"Lawrence Wilkerson, from Bush administration insider to fierce critic"

Radio Times, NPR/WHYY, May 24, 2010: "Lawrence B. Wilkerson is a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, and now teaches at the College of William and Mary and George Washington University. Since his retirement from public service in 2005, Wilkerson has been outspoken about the planning and execution of the Iraq War and the policies and practices at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He recently made waves when he wrote that the Bush administration knew it was imprisoning innocent men at Guantanamo, and that some of those men are still there in U.S. custody."

"Cries from the Past: Torture's Ugly Echoes"

By H. P. Albarelli Jr. and Jeffrey Kaye, truthout.org, May 23, 2010:

In a superb op-ed, written by Leonard S. Rubenstein and Stephen N. Xenakis, published recently in the New York Times (Doctors Without Morals, March 1, 2010, p. A23), the issue of holding physicians and psychologists accountable for their ethical breaches in participating in the conduct of torture is expertly raised, along with a well-needed call for investigations into such violations and violators. . . .

Rubenstein and Xenakis are absolutely correct in their call for action now, as they are in their accounting of what has gone on historically the past ten years with torture at Guantanamo and elsewhere. However, their op-ed says nothing about the decades preceding the terrible events of 9-11. An examination of these well-hidden, past torture activities might serve well in shedding light on the causes for reluctance and inaction in holding torturers and their professional cohorts responsible.

Operation Dormouse

Contemporary torture's earliest, deepest and most influential roots are found in the CIA's Artichoke Project. Indeed, it is Project Artichoke that encapsulates the CIA's real traveling road show of horrors and atrocities, not MK/ULTRA which, although responsible for its own acts of mindless cruelty, pales in comparison.

That MK/ULTRA received, and continues to receive, the lion's share of the media's attention and public outrage over CIA mind control programs was a deliberately planned outcome on the part of the Agency. This outcome was the central objective of a never before revealed covert operation launched in 1975 and informally code-named Dormouse. . . . [continued]

"Doctors Without Morals"

By Leonard S. Rubenstein and Stephen N. Xenakis, New York Times, February 28, 2010:

After five years of investigation, the Justice Department has released its findings regarding the government lawyers who authorized waterboarding and other forms of torture during the interrogation of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere. The report’s conclusion, that the lawyers exercised poor judgment but were not guilty of professional misconduct, is questionable at best. Still, the review reflects a commitment to a transparent investigation of professional behavior.

In contrast, the government doctors and psychologists who participated in and authorized the torture of detainees have escaped discipline, accountability or even internal investigation. . . .

The shabbiness of the medical judgments, though, pales in comparison to the ethical breaches by the doctors and psychologists involved. Health professionals have a responsibility extending well beyond nonparticipation in torture; the historic maxim is, after all, "First do no harm." These health professionals did the polar opposite.

Nevertheless, no agency — not the Pentagon, the C.I.A., state licensing boards or professional medical societies — has initiated any action to investigate, much less discipline, these individuals. They have ignored the gross and appalling violations by medical personnel. This is an unconscionable disservice to the thousands of ethical doctors and psychologists in the country’s service. It is not too late to begin investigations. They should start now.

"DIA and the Black Jail at Bagram"

By Scott Horton, Harper's, May 17, 2010:

Marc Ambinder reports that the secret prison at the periphery of Bagram is actually operated by the Defense Intelligence Agency. . . .

Ambinder also reports that the rough interrogation techniques used at the prison are taken from the notorious Appendix M to the Army Field Manual, which the Pentagon itself acknowledges is not compliant with the Geneva Conventions standards for prisoners of war.

So the jail is not a JSOC operation? It’s not so simple as that. Task Force 714 was headed by two successive JSOC commanders, Stanley McChrystal and then William McRaven, and it has often been tied to the blackest of the JSOC black ops. . . .

It’s true that JSOC relies on other branches of the vast Defense Department intelligence community for support, and I don’t doubt Ambinder’s reporting, but I still believe based on everything I have heard that this is, at its heart, a JSOC operation. Regardless, it’s time to ask Secretary Gates why he’s decided to put DIA in charge of a prison operation that looks almost identical to the one that President Obama outlawed back on January 22, 2009, and why he’s giving them free rein to employ the non-Geneva compliant techniques found in Appendix M.

"Blueprint for Accountability," June 7, NYU

Culture Project presents the second installment of its groundbreaking "Blueprint for Accountability" series at NYU Skirball Center to engage the public in constructing a "blueprint" for a more just and democratic future.

Torture Timeline and Document Dump

from emptywheel at firedoglake:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/timeline-collection/torture-tape-timeline/
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/timeline-collection/torture-document-dump-timeline/

"The Response" movie

Starring Aasif Mandvi, Kate Mulgrew, and Peter Riegert; directed by Adam Rodgers; written and produced by Sig Libowitz.

"The response matters. Our response defines us."
--Colonel Jefferson

The Response is a courtroom drama based on the actual transcripts of the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals [officially known as the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, or CSRTs]. . . .

The Response was researched and fully vetted in conjunction with the University of Maryland School of Law.

A copy of the DVD was donated to the Doylestown public library by Amnesty International. Check it out.