Consciousness of Guilt (Or, Yes, Bush/Cheney's Still Getting Away With Murder)

It's Rosemary Woods on crack and steroids: the convenient "disappearance" of evidence which, by federal law, must not be disappeared. Not a miserable few minutes on Nixon's tapes, but ALL SORTSA emails. Especially Dick Cheney's emails. You know, sensitive emails. Stuff that is meant to be preserved.

But it did disappear.

No biggie.

I mean, cui bono? These things just happen! Why would you think this spontaneous event involved destruction of evidence? Why?




Hat-tip to Corrente.

Darth Cheney: Suddenly Scared About Karma, Cause & Effect

So morally bankrupt torture enthusiast and mirror neuron retard Big Dick Cheney's scared about going to jail?

So he should be.

Al-Gonzo Okays Torture Prior to Torture Memo Saying Torture Is Okay

Maybe Alberto needs to get all lawyered up?

Scores Tortured to Death or Murdered in US Custody: Pro-"Life," Pro-Torture Crowd Revels in Moral Bankrupcty

What is wrong with these people?

Oh. Right. I remember now. They have no mirror neurons.

So much for the noble rules of war and the rule of law.

[T]he May 10, 2005, Bush Administration torture memo by Stephen Bradbury notes that doctors were nearby to perform a tracheotomy if during waterboarding the suspect is approaching death.

“Most seriously, for reasons of physical fatigue of psychological resignation, the subject may simply give up, allowing excessive filling of the airways and loss of consciousness,” Bradbury wrote. “An unresponsive subject should be righted immediately, and the integrator should deliver a sub-xyphoid thrust to expel the water. If this fails to restore normal breathing, aggressive medical intervention is required….’”

The memo says CIA doctors were on hand with necessary equipment to perform a tracheotomy if necessary during waterboarding sessions: “[W]e are informed that the necessary emergency medical equipment is always present—although not visible to the detainee—during any application of the waterboard.”

Technorati Tags: torture, torture memos
torture memos

Newsweek Whitewashes Waterboarding Torture: Would That Count As Numbing & Avoidance? Why, Yes! It Would!

This person, who is, apparently, a professional (sic) Newsweek media person, actually said this:

[T]o pursue criminal charges against officials at the highest levels—including the former president and the former vice president . . . would set a terrible precedent. . . . That is not to say presidents and vice presidents are always above the law . .

But -- sometimes they're above the law?

And this Newsweek person thinks that committing torture and undermining the rule of law does not set a terrible precedent?

What is wrong with the pro-torture crowd? What is wrong with their media whore media enablers? Why does this Newsweek person even have a job? Why is the media whore media working so very hard to spin and spew cute little minimizing numbing & avoidance fairy tales, working so hard to let torturers get away with torture?


Yes, thanks, Mr. Newsweek, I'd love to have another serving of moral bankruptcy. Please, sir, may I have some more?


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Thoughts on teh Pro-Torture Crowd: Lambert. BTD. RJ Eskow.

Panetta: Anti-Torture American

Why are we even having this discussion?

What is wrong with the pro-torture crowd, anyhow?

Screws loose? Child abuse?

"Obama Picks Anti-Torture Chief for CIA" at Mother Jones.

WaPo Wants Pro-Torture Crowd to Get Away With Murder: Pardon Me While I Vomit Blood, Ma'am?

What is f*cking wrong with these people?

WaPo uses up column-inches on a column on why the US pro-torture crowd really ought to get off scot-free. And it's a real knee-slapper. Well, forehead-slapper, in this case.

Catch this:

"In the end, [stopping additional US torture] may be more important than punishing those who acted wrongly in pursuit of what they thought was right."

Oh. So all is forgiven if the torturers' hearts were in the right place?

Final Solution much, ma'am?

Pol Pot killing fields excusable since motivated merely by misguided childhood dweams of agwawian utopia?

(Slaps forehead. Hurts self. Groans.)

Hey lady, torturers' hearts are always in the right place, had you not noticed?

People are always doing really shitty things for the very best of reasons. That's why we have the rule of law.

Or used to. Till the feckless, reckless, out of control Bushist fascists came along, fueled by hubris and contempt for the rule of law. Oh, and you know, by a sharp streak of sadism .

But hey. That was then, this is now. Marcus [e.g. the establishment] wants these guys [Rummy, Cheney, Gen. Geoffrey Miller, etc.] to get away with it.

Well, I don't. How about you?

-----

Oh, and don't miss:
How Do I F*ck My Base? at Jesus' General.
Mike Flugennock
Obama's Divisive Choice of Rick Warren
The Daily Howler
In Which VastLeft Apologizes For Being Prematurely Correct

Nothing to It But to Do It

Gates orders Pentagon to draw up plan to shut down Gitmo.

