SuperMax

Locked down 23 hours a day in a coffin-size cell, no communication with the outside world, REAL HARD TIME.

[wli]

7. at least until they're delivered to the Hague

They have international law to answer to as well.

[goforit]

58. Yes ...I agree. They owe pennance to all of humanity.

[longship]

5. Jesus! Recommended.

:kick:

[babylonsister]

6. Just .... wow! Bush admn policy and extraordinary rendition?

Not surprised, but I'm glad this is here for everyone to see. Thanks!

[dweller]

8. has anyone brought up looking at

the the legitimacy of the font yet?

said it was old news that has been discussed, discredited, and debunked already?

no? good, then i'll hope one more time that something will start the crumbling of these fascists' power.

dp

[Starfury]

9. Good! Has Isikoff finally seen the light?

A senior U.S. intelligence official, who asked not to be identified because the program is classified, said rendering suspects to their country of origin can aid intel because local interrogators speak the language better and understand the cultural sensitivities of the suspects. "No one is sent anywhere for the purpose of being tortured," the official said.

Yeah, right. :eyes:

[Hissyspit]

14. He knows a good scoop when he sees it, I think, plus...

I think the whole "qu'ran flushing/'newsweek should watch what they say'" thing probably pissed him off.

[fooj]

10. "a conspiracy to violate"...there's that C word again!

Evil, maniacal Cabal. Hell is too good a place for them.

[Lecky]

12. I read before that prisoners were being sent to Uzbekistan

A few weeks ago, I read a similar article in the LA Times, and they named Uzbekistan. President Karimov is known to practice torture methods such as boiling people alive. Yes, he's one of our "allies"...

"officials have confirmed that 65 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo for further detention or prosecution by foreign governments, including 29 to Pakistan, seven to Russia, five to Morocco and four to Saudi Arabia—countries the State Department criticizes for practicing torture."

No mention of it here, but weird how we were sent away from there just recently.

I've lost track of all the scandals that are piling up against all these bastards, there are too many.

[Peace Patriot]

13. Well, one thing to notice about this is that it's in Newsweek! Not the

Nation. Not the New Yorker. Not the London Guardian. Not the Lonestar Iconoclast. Newsweek!

I think we're finally seeing a little competition among the news monopolies--and a bit of actual reporting on the mind-boggling black hole of Bush Cartel scandals.

-----

There was a poll last year--May '04--indicating that 63% of Americans oppose torture UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

That's the America I know and love--a people that is sticking to its sense of justice, and lawfulness and ethics, despite all the fearmongering.

And I hope one day to wake up and see the news monopolies finally ask the question: How the hell did these people get "re-elected" when EVERY opinion poll on the issues shows overwhelming American disapproval of every major Bush policy, foreign and domestic. You name it. Torture. The war in Iraq (since BEFORE the invasion). Social Security. The deficit. Women's rights. The great majority of Americans disagree--way up in the 60% to 70% range--and have done so for over a year (and, on Social Security, since the specter of "privatization" was raised).

Where is this regime's SUPPORT? Where are Karl Rove's "invisible get-out-the-vote campaign" voters?

I hope they ask that some day soon. Because those of us here at DU and elsewhere who have worked on the 2004 election fraud evidence have the answer. Karl Rove's "invisible" voters didn't exist. And this illegitimate regime does not represent the majority of Americans.

[Disturbed]

15. "prosecuted for conspiring to violate U.S. law"

What court would ever prosecute anyone in the Bush Regime?

The Bush Regime is ABOVE any Law.

[berni_mccoy]

24. Wow, that's an awesome PIC in your sig...

Can I use it as well... along with mine, it makes a powerful statement...

[Disturbed]

50. berni_mccoy about the photo.

I stole it from someone at DU. hehe I would prefer that you steal something else because it's a way for me to find my own post more quickly. haha

[Amonester]

40. True. This illegitimate regime represents approx. 25% of

all (visible and invisible) voters in the last 2 elections (a 1/4 ratio). When will that 'minority' be held accountable for all their wrongdoings?

