Gonzales Defends U.S. Policy on Torture

[maddezmom]

LONDON - The U.S. attorney general defended his country's treatment of terror suspects against criticism from Europe and elsewhere, saying Tuesday that the United States abhors torture and respects the rights of detainees.

Alberto Gonzales also said the U.S. did not transport terrorism suspects to nations where it was likely they could be tortured.

Human rights groups and other European critics have alleged that U.S. planes may be using European airports and air space to send suspects to nations that may torture them. They have also criticized the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo, and a U.N. report last month called for the facility to be closed "without further delay" because it is effectively a torture camp where prisoners have no access to justice.

The U.S. attorney general — speaking Tuesday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank in London — vehemently denied such charges, but acknowledged that people might interpret the term "torture" in different ways. The U.S. abides by its own definition, which he said was the intentional infliction of severe mental or physical suffering.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060307/ap_on_re_eu/britain_gonzales;_

He held a live news conference here in London, but when the questions got too hot....he had to leave for another engagement.

[Bluzmann57]

1. Defending the undefendable

Not sure if that's a word, but you all get the idea. Pathetic. And then the coward runs when the heat is on.

[0007]

35. 'Tis not a work. But we could say that Alberto is undependable

as far as telling the truth. We all know that Gonzales changes moods frequently when talking about torture.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Cut 'n Run Gonzales

I think he used up his daily quota for lies.

[maddezmom]

3. he wouldn't confirm or deny dogs were still be used to

intimidate/torture detainees. :eyes:

[PBass]

5. After you've lied to Senate committees on multiple occasions,

lying at a press conference is a piece of cake.

[Canuckistanian]

19. About dogs and Muslims

I used to live in an apartment where pets were allowed. One day, a German Shepherd dog was running round inside the building and I saw a muslim couple in the hall. The dog went up to them in a friendly way and they freaked, calling on me for help.

Dogs are apparently considered an unclean animal and the popular Arab culture consider them to be naturally bloodthirsty creatures.

So, even the PRESENCE of dogs is frightening and intimidating to most Arabs. That dogs are trained to attack them must be enough to drive some insane.

This is an execise in carefully constructed terror.

And Gonzales is the #1 enabler. I hope to God he's harassed for the rest of his natural life for this.

[Solon]

24. Sounds like they were just freaked that a large dog approached them...

without a leash.
Look Here:
http://www.submission.org/pets/dogs2.html

Now, onto other animals, this bit of folklore can explain Muslim attitudes to Cats.

The Prophet Mohammed had a tabby cat which fell asleep on the sleeve of his robe. Rather than disturb the cat, he cut off his sleeve when he answered the muezzin (call to prayer). This cat once warned Mohammed of danger and to this day tabby cats have the 'M' mark on the foreheads in remembrance of his blessing and three dark lines on their backs where he stroked his cat.

[Canuckistanian]

25. No, they explained that dogs are not pets to them

Despite what the Koran says, they think dogs are not fit for the house.

Must be an old tribal thing not related to Islam.

[Solon]

28. Probably...

I know many people that are like that with a variety of animals, probably cultural removed from the religion. Though I believe that some of the first evidence of Dog Domestication was in the Middle East, a grave that was found of a man who was buried with his dog(more a wolf), both I think died of natural causes.

[ColonelTom]

27. For his participation in this...

... Gonzales can expect to be harassed for longer than the rest of his natural life, I suspect. :evilfrown:

[dubyaD40web]

4. Psycho!

[Trevelyan]

32. How do we start War Crimes Trial?

www.humanrightsfirst.org

What criteria must be met for another nation to bring war crimes charges to the Hague?

It seems obvious to me that we cannot solve this problem from inside the reich. It must be solved by a foreign power.

Is there any state that would be willing to do that?

[The Stranger]

6. Torture became nearly exclusively psychological decades ago.

This little man thinks that he can fool everyone by saying there is no "torture," in the sense that there is no stretching the victim on a rack or impaling the victim in an iron maiden, while then saying (almost cutely) that "torture" can also mean different things.

CIA and intelligence studies decades ago discovered that psychological torture, including sensory deprivation, identity confusion, isolation, focused interrogation and the THREAT of additional physical pain are far more successful forms of torture than the old ways.