How hard was that, really?

Iraq Shoe-Tosser Was a US Torture Victim, Brother Asserts

Well, really what a fucking surprise.

One must congratulate the shoe-tossing torture survivor for his forbearance, must one not?

Cheney: The Leader of the (pro-torture) Pack

What, you mean Vice-President "Dick" Cheney?


One is shocked! Shocked!

Obscure Bloggers Stick Bamboo Slivers Under Brennan's Fingernails, Force Him Out, Boo Hoo

See, it used to be all Bill Clinton's fault.

Then it was all Hillary Clinton's fault.

Now it's pussified anti-Brennan-y leftwingy obscure bloggerses' fault.

Got that?

Silly obscure bloggerses get lacey panties in a twist about, um, you know, justa little teeny tiny bitta torture? Why are they such pussies? Why won't they get over it? Why they make such beeg steenk about nada? Why have obscure bloggerses no cojones? Why? Why? Why?

Who are they waiting for? Valerie Plame?

Sheesh!

.

Glenn Greenwald.

Vastleft's "The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good."


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John O. Brennan

Can't Tell Shi'a From Shinola? Who Cares? Throw Them In Jail Just In Case!!

First there was Bush's pre-emptive war.

Now, we have pre-emptive detention!!

On a scorching morning earlier this year, Talib Mohammed Farkhan, who had been imprisoned for 15 months, shuffled into Hearing Room 3 to hear his U.S. captors explain the allegations against him for the first time.

Farkhan, a Shiite Muslim, appeared to follow along as the American officers said he had been detained for membership in the Mahdi Army, the anti-American Shiite militia. But he looked totally baffled when they also accused him of working with al-Qaeda in Iraq, the extremist Sunni Muslim group that kills Americans and Shiites.

"I don't understand how that could be possible," said a visibly flustered Farkhan, a welder from the southern city of Iskandariyah, who denied all the accusations. "They are Sunni. I am Shia."

Yet the three U.S. servicemen before him, a panel of non-lawyers convened as part of a new quasi-judicial process to review each detainee's case every six months, did not need to decide whether Farkhan had violated the law. Their task was to decide whether he posed an "imperative security threat" to the U.S.-led coalition or the Iraqi people. And they concluded that credible evidence, which they would not describe to Farkhan or a Washington Post correspondent allowed to view the 19-minute hearing, suggested that he probably did.

"I'm not looking at whether they are guilty or innocent," said Air Force Maj. Jeff Ghiglieri, the president of the review board that convened in May. "We're trying to determine as best we can whether they will do bad things if we release them."

Hubris? Bush Don't Got No Steekin' Hubris!!

I'm not making this up.

I don't have to.

I never have to.

BUSH WANTS HISTORY TO SEE HIM AS LIBERATOR OF MILLIONS.

My Tax Dollars At Work Torturing Sentient Beings at Gitmo. Swell.

A story that turns one's stomach. And if it doesn't, there's something really wrong with one's stomach.

Trapped at Gitmo.

The only people . . ."he sees [are] the camp guards who bring his meals. He has had no other human contact. The glaring lights in his cell are on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When we left the cell, we could hear Saber shouting -- brief, truncated cries. We could not understand what he was saying."

Miscellany

Anglachel on the stupidity that is Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

Dirty Bush Stuffs Gov't With Dirty Bushists to Continue Failed Bushist Fascist Policies -- Because Bubble Boy Is Still the Deciderer!

Options for shutting down Gitmo.

Iraq Stands Proud and Tall For Fraud

Closing Gitmo: Inadmissable Evidence, Inconvenient Torturees

Good article from the BBC on issues facing Obama re: closing Gitmo.

"Legal problems

The legal problems involved in trying terrorist suspects have not yet been resolved. Some say that the prisoners should simply be brought before normal US courts. It is thought there are about 50 or so prisoners who might face trial, out of the 255 or so in the camp.

A new system would also come under the close scrutiny of the US courts and a case against it would probably go right up to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality

The problem is that evidence against them might have obtained either through coercion, or even torture, or from foreign agencies which have used similar methods.

Some of this evidence might be admitted in a trial before a military tribunal. So might hearsay evidence, in which someone relates what he or she was told, if the military judge decides that it would have "probative value to a reasonable person".

But neither would be acceptable under the normal rules of US courts.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, for example, charged at Guantanamo with responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, was subject to waterboarding. It is true that he has expressed a wish to die but a civilian court in the US might not admit evidence against him gathered at Guantanamo Bay. Then what happens? It is hard to see him simply being released.