WHEN?

[cal04]

16. Letter illustrates FBI concern about detainee treatment:Air Force Times

2004
FBI agents witnessed “highly aggressive” interrogations and mistreatment of terror suspects at the U.S. prison camp in Cuba starting in 2002 — more than a year before the prison abuse scandal broke in Iraq — according to a letter a senior Justice Department official sent to the Army’s top criminal investigator.

In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, the FBI official suggested the Pentagon didn’t act on FBI complaints about the incidents, including a female interrogator grabbing a detainee’s genitals and bending back his thumbs, another where a prisoner was gagged with duct tape and a third where a dog was used to intimidate a detainee who later was thrown into isolation and showed signs of “extreme psychological trauma.”

One Marine told an FBI observer that some interrogations led to prisoners “curling into a fetal position on the floor and crying in pain,” according to the letter dated July 14, 2004.Thomas Harrington, an FBI counterterrorism expert who led a team of investigators at Guantanamo Bay, wrote the letter to Maj. Gen. Donald J. Ryder, the Army’s chief law enforcement officer who’s investigating abuses at U.S.-run prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and at Guantanamo.

(photo shows an FBI letter obtained by The Associated Press in November that details four interrogations witnessed by agents in 2002, the year the detention mission began at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba)
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-543169.php

[cornermouse]

17. That "shining city on the hill"?

Doesn't exist any more. This (torture) is true evil.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

32. Ouch. That makes my heart hurt.

:(

[cornermouse]

33. Mine too.

:(

[Auntie Bush]

62. This is so depressing! I can't believe these abusers are Americans.

[enough]

20. kick

[54anickel]

21. Explains Cheney's stance on McCain's amendment to the DOD bill

against the use of torture. Don't want to "usurp the AUTHORITY of" the usurper. :eyes: Wouldn't need to transfer them if we authorize the use of torture by our own. :grr:

Shouldn't Cheney's discussions fall under the same clause -
"Discussing any plan which includes this category could be seen as a con-spiracy to violate " and "would inculpate" everyone involved."

[Lochloosa]

22. Kick

[Loki]

25. The frightening realization now is

that our governmental officials are acting like the mafia. They have bought out or intimidated any resistance from the press, they remove their opposition through personal destruction, but unlike the mob, they target your family. They are collecting their "vig" and they know that nothing can stop them. I had to ask myself why would they be so brazen and open about it, and the answer is deceptively simple. ..... they know they will be in power for a long time. The idea of ethical and moral behavior in the Republican Party died a long time ago.

[ninkasi]

31. Sadly, I agree, Loki

You post hits the nail on the head exactly. And your sig line, by the way, is a prophecy which we have seen fulfilled.

[0007]

46. This crime cabal would make the mafia look like sick whores..

[MGKrebs]

27. Link to related NYTimes story.

From earlier this week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/politics/28abuse.html?

snips:

"The documents include one written by the deputy judge advocate general of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Jack L. Rives, advising the task force that several of the "more extreme interrogation techniques, on their face, amount to violations of domestic criminal law" as well as military law."

"General Rives added that many other countries were likely to disagree with the reasoning used by Justice Department lawyers about immunity from prosecution. Instead, he said, the use of many of the interrogation techniques "puts the interrogators and the chain of command at risk of criminal accusations abroad."

"The Bybee memorandum defined torture extremely narrowly and said Mr. Bush could ignore domestic and international prohibitions against it in the name of national security. That position was rescinded by the Justice Department last Dec. 30."

That's great. "It's OK to torture." 2 years later, "Oops, not OK to torture. All you guys that have been torturing for us these past two years are in BIG trouble!"

[goforit]

59. grabbing at straws under this policy.

[teryang]

28. The government is run by criminals

...we knew that.

