AmnestyBucksMont

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Re interrogations in Iraq

"Officer 'Unpopular' for Opposing Interrogations," NPR/All Things Considered, April 23, 2009: "An Air Force interrogator tried to stop the harsh techniques he witnessed in Iraq when he went there in 2003. But his efforts to halt abusive interrogations were rebuffed and, in his words, made him 'the most unpopular officer' in Iraq."

Saturday, April 25, 2009

The timing of prosecutions

"Of Black Holes and Radio Silence," by Elizabeth de la Vega, truthout.org, April 20, 2009: "A former prosecutor examines the special prosecutor debate."

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Senate Armed Services Committee Report

truthout, Jason Leopold, April 22, 2009: "Senate [Armed Services Committee] Report Details Torture Policy Origins: The seeds for the Bush administration's policy of torture were planted in December 2001, nearly a year before the Justice Department issued its first legal opinion that authorized CIA interrogators to torture 'war on terror' prisoners, and the creation of the policy involved senior White House officials, according to a newly declassified report released late Tuesday by the Senate Armed Services Committee."

For a presidential commission on torture

Thomas R. Pickering and William S. Sessions, washingtonpost.com, March 23, 2009: "Moving Forward by Looking Back: Why a Presidential Commission on Torture Is Critical to America's Security."

Petition for Commission on Accountability

Sign the petition for a Commission on Accountability
We call on the President of the United States to establish an independent, non-partisan commission to examine and report publicly on torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees in the period since September 11, 2001. The commission, comparable in stature to the 9/11 Commission, should look into the facts and circumstances of such abuses, report on lessons learned, and recommend measures that would prevent any future abuses. We believe that the commission is necessary to reaffirm America ’s commitment to the Constitution, international treaty obligations, and human rights. The report issued by the commission will strengthen U.S. national security and help to re-establish America ’s standing in the world.

Co-Sponsors for CommissiononAccountability.org
Amnesty International USA
The Brennan Center for Justice
The Carter Center, Human Rights Program
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University, School of Law
Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, UC Davis
The Center for Victims of Torture
The Constitution Project
Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
International Center for Transitional Justice
International Justice Network
The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
National Institute of Military Justice
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The Open Society Institute
Physicians for Human Rights
The Rutherford Institute

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

"Obama Open to Prosecutions"

"Obama Open to Prosecutions in Interrogation Abuses," NYTimes.com, April 21, 2009: "President Obama on Tuesday left open the door to creating a bipartisan commission that would investigate the Bush administration’s use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects, and he did not rule out taking action against the lawyers who fashioned the legal guidelines for the interrogations."

Monday, April 20, 2009

2 prisoners waterboarded 266 times

"Waterboarding Used 266 Times on 2 Suspects," NYTimes.com, Scott Shane, April 19, 2009: "C.I.A. interrogators used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique that top Obama administration officials have described as illegal torture, 266 times on two key prisoners from Al Qaeda, far more than had been previously reported."

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Olbermann on torture accountability

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Psychologists' role in interrogations

"Psychologists Helped Guide Interrogations: Extent of Health Professionals' Role at CIA Prisons Draws Fresh Outrage from Ethicists," by Joby Warrick and Peter Finn, washingtonpost.com, April 18, 2009.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

"In Brennan, Cheney has a friend"

"In Brennan, Cheney Has a Friend," by Scott Horton, Harper's Magazine, April 5, 2009: "The disclosure of the OLC memoranda presents a key policy fork in the road for Obama. If he is faithful to his commitment to transparency and to end torture, the government will have to come clean with these memos. If Obama keeps them under wraps, the public will have good reason to question his undertaking to end torture–and good reason to question whether a Cheney 'shadow administration' actually has the power to influence policy."

Petition for an independent commission...more

1) We call for the establishment of a nonpartisan, independent commission of distinguished Americans to examine, and provide a comprehensive report on, policies and actions related to the detention, treatment, and transfer of detainees after 9/11 and the consequences of those actions, and to make recommendations for future policy in this area.
2) Official reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross warned senior officials in the U.S. government that the treatment detainees were subjected to in black-site prisons amounted to torture. We call on Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a criminal investigation into the torture and abuse of detainees and to hold those responsible for such conduct accountable.
3) We urge our members of Congress to introduce or support a Dear Colleague letter calling on the administration to immediately produce and publish all the relevant policy memos that argued for and established the basis for coercive interrogation, detainee treatment and policy in the last administration.
Sign AmnestyBucksMont's petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/call-for-an-independent-commission-on-torture-abuse.

Monday, March 30, 2009

"Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots"

"Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots: Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say," by Peter Finn and Joby Warrick, washingtonpost.com, March 29, 2009.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Workshop on Affecting Torture Policy

A workshop on "How You Can Affect Torture Policy: Torture by the U.S. has not been permanently and completely banned. Those who tortured in the name of the U.S. have not been held accountable. Find out what you can do." March 26, 2009, 6:30-8:30 PM, 302 Frist Student Center, Princeton University. Sessions led by Leslie Potter, from the office of Congressman Rush Holt; George Hunsinger, founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture; Robert Duncan, of the Princeton Area Anti-Torture Advocacy Group at Nassau Presbyterian Church; and Patrick Heery, of the Seminarians for Peace and Justice subgroup on Torture, the Death Penalty, and Prison Reform; with remarks by Coalition for Peace Action Executive Director Rev. Bob Moore.