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Enhanced Legal Maneuvering
Author: BobR    Date: 12/12/2008 13:39:38

Torture is one of those topics that always seems to prompt a discussion. Nobody really says they're FOR torture, but people seem to disagree on what does or doesn't deserve that appellation. It's become clear that the U.S. - whether you call it torture or "enhanced interrogation techniques" - tortured prisoners in its care. We all pretty much knew who okayed it.

The Senate Armed Services Committee released a report yesterday that confirmed what everyone already knew: Rumsfeld is to blame for torture:
A report released Thursday by leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee said top Bush administration officials, including Donald H. Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary, bore major responsibility for the abuses committed by American troops in interrogations at Abu Ghraib in Iraq; Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; and other military detention centers.

The report was issued jointly by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the Democratic chairman of the panel, and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican. It represents the most thorough review by Congress to date of the origins of the abuse of prisoners in American military custody, and it explicitly rejects the Bush administration’s contention that tough interrogation methods have helped keep the country and its troops safe.

The report also rejected previous claims by Mr. Rumsfeld and others that Defense Department policies played no role in the harsh treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 and in other episodes of abuse.

The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the report says, “was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own” but grew out of interrogation policies approved by Mr. Rumsfeld and other top officials, who “conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees.”
(bold-face mine...)

So what do we do with this? Rumsfeld is gone, but surely something can be done? What about all the prisoners in Gitmo? Surely we can get them to testify in court about their treatment?

Maybe not. In an apparent effort to ensure their martyrdom, the top echelon of prisoners are pleading guilty before they can be tried by what would likely be a fair system under Obama's Justice Dept., including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often described as the mastermind of 9/11, and four other prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay told a military judge on Monday that they wish to plead guilty to all charges.

Law professor Jonathan Turley sees this confession as a "strange alliance" between Mohammed and George W. Bush, where both men get what they want -- martyrdom in Mohammed's case and vindication in Bush's -- and President-elect Barack Obama is stuck in the middle with a dilemma on his hands.
[...]
"Could it be that they want to beat the clock?" Maddow asked. "They want to make sure they are convicted, and probably executed, under Bush's tribunal system because that feels more like martyrdom to them than risking going into an actual non-kangaroo court trial in a real legal system?"

"What Khalid Sheikh Mohammed just did is to hand George Bush a considerable victory," Turley replied. "We were very close in his case to addressing the fact that he was tortured and ... that his case was put in the spotlight on the gross unfairness of the Bush tribunal system. And he essentially took all that off the table and saved the Bush administration the need to answer to those charges."

So Khalid gets to be a martyr, Bush gets off scot-free, and Obama is left holding a bag full of very smelly legal poo. To make matters more difficult, he has people in his corner that apparently support "torture-lite":
From change-you-can-believe-in we seem to be slipping back to fear-you-can-trade-on. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, has publicly warned those in charge of the administration transition that "continuity is going to be pivotal in keeping us safe and secure." Thus, he argues, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and CIA Director Michael Hayden should stay in their posts.

If that were not enough, Reyes told Congress Daily's Chris Strohm, that he (Reyes) had advised the Obama team that some parts of what Strohm referred to as "CIA's controversial alternative interrogation program" should be allowed to continue. Using some of the same euphemisms and circumlocutions employed by the ersatz-lawyers hired by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, Reyes fired this shot across the bow of Barack Obama's transition ship:

"It gets back to a world that is very dangerous...there are some options that need to be available...We don't want to be known for torturing people. At the same time, we don't want to limit our ability to get information that's vital and critical to our national security. That's where the new administration is going to have to decide what those parameters are, what those limitations are."

So what now? In the same article quoted above, "Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, a career intelligence officer and expert in interrogations" points out what the new Army Field Manual says about torture:
-Interrogators may not force a detainee to be naked, perform sexual acts or pose in a sexual manner;

-They cannot use hoods or place sacks over a detainee's head or use duct tape over his eyes;

-They cannot beat or electrically shock or burn them or inflict other forms of physical pain-any form of physical pain;

-They may not use water boarding, hypothermia, or treatment which will lead to heat injury;

-They will not perform mock executions;

-They may not deprive detainees of the necessary food, water, and medical care; and

-They may not use dogs in any aspect of interrogation.

The CIA doesn't like the idea that they may have to abide by these rules. It's up to Obama to stand strong against those in his own party and ensure that it does. He can wash away the stain left by Bush in the first 8 years of 21st century, and return the United States to its former status.

 

78 comments (Latest Comment: 12/12/2008 23:58:08 by Random)
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