Justice Dept. Rewrites Prison Advice

[thecrow]

A day after releasing hundreds of pages of legal memos on the terror war, Bush administration officials reiterated that even though President Bush signed a declaration in 2002 saying he had the authority to ignore international rules for treatment of captives, no orders were given to torture or mistreat prisoners.

The unusual decision to release the memos and disclose that some were being revised came amid intense political pressure from Democrats and other critics stemming from the Iraq and Afghan abuses. Yet no Bush administration officials flatly said the memos were wrong.

snip

The House Appropriations Committee voted Wednesday to bar the Justice Department from issuing legal justifications for torture.

The Senate, however, defeated 50-46 a measure that would have declared all U.S. officials bound by anti-torture laws and required Pentagon reports on interrogation techniques, the number of detainees denied POW status, Red Cross findings on U.S. military prisons and a schedule for trying terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay.


More:
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040624/D83D9M981.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. I'm sure that will fix everything

No problem. You give out illegal and immoral advice. Just write a new version and everything will be all better. Someone please tell these yahoos to shove it where the sun don't shine.

[Justice]

2. Am I The Only One Who Finds This Completely Comical, Except

that is it very serious - but come on, now that they are public, we say, oh, never mind, we will change them.

[mom cat]

3. Link to full text of what they want to disavow:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/061104C.shtml

Leaked Torture Memo: Full Text
t r u t h o u t | Feature

Also see below:
Administration Lawyers Ascribed Broad Power to Bush on Torture •

(Redacted)

UNCLASSIFIED WHEN SEPARATED FROM ATTACHMENT

Working Group Report On Detainee Interrogations in the Global War on
Terrorism;

Assessment of Legal, Historical, Policy, and
Operational Considerations

6 March 2003

Classified by: Secretary Rumsfeld

Reason: 1.5 (C)

Declassify on: 10 years


Redacted

UNCLASSIFIED WHEN SEPARATED FROM ATTACHMENT

SECRET/NOFORN



II. International Law



(U) The following discussion addresses the requirements of international law, as it pertains to the Armed Forces of the United States, as interpreted by the United States. As will be apparent in other sections of this analysis, other nations and international bodies may take a more restrictive view, which may affect our policy analysis and thus is considered elsewhere.



A. The Geneva Conventions



(U) The laws of war contain obligations relevant to the issue of interrogation techniques and methods. It should be noted, however, that it is the position of the U.S. Government that none of the provisions of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949 (Third Geneva Convention) apply to al Qaida detainees because, inter alia, al Qaida is not a High Contracting Party to the Convention. As to the Taliban, the U.S. Position is that the provisions of Geneva apply to our present conflict with the Taliban, but that Taliban detainees do not qualify as prisoners of war under Article 4 of the Geneva Convention. The Department of Justice has opined that the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Personnel in time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention) does not apply to unlawful combatants.



B. The 1994 Convention Against Torture



(U) the United States’ primary obligation concerning torture and related practices derives from the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (commonly referred to as "the Torture Convention"). The United States Ratified the Convention in 1994, but did so with a variety of Reservations and Understandings.



(U) Article 1 of the Convention defines the term "torture" for purpose of the treaty. The United States conditioned its ratification of the treaty on an understanding that:



…in order to constitute torture, an act must be specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering and that mental pain or





----------

(paragraph redacted).



(U) Article I provides: "For the purpose of this convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him to an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consensus or acquiescence of a public official acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions."

snip

. Torture Statute



(U) 18 U.S.C. § 2340 defines as torture any "act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain…" The intent required is the intent to inflict severe physical or mental pain. 18 U.S.C. § 2340A requires that the offense occur "outside the United States". Jurisdiction over the offense extends to any national of the United States or any alleged offender present in the United States, and could, therefore, reach military members, civilian employees of the United States, or contractor employees. The "United States" is defined to include all areas under the jurisdiction of the United States, including the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction (SMTJ) of the United States. SMTJ is a statutory creation that extends the criminal jurisdiction of the United States for designated crimes to defined areas. The effect is to grant federal court criminal jurisdiction for the specifically identified crimes.



(U) Guantanamo Bay Naval Station (GTMO) is included within the definition of the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and accordingly, is within the United States for the purposes of §2340, Thus, the Torture Statue does not apply to the conduct of U.S. personnel at GTMO. That GTMO is within the SMTJ of the United States is manifested by the prosecution of civilian dependents and employees living in GTMO in Federal District Courts based on SMTJ jurisdiction and Department of Justice opinion(11) and the clear intention of Congress as reflected in the 2001 amendment to the SMTJ. The USA Patriot Act (2001) amended § 7 to ad subsection 9, which provides:



"With respect to offenses committed by or against a national of the United States as that term is used in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act--



----------

(U) Section 2340A provides, "Whoever outside the Unites States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined or imprisoned…"(emphasis added).

(U) 18 USC § 7, "Special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States" includes and lands under the exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction of the United States.

(U) Several paragraphs of 19 USC § 7 are relevant to the issue at hand. Paragraph 7(3) provides: "Any lands reserved or acquired for the use of the United States, and under the exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction thereof, or any place…" Paragraph 7(7) provides "Any place outside the jurisdiction of any nation to an offense by or against a nation of the United States." Similarly, paragraphs 7(1) and 7(5) extend SMTJ jurisdiction to "the high seas, and other waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States and out of the jurisdiction of any particular state, and any vessel belonging in whole or in part to the United States…" and to "any aircraft belonging in whole or in part in the United States… while such aircraft is in flight over the high seas, or over any other waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States and out of the jurisdiction of any particular State."

(U) 6 Op.OLC236 (1982). The issue was the status of GTMO for purposes of a statute banning slot-machines on "any land where the United States government exercises exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction."


***Note that torture in GITMO is based on a ruling about SLOT MACHINES...
There is more. This is one of the most cold blooded justifications for torture I have ever seen. read the whole thing.

[Sunny_Sunshine]

4. Do I understand this correctly?

The Senate has voted that US officials are not bound by laws? What happened to a "nation of laws" and "no one, not even the president, is above the law"?