[stepnw1f]

7. What a Sick Mind You Have, Alberto.

Wow... beyond repair.

[leftchick]

8. pretty ballsy of Al considering this torture victim's book is just out

http://books.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329420538-101750,00.html

<snip>
After that first heavy interrogation they took me into another room and left me there. Guards tied my hands behind my back, hog-tied me so that my hands were shackled to my legs, which were also shackled. Then they put a hood over my head. It was stuffy and hard to breathe, and I was on the verge of asthmatic panic. The perpetual darkness was frightening. A barrage of kicks to my head and back followed. Lying on the ground, with my back arched, and my wrists and ankles chafing against the metal chains, was excruciating. I could never wriggle into a more comfortable position, even for a moment. There was a thin carpet on the concrete floor, and a little shawl for warmth - both completely inadequate.

I lost track of day and night - not only was I usually in the hood but, in any case, the window was boarded up. Eventually, someone came in and removed the hood. I was there in isolation for about a month. Once they kept me from sleeping for about two days and two nights. A guard kept coming in and if I nodded off he woke me. By the end of that I was completely drained and disoriented.

I never knew what was going to happen. Sometimes they'd take me to an outside toilet - used by the military as there wasn't one upstairs. But even then I was hooded, and the hood came off only when I was in the latrine area. There on the wall, in big black letters, were the words "Fuck Islam".

For days on end I was alone in the room. Then they'd come for me and go over and over exactly the same ground: the camps, my role in training, my role in al-Qaida, my role in financing 9/11. Sometimes it was the CIA, sometimes the FBI; sometimes I didn't even know who they were. All of them wanted a story that didn't exist. There are no words to describe what I felt like.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. Gonzales defends conditions at Guantanamo ("health care & good food")

By Gideon Long
54 minutes ago

LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's leading lawyer defended the Guantanamo Bay prison camp on Tuesday, saying detainees there were granted state-of-the-art health care, good food and "unprecedented legal protection." Responding to complaints by the United Nations, human rights groups, religious leaders and some national governments, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the camp was entirely lawful and essential to the protection of the United States.

"We operate Guantanamo because there's a necessity, a need, for the United States to detain enemy combatants somewhere," he said in a speech in London. "That was the genesis of Guantanamo. This need continues today."

Gonzales said all detainees at the camp in eastern Cuba were granted an assessment by U.S. authorities, a right of reply and a separate, formal hearing of their case before a three-member tribunal with a right to appeal.

"We are aware of no other nation in history that has afforded such protection for enemy combatants," he told the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060307/ts_nm/usa_guantanamo_gonzales_dc

[unhappycamper]

10. "unprecedented legal protection"

An occasional truth leaks out. Yep, I think they are receiving legal protection not offered in the preceding 230 years of this republic. With good reason, I might add. :sarcasm:

[catmandu57]

11. What's the procedure for getting rid of this asshole?

There has to be a way of removing this stain, maybe we need to start on the bottom rungs and swat them off till we come to the evil fucks at the top.

[Trevelyan]

34. Senate Approves Limiting Rights of US Detainees

Senate Approves Limiting Rights of US Detainees (NYT)

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111105Z.shtml

The Senate voted Thursday to strip captured "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, of the principal legal tool given to them last year by the Supreme Court when it allowed them to challenge their detentions in United States courts.
..more..

[EFerrari]

12. Torquemada goes on the record again. nt

[KansDem]

13. Welcome aboard Bush/Gonzo Airlines...!!!

...the United States abhors torture and respects the rights of detainees....the U.S. did not transport terrorism suspects to nations where it was likely they could be tortured.

Yeah, right Alberto. :eyes:



I wonder how you get the drink cart through that mess.

[gratuitous]

14. People might interpret the term "torture" in different ways

Well, that's kind of the crux of the matter, isn't it Mr. Gonzales? One man's extraordinary rendition is another man's torture. Care to stand in the dock at The Hague and let an international tribunal sort it out?

Didn't think so, you bullying pussy.

[Roland99]

15. Respects their rights by sodomizing them with broomsticks

and holding them w/o legal counsel for four years.