[wildwww2]

29. And the same criminals have a choke hold on the media too.

Otherwise all the crimes that this administration commits would get as much outragous press as a real president getting a blow job. Instead of this milqtoast crap we get.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[goforit]

60. there are ways we can take it back if we think and work hard enough

[StrafingMoose]

30. "third country"

""the fear of dogs" or dripping water "to induce the misperception of drowning," the agent discussed a plan to send the detainee to Jordan, Egypt or an unspecified third country"

Can you say Syria?

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

34. To me, the real irony in this is

the fact the * administration really has no interest in solving the 'terror' problem. As long as they can parade this new enemy of the American people in front of us every couple days or so, they can perpetuate their abuse of power.
So why torture someone for information that wouldn't be used anyhow?

[DaveT]

53. Why torture?

This question bothers me, too.

These guys obviously don't care about terrorism or Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden.

These guys obviously don't care about public opinion polls because for three elections in a row the combination of well organized smear campaigns, voter suppression and vote count manipulation keeps them in power.

So why do they give a hoot about "intelligence" to be squeezed out of people through torture?

I don't think they care about torture as an investigative tool. It is instead yet another small part of the machine they are building for permanent control -- torture as punishment in itself. The legal and political mumbo-jumbo about torture over the last few years are part of the process of normalizing torture within the poltical culture.

The parallel tactic of disappearing a US citizen by stripping citizenship without due process is going through the same exercise of normalization.

I know several alleged "conservatives" who claim to be "libertarians" who admit to being "troubled" by torture and unreviewable arrests. Each one of them has expressed confidence to me that "the courts" will curb this excess of the Bush Administration. People like them (including a much larger proportion of less articulate and informed Americans) need to be lulled into the full monty of a fascist police state.

The forces of history are lining up for the mother of all confrontations this summer and fall. Public opinion polls, the MSM, the Special Prosecutor, a growing legion of whistleblowers on a dozen or better subjects, and -- even -- a fews stirrings in Congress have slowed down the heavier aspects of the Overall Bush Program to dismantle the social safety net to finance perpetual wars all over the world. The centerpiece of "The Ownership Society" is the looting of Social Security to break the back of FDR's legacy -- and as of today it looks like Bush has no prayer of winning that political fight.

All that Bush has left is the Power of the Presidency which now includes the power to disappear and torture enemies of the State. . . .

It is easy to over dramatize things, but . . . .

We'll see, won't we?

[goforit]

61. Torture?...I see perverted crooks at the helm. They're into this sh*t.

Why in the hell would they ever allow all these photos and tapes to
mysteriously escape and be leaked to the entire world?

The entire group of thugs are bisexual perverts that enjoy
the shock and awe of what they displayed for the entire world.

They will abuse anyone or anything for a cheap thrill and they love
to watch the crowd spaz out.

They are the worst psychopaths history has ever known.

[rucky]

55. they don't torture for information

they torture to manipulate through fear. they want this shit to get out because of the chilling effect it has on anybody who hears it and has an ounce of compassion.

psy-ops directed at the rest of the world.

[mike_c]

36. the Amerikan sheep are governed by pigs....

I pray that I will live to see these bastards rotting in prison for their crimes.

[OKthatsIT]

65. I second that

..

[lovuian]

37. They are in violation of the Geneva Convention and they

don't give a damn!!!

America is truly at this point in a dark dark place!!!

[Earth_First]

39. Pay no attention to this...

Semi-Annual Sale at Victoria's Secret...Tom Cruise love triangle exclusive...Brittney Spears may or may not be pregnant...Jackson's father; responds to the 'not-guilty' verdict...The 2005 Hurricane Season 24-hour coverage; hour 16...

THE ABERCROMBIE & FITCH SALE WILL NOT BE TELEVISED!

[Burried News]

41. Vie never gave our soldat such an order.

We didn't have to - we 'incentivised' it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/03/03_2005_Bazelon.html
Excerpt:
Chris Mackey, as the reservist is known, had been taught that harsh interrogation techniques yielded poor information because they prompted detainees to lie. Still, he recalls, “the more aggressive we were—though we never became physically violent—the more reliable the information was.” His team realized that they often got their best information in the last half-hour of a 10-hour session, and they concluded that fatigue was their best available weapon. “We decided by committee that we couldn’t get away with sleep deprivation under the Geneva Convention,” Mackey says. “So we came up with this technique we called ‘monstering.’ We said that if you put one interrogator in with one prisoner and scrupulously gave them the same water and food and bathroom breaks, the interrogation could go on as long as the interrogator could stand it. Of course, we were hoping that the interrogator would be fully rested, whereas the prisoner would have just come off the battlefield.”

