Documents confirm U.S. hid detainees from Red Cross

[DogPoundPup]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military hid the locations of suspected terrorist detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to documents that a Senate committee released Tuesday.

"We may need to curb the harsher operations while ICRC is around. It is better not to expose them to any controversial techniques," Lt. Col. Diane Beaver, a military lawyer who's since retired, said during an October 2002 meeting at the Guantanamo Bay prison to discuss employing interrogation techniques that some have equated with torture. Her comments were recorded in minutes of the meeting that were made public Tuesday. At that same meeting, Beaver also appeared to confirm that U.S. officials at another detention facility — Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan — were using sleep deprivation to "break" detainees well before then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved that technique. "True, but officially it is not happening," she is quoted as having said.

A third person at the meeting, Jonathan Fredman, the chief counsel for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, disclosed that detainees were moved routinely to avoid the scrutiny of the ICRC, which keeps tabs on prisoners in conflicts around the world.

"In the past when the ICRC has made a big deal about certain detainees, the DOD (Defense Department) has 'moved' them away from the attention of the ICRC," Fredman said, according to the minutes.

The document, along with two dozen others, shows that top administration officials pushed relentlessly for tougher interrogation methods in the belief that terrorism suspects were resisting interrogation.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/41394.html

[madrchsod]

1. war crime.....

http://www.icrc.org/Eng/ihl

[SalmonChantedEvening]

31. No other words for it.

:grr:

[DogPoundPup]

33. Exactly!

[Me.]

2. Damnable

They all need to be prosecuted

[Jefferson23]

3. Yea, but we are not going to impeach these guys so its like whatever.

[cstanleytech]

5. No, they wont impeach him for politican reasons.

It sucks but its a fact that if the democrats tried it might backfire by rallying the far right base to McCain, that does not mean however he gets off free though, he and others could face criminal charges which I soooooo hope they do.......I dont know why but I like the mental image of Bush, Cheney, Rice, Ashcroft and Gonzalez behind bars.

[tblue37]

11. And Yoo. Don't forget Yoo. n/t

[iconicgnom]

25. I don't think US justice backfires when it proceeds on principles of constitutional law.

[cstanleytech]

36. In a perfect world, yeah but we live in one which is far from perfect sadly.

[DeSwiss]

4. K&R

[whistle]

6. Taken right from the Nazi playbook of POW inspections during WWII

[Triana]

8. Youbetcha. bu$h Jr. learned very well from his grandpappy how it's done. n/t

[bluesmail]

12. You are so correct. n/t

[Cobalt-60]

29. Republicans are Nazi want to bes

They've fouled my country's honor.
The republican party must be destroyed.

[Ilsa]

7. Happy to be rec #5. Beaver needs to be tried for war crimes. nt

[laststeamtrain]

9. K & R

I heard today that the reporters of the McClatchy detainee series of articles will be on NPR's Talk Of The Nation radio program tomorrow.

Might be worth a listen.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. K&R

[jonestonesusa]

13. K & R

Thanks for posting this and passing on this important story.

[libnnc]

14. move along nothing to see...not on the table

Can't do anything about it

don't have time

don't have votes

would tear our delicate 'murika apart


:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Iwillnevergiveup]

15. K&R #18

There was a huge flap surrounding the Red Cross's operations and procedures during Katrina, remember? Wasn't Elizabeth Dole head of that at one time?

Seems like every day another layer gets peeled back to expose even more slime and horror.

[yardwork]

19. Elizabeth Dole was head of the American Red Cross - different organization.

The International Red Cross does not fool around. I hope that they act on this information.

[grantcart]

42. the ICRC action is simply to report

the whole idea of the ICRC is to make confidential reports and submit them directly to the head of government so that the head of the government can be made aware of problems that are occuring unbeknowst to them at the battle field level.

They really have no roll to play when the government itself is non compliant.