Damn, I love me some respect!

[rodeodance]

16. he is in London spreading this horrific garbage--as if he speaks for us!

[rodeodance]

17. Gondo man-The U.S. abides by its own definition,------!!!

The U.S. attorney general — speaking Tuesday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank in London — vehemently denied such charges, but acknowledged that people might interpret the term "torture" in different ways. The U.S. abides by its own definition, which he said was the intentional infliction of severe mental or physical suffering.

[rodeodance]

18. nominate

[HuffleClaw]

20. i'd have liked to have seen that news conference.

"Gonzales also said the United States did not transport terrorism suspects to nations where it was likely they could be tortured, a practice known as extraordinary rendition." ??? this has been PROVEN time and again. these outright lies are an insult. and this: "If we went around this room, people would have different definitions of what constitutes torture, depending on the circumstances." ??? well, they can CALL it what they like, but its still torture.

[DrBloodmoney]

21. It's an untenable position n/t

[Solly Mack]

22. torture has a legal definition and that piece of shit knows it does

and the definition was agreed upon by other nations as well as by the US for the purpose of it's federal laws.

[ninkasi]

23. More lies from this administration

They lie all the time, about everything. The torture has been documented, yet they still claim the U.S. doesn't use torture. Why did Bush insist on a signing statement to give himself permission to ignore the recent legislation prohibiting torture, if we never use it?

After all of the constant, steady streams of lies, nobody but the most Kool-aid addicted freepers believe a word they say. I'd like to see if Alberto and his boss would be willing to spend just one day at Gitmo, getting the same treatment that had been planned for the prisoners they replaced.

[coalition_unwilling]

26. "War is peace, ignorance is strength, arbeit macht frei." (eom)

[TankLV]

29. "You say torture, I say rendition. You say tomato, I say tomato"

"Potato, potato."
"Tomato, tomato."

"Let's call the whole thing off..."

[Ilsa]

30. You say Gonzales, I say Torquemada!

Potato, potato, tomato, Torquemada, let's call the whole thing off!

[Trevelyan]

31. Cindy arrested again yesterday at the UN--Why nothing on DU?

ttp://www.womensaynotowar.org/article.php?id=814

~This is so sad. What harm can be done by presenting signatures to the U N? What more peaceful way to let members of the U N aware of our plea to end this war? Our rights are being trampled and we must not stand by and let this happen.

~Mar 7th, 2006 4:45pm I am so proud that these women represent our names and voices. To all who continue to keep CODEPINK alive... ALL of my love and respect

March 6, 2006: Photos from the Iraqi - US Delegation to the UN, New York City.See related news articles: Cindy Sheehan with Iraqi Delegates at the Women Say NO to War press conference outside the U.S. mission to the United Nations.

~Ann Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel and U.S. diplomat, told the press that the U.S. Mission to the UN refused to send someone to meet with the women "whose lives and families have been shattered by this destructive and immoral war." The protesters refused to leave without delivering the petition. As a result, both CODEPINK Cofounder Medea Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan were arrested, cuffed and dragged away.

~~Cindy Sheehan being dragged away by the police.
~HERE IS SOME ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE PINK ARCHIVES!!!http://www.womensaynotowar.org/article.php?id=719

I TRULY LOVE U!!!HERE "TRUTH KEEPS MARCHING ON"!!!AND WHAT IS UP WITH THE UN??? WHY ARE THEY TOO SILENT?I ASK THAT THE UN SAVE FACE by DEMANDING THAT OUR SIGNATURES RE ACCEPTED WITH RIGHTOUS HONOUR!!! HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO TAKE UP YOUR UN BED AND WALK!!!

~The fact that Cindy and Medea were arrested is deplorable.The fact that these ludicrous comments, posted primarily by men, outrage me, but I guess you have to consider the source: they're beyond ignorant, so I don't let them get to me. Sorry guys. Post elsewhere, except for those of you who understand that the U.S. is becoming a very scary place in which to live.
I never thought I'd hear myself say that, but what are we going to do? How much worse are things going to get before we do something, like oust the administration? Where are our heroes when we need them?Oh yeah...in jail.

[Amonester]

33. Here: (LBN only)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2148840