Scott Horton speaks in Princeton June 2

Torture, Wikileaks and State Secrecy:
Did torture help or hinder finding Osama bin Laden?

Scott Horton
International Attorney-at-Law & Human Rights Advocate
Winner of the 2011 National Magazine Award for his article on Guantanamo

Thursday, June 2, 7:30 p.m.
Princeton Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church
Sophia Lyon Fahs Auditorium
50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton

Sponsored by:
Princeton Area Interfaith Anti-Torture Group

Co-Sponsored by (to-date):
National Religious Campaign Against Torture; Coalition for Peace Action; American Civil Liberties Union; Princeton Community TV; Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton; Nassau Presbyterian Church; and Hanan M. Isaacs, P.C.

Download flyer.

Letter to the Editor re torture debate

That there is a torture debate in this country to be revived by bin Laden's killing is itself a measure of how far we have strayed from the wisdom and values of our founders. But the Cheneys must be answered.

Is it any wonder that the Pakistanis would hesitate to subject bin Laden's widows to a nation that has abused, tortured and indefinitely detained even those it knew to be innocent of any connection to terror? Should we be surprised that other countries would refrain from sharing intelligence with us? Should we expect people with knowledge of possible plots to come forward and tell us what they know when there is the possibility of their ending up at Guantanamo? How much sooner would we have learned the real name of bin Laden's courier if we were not known for our cruelty to detainees?

June is Torture Awareness Month. It's never too early to raise these issues.

Anti-torture protest at Rumsfeld's book tour launch

There were actually seven protesters in total demonstrating at the Constitution Center last night. Thanks to Peter Crimmins of WHYY for the photo and story, as well as Jan Ransom of the Philadelphia Daily News for her coverage. Thanks most of all to Barbara Quintiliano of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture for organizing the protest. Will Bunch has a fine account of the event inside.

"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.

"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/

"Iraq: Detainees Describe Torture in Secret Jail"

Human Rights Watch, April 27, 2010: "Detainees in a secret Baghdad detention facility were hung upside-down, deprived of air, kicked, whipped, beaten, given electric shocks, and sodomized, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraq should thoroughly investigate and prosecute all government and security officials responsible, Human Rights Watch said. . . ."

John Cole, April 28, 2010: "Oh. Hey! Look Who Discovered the 'T-Word' . . ."

June is Torture Awareness Month

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is already gearing up for two primary efforts:

Passing federal legislation granting the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to all detainees in U.S. custody.

Securing a comprehensive investigation, a Commission of Inquiry, into the use of torture by the United States since September 11, 2001 - learning from the past is the best way to build a torture-free future.

Glenn Greenwald & Larry Siems re the Torture Report

"Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald and Torture Report author Larry Siems discuss the Torture Report, an online, interactive website that is building a documentary record of the Bush administration torture program."

"Torture's Loopholes"

By Matthew Alexander, New York Times Op-Ed, January 20, 2010.

"The former vice-president has just confessed to a war crime."

"Cheney: 'I Was A Big Supporter Of Waterboarding,'" by Andrew Sullivan, "The Daily Dish," February 14, 2010.

. . . The question is therefore not if, but when, he is convicted as a war criminal - in his lifetime or posthumously.

In fact, the attorney general of the United States is legally obliged to prosecute someone who has openly admitted such a war crime or be in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on Torture. For Eric Holder to ignore this duty subjects him too to prosecution. If the US government fails to enforce the provision against torture, the UN or a foreign court can initiate an investigation and prosecution.

These are not my opinions and they are not hyperbole. They are legal facts. Either this country is governed by the rule of law or it isn't. Cheney's clear admission of his central role in authorizing waterboarding and the clear evidence that such waterboarding did indeed take place means that prosecution must proceed.

Cheney himself just set in motion a chain of events that the civilized world must see to its conclusion or cease to be the civilized world. For such a high official to escape the clear letter of these treaties and conventions, and to openly brag of it, renders such treaties and conventions meaningless.

"Cheney Exposes Torture Conspiracy"

By Robert Parry, Consortium News, February 14, 2010: "If the United States had a functioning criminal justice system for the powerful – not just for run-of-the-mill offenders – former Vice President Dick Cheney would have convicted himself and some of his Bush administration colleagues with his comments on ABC’s This Week."

Just found: Andrew Sullivan re torture in 2005

"The abolition of torture: Saving the United States from a totalitarian future," by Andrew Sullivan, The New Republic, December 19, 2005. See also 2007.

"Tortured Law"

"Yes, it was torture, and illegal"

New York Times editorial, January 3, 2010.

"America's regression" re torture

By Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, December 3, 2009.

"Canada hears of Afghan 'torture'"

By Lee Carter, BBC News, November 19, 2009. "A senior Canadian diplomat has testified that many Afghan detainees captured by Canadian forces in 2006 and 2007 were likely to have been tortured. . . ."

"Lawsuit Accuses Psychologist of Ignoring Guantanamo Torture"

By William Fisher, truthout.org, October 30, 2009.

"Secrets Claim Faces Another Review in Torture Case"

By William Fisher, truthout.org, October 29, 2009.