For example there has never been a case of an ICRC report being leaked except by governments or agencies in the government for their reasons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_committee_of_the_red_cross

[Bluebear]

16. War crime. nt

[Lugnut]

17. K&R n/t

[libodem]

18. I hope

the cheneybush is made to pay for the calculated mistakes they have made. It makes me as bad and wrong as they are to wish the same treatment could be used against them. They seem to have no consciences to bother. They seem to be above the law. They seem to be above impeachment. They seem to be above morality, ethics, and religion. They seem to get away with murder. I hope I live to see the day when justice is blind again. She seems to be peeking out from under that blindfold to reach for the bribe money. Does money trump everything???

[FirstLight]

20. No, but greed does...

I am sorry to have seen the blatant criminal activities and the "so, whatare YOU gonna do about it?" attitude.
I hope as well that sooner rather than later we get this under control and can lock up these truly evil people. They are not a representative of MY govt or my ideals, that's for sure.

AND we need to recognize that this whole attitude of richer geting richer and everyone else go to hell is a deeply ingrained cancer in society. Govt can only handle the LAW end of things...the Heart of the matter is yet to be dealt with. That's why Obama is such a perfect pick right now, and why so many youth are especially behind him... he represents the shift that needs to happen on a fundamental level.
"WE are the ones we have been waiting for"
Looking forward to taking the country back, and getting rid of Bushco for good!

[lutherj]

21. They have to be getting worried. I'm sensing a ground swell

around this issue of war crimes. I can imagine come January the lid could blow off - in another year we may well have us a war crimes trial.

:toast:

[Kaleko]

22. Hope you're right. I'm feeling discouraged tonight.

[iconicgnom]

26. Question: Is Pelosi's stance of inaction with respect these well documented crimes,

both crimes against the US constitution and war Internation UN war crimes, the frontline on a doctrine of appeasement?

You know, "OK, we'll give them this, and of course they won't abuse it. And we'll give them this other, in face of the fact that they abused the first - because facts don't count. This is the case, that facts don't count, because we don't want to confront leadership positions with questions re. accountability, because these issues are so insubstantial that our questions might be used against us. Instead, we'll hold hearings! Hearing after hearing, where our opposition visage can be watched, stern and full of empty bluster, because, after all, actual accountability is off the table.

That kind of appeasement. "Appeasement" in the real sense of the word.

[Kaleko]

28. Yes, you can call it appeasement. I call it complicity.

The Bushies own Pelosi. She's like a fish on their hook, squirming.

[Gregorian]

23. Dear Nancy Pelosi,

Your table is missing a leg.

Oh, and it's OUR TABLE. Not yours.

[iconicgnom]

24. This is what happens when a culture of the warrior is coupled with blind obedience.

[Solly Mack]

27. My outrage is that these people aren't being charged

Their crimes are war crimes. The lack of charges smacks of a country supporting war crimes and war criminals.

Start at the top and mete out accountability accordingly...

Otherwise, America's not only a war crime nation but a nation that protects its own war criminals and denies the level of its own criminality....and no such government will EVER benefit the people.

[DogPoundPup]

32. Very well said

[Solly Mack]

34. I just don't see change in a system that protects a war criminal executive

and denies just how bad it is....and without accountability, there remains a denial of the level of abuse and torture.

It boggles the mind that people expect change in a system that would do that

[DogPoundPup]

35. It DOES boggle the mind , agreed; .but the cons have 9/11 on their talking point side

even though they negligently "let it happen" and so till there is a seriously open investigation on that event, there is no accountability for anything from here on out.


McLame "Obama has a 9/10 mindset" :crazy:

[yy4me]

30. Hey, Nancy,,,yes you, the Speaker of the House! Here's

another little thing for you to read as you keep quoting that phrase, "off the table".

With all we know, with more information coming almost daily, what will it take for you do make a bold move and back the motion to Impeach?

[DCKit]

37. Send the whole bunch to Iraq next January.

No doubt they'll be greeted as liberators and honored as they deserve.

[AndyTiedye]

38. Send the War Criminals to the Hague!

[Supersedeas]

39. just another day in the homeland of Bushler

[chill_wind]

40. And Congress has known about it for 4+ years. The Taguba Report called them

"Ghost detainees".

Key excerpts from the Taguba report

Mon., May. 3, 2004

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4894033/

[Earth_First]

41. Is it time to set the table yet? n/t

[crickets]

43. War crimes trials for war criminals. NOW. -nt