Monstering wasn’t in the Army manual, and before he came to Bagram, Mackey wouldn’t have imagined improvising techniques that deviated from his training. But in Afghanistan, he increasingly felt compelled to produce intelligence that might help his fellow soldiers. “When I arrived, I would never have countenanced monstering,” he told me. “But we saw how little success we were having against a determined enemy. So we went to what we thought was the absolute edge.”

[Burried News]

44. felt compelled to produce intelligence that might help his fellow soldiers

We did it out of love for our brothers. There's truth in that - a method to the madness if you will - a calculated cunningness.

It started with the signal - put them at Gitmo. 'They are nobodies, outside the pale, there is no applicable Treaty that covers them, there is no US law that covers them etc etc.' How can anyone not be reminded of the clever Nazi's. Making Monsters of our own troops.

And when these troops are home years from now, will they have to stick with the likes of a Bush so that they can hide the truth from themselves. The good German defense - needed by minds complicit in horror.

Torture to recruit informers in Iraq
AND
Torture to bind these men and women to whomever will call them heroes (won't call them 'disgusting').

George may be dumb but those behind him have an evil genius.

[xxqqqzme]

42. kick

[alfredo]

43. This needs to be

kicked.


Are we suffering from torture fatigue?

[klyon]

52. kick again

a firing squad for the whole bunch would be fitting I think

KL

[bloom]

49. kick

:kick:

[Disturbed]

51. War Crimes by Top Govt. Official will not be..

prosecuted.

Here is a case in point.


Rumsfailed Admitted to Violating Geneva Convention

Rumsfailed admitted in public on TV that when CIA Director Tenet requested that an Iraqi prisoner be sent to a secret Afghan/US Prison that Rumsfailed did so. After four months a DOD Attorney stated that this was an illegal act. Rumsfailed then ordered that this prisoner be sent back to Abu Graihib but the prisoner was purposefully not listed at that location, also an illegal act. Rumsfeld also admitted to signing orders for tougher interogation methods which violated the Geneva Conventions.

Rumfailed has commited at least three violations of the Geneva Convention thereby also violations of The Constitution of the USA. Recently it has been found out that even more detainees were "ghost detainees". The fact that Rumsfailed and Tenet have not been charged speaks volumes. If Congress wishes to garner any respect they should move forward with Rep. Rangle's Impeachment Declaration of Rumsfailed and also proscecute Ex. CIA Tenet.


Does the US, Govt., Congress, and the Justice Dept no longer abide by the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of the USA?

[sintax]

64. Top photo in the dungeon is revealing

look at the dour expressions and ghoulish eyes in that group. Vampires.

At present US forces are using doctors to help in torture. might violate a doctors oath, huh?

Knowing the history of America I can't say I'm surprised. Just a read of de las Casa's diaries will send shivers up your spine. Torture is not an aberration in US, but rather a consistent part of the nations being.

The black man has been tortured for years in America and these damn Arabs are sub-human too in the eyes of the imperious racist.

For flag and freedom.

[nicknameless]

54. kick n/t

:kick:

[Auntie Bush]

63. I thought it was bad when we were the "Ugly Americans"...now we're

the "Evil Americans". :cry: I'm no longer proud to be an American!!!!
Thanks George!

[Mari333]

67. WE are the Nazis now

sadly, many Americans are still in denial about this.

[Rhiannon12866]

68. It's no news to us that Bush*co is guilty of war crimes

And it's well past time that this fact is brought to the attention of the general public!:grr:

The rest of the world is not in the dark on this, so why are the majority of Americans?! I blame the "liberal media!":-(