There is also the problem of whether the source of some evidence should be withheld from the prisoner."

And what are they going to do with all the prisoners they've driven mad?

See Torturing Democracy.

Bush Admin to Obama: Shutting Down Gitmo "Won't Be Easy"

Not as easy as leading the US into moral and fiscal bankrupcty, anyhow.

"Stop Wasting Time With This Pig"

Guess I picked the wrong day to quit complaining about saving Western civilization (sic) through torture and savagery, eh?

I love primary sources. Check out the link to actual army documents, above (that would be "savagery').

In the meantime, ponder what it means that someone in the army thought this shit up, wrote this shit down, and made a whole shitty actual manual out of it.

It's filled with helpful directions on just the right way to hurt others.

Maybe you have to be a f*cking card-carrying buddhist to think this is totally perversely inherently morally f*cked up but I sure hope not.

Here's a teeny sample:

"The statement 'stop wasting time with this pig' means to discontinue the current training tactic and take a break."

"Us" and "them." There's a theme here. See, once you label them as "pigs" they ain't human, so you can do to them whatever you f*cking like, mm-kay? Well not just what you like. You can do whatever the manual says you can do.

There's a whole section on "DEGRADATION." This includes three sub-sections, the "insult slap," the "stomach slap," and "stripping." The insult slap target is right below the cheekbone, and you have to stop doing it if the detainee tries to duck. No really. The stomach slap is used to shock and intimidate the detainee. Stripping "consists of forceful removal of detainees' clothing. In addition to degradation of the detainee, stripping can be used to demonstrate the omnipotence of the captor [ licensed clinician part of NBFH raises an eyebrow, says neutrally, "Oh? Tell me more." here] or to debilitate the detainee."

Then, there's "PHYSICAL DEBILITATION TACTICS." These get written down in log-books. If you write stuff down it makes it official and ok, see.

Anyhow, there are more fun sections, so I'll be talking about that later, but first I have to go to work. I look forward to describing one stress position, kneeling on the ground with one's arms out holding weights. I like that one in particular because it resembles the way some abusive parents torture children, who then grow up and see me and ask me why their parents did that to them.



And pardon me while I complain as well about information suppression, PBS not daring to air the documentary "Torturing Democracy" before the election because well you know somebody in the pro-torture crowd might be offended by an anti-torture show and complain and/or somebody might have to actually deal with what we have actually done and/or why would we want an informed electorate anyway, eh? Lets just go with mob rule. Namaste to PBS, yep, my tax dollars at work supporting suppression of information about torture yep you betcha (wink wink).

Hat-tip to reader AT.

More On the Palin-Dominionist Theocrat Connection

Must-read from dogemperor of DailyKos.

From Salon, an article called "Sarah Palin, Faith-Based Mayor," which details Palin's support of a very creepy Talibangelical social infiltration campaign, which includes teaching innocent Americans to submit unquestioningly to authorities. Sound familiar? It sure did to me. (And no, I'm not making this up. I don't have to. I never have to.)

U-S-A, U-S-A Denver: Leg Shackles, Pepper Spray, Gitmoesque Frigid Air, Sleep Deprivation. Constitution? Just a Piece O' Paper

From the Denver Post, Mobile edition.
YOUNG PROTESTER DESCRIBES DETENTION

Editor's note: The following is a firsthand account from Martin, a young Colorado protester arrested Monday evening when police in riot gear surrounded a group of 100-200 protesters as they marched on 15th Street between Court and Cleveland Place.

"The first thing I really noticed was at Civic Center Park when I was in the 'Food Not Bombs' area. The police seemed to be ready for conflict. They walked through the 'Food Not Bombs' crowd, which was a peaceful group, holding their weapons out and looking at people, really intensely, trying to intimidate everyone. It made us all a little worried.

"I was planning to march with the group that night. We all had different reasons for being there. I was marching to make people aware that they should be worried about our civil rights being stripped systematically right now, and show people that habeas corpus is six feet under. I just think the time we live in has so many deep-rooted problems that I don't understand how people can NOT protest. I'd never been arrested before, and I have no criminal record or significant run-ins with the law.

"The group first gathered outside the City-County building, getting ready to march, but the police blockaded us. I didn't see the pepper spray there, but the whole group decided to retreat because we didn't want to be encircled by the police. So we went to the promenade and crossed onto 15th Street, linking arms, trying to stay as tight as we could and stay together.

"Everything happened really fast. We knew there were police behind us, and that presence was growing larger, with more police, but then suddenly there were police in front of us at the other end of the block. Shortly after that, the police encircled us. A lot of people were able to escape before they closed the circle, but the rest of us were inside, along with a journalist from Brooklyn, and a woman who started writing on her laptop about what was happening, and some photographers. There were many people who weren't protesters, just citizens, who were in the encircled group.

"We moved to the sidewalk - a few people stayed in the street - because we didn't want a confrontation, but it didn't matter.

"People started pleading: 'Let me go,' 'I want to go home.' The police started using the pepper spray. Some of the police on horses were whacking people with their batons. I was told later that the police were telling us to disperse, but I didn't hear them say that. And where would we go? The police were all around us, not letting us leave.

"We asked why we were being detained, but they wouldn't talk to us. They told us to sit down, and we sat down.

"Then they said that anyone with a photo I.D. could show it and be let out of the circle, and anyone without I.D. would be arrested. I saw a handful of people hold up their I.D., and police walked up to them, grabbed them and took them out. I don't know if they were arrested.

"They set up an arrest squad - two police per protester, and talked about who to pick - 'Get this one with the bandana' or 'Get that one in the black.' They were targeting individuals.

"The arrest process was: The two officers picked you up, searched you, took your bag and everything except your money. They put you in blue plastic handcuffs and walked you to a line where you stood in front of a camera, holding a placard with the charges against you, and then there was footage of the officer who'd arrested you. All I can remember is the officer claimed I'd done some things I had not done - said I'd thrown rocks, which I didn't do; I didn't see anyone with rocks. I asked him why he said that when I hadn't done it. His answers were vague, ambiguous.

"Then I was taken to another area, loaded onto a bus that took us to a warehouse in a Denver industrial park. There were Special Operations Response Team police there, who took our pictures again, printed both hands - not just the fingers, but our whole hand rolled onto the ink - and did a medical check. Then they assigned us to different chain-link cages, maybe 15 feet by 15 feet, all chain link, with a padlock. Between 10 and 20 of us were in one of those cages. Females and males were separated.

"They pumped in cold air, in these big white tubes, all night and all day the next day. It was freezing in there. I was lucky; I had a jacket, but other people were in shorts and T-shirts. We asked them to turn off the cold air, but they didn't.

"Eventually they put all of us in metal leg shackles, and re-handcuffed us in pairs, with our right hands together — right hand to right hand - so it was difficult to move. . .

"We were utterly confused. We did not understand why we were being detained. We hadn't been read our Miranda rights. We didn't know what we'd done to merit such a violent response, or why the Special Operations police were needed.

"After they shackled us, they put us in a van with no windows, and took us to the courthouse, where we were supposed to speak with a judge to hear the charges against us. We were still handcuffed, right hand to right hand. They took us in an elevator that went up to a jail cell, and we were told to watch a video of a judge telling us our rights, through the bars. It was surreal, like being in a futuristic movie, like "1984" or "A Clockwork Orange."

"Eventually, at about 2 a.m., we got to see a real judge, who explained our rights to us, and explained the charges. There was a lawyer, an angel, who explained everything in plain language. There were five charges against me: Blocking a public thoroughfare, not abiding an order to disperse, throwing rocks and missiles, loitering, and begging. At times, I had begged them for water, when we were sitting down on 15th Street before going through the arrest process.

"The attorney explained we had three choices: Plead guilty and post a $300 bond ($500 if you were from out of state), or accept a plea bargain that dropped all the charges but one that you had to pay $141 for, or plead not guilty and either post your own bail or wait in jail till your court date. But nobody had given us a court date. So I took the plea bargain, because I didn't have the money for bail.

"Then they walked us out of the courthouse, and we saw another group from the protest walking in. We were the first group to meet with a judge and a lawyer.

"Then they took us back to the warehouse. The only place to sleep was on a chair, if you got one, or on the concrete floor.

"I was really worried because I could not get any responses from the police. We kept asking how long we'd be there, when the bus was coming, and they'd keep saying, 'It's coming.' It felt inhumane, utterly terrifying. If they'd answered some of our questions, I think people would've been less terrified, less frightened, but I think the police were intentionally fatiguing us. They'd keep us for long periods of time in one cage, and then re-handcuff us and move us to another cell, as if something was about to change, but it didn't. It was all psychological.

"In the cells, we talked to each other about where we were from, the places we'd been, and if we'd been in situations before. We reassured each other of our rights, made sure everyone knew the People's Law Project hotline number, and that it was really important to get names and badge numbers. . . .

"I got out on Tuesday around noon. We learned we were the first wave of protesters to make it all the way through the process — 7 p.m. last night to noon today. . . .

Update here at Democracy Now.
More here.
Hat tip to anon for update links, top pic.