McClatchy Newspapers: Pentagon declined to answer questions about detainees

[laststeamtrain]

Pentagon declined to answer questions about detainees
Tom Lasseter | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: June 14, 2008 10:56:52 PM

WASHINGTON — At the request of chief Pentagon spokesman Col. Gary Keck, McClatchy submitted 15 questions to the Department of Defense on Oct. 1, 2007. In addition to the list of questions, McClatchy provided a spreadsheet with the names, nationalities and internment numbers of 63 of the 66 former detainees whom its reporters had interviewed.

Keck responded with a short statement and said in a phone conversation that no Pentagon officials would be available to speak about past events concerning U.S. detention operations.

On Oct. 9, McClatchy responded with a list of three questions about current U.S. detention operations, none of which was answered.

McClatchy contacted Keck again shortly before publication of this project and was told "we don’t feel that we can provide you with any specifics that would be of great value."

The following senior U.S. defense or White House officials are among those who declined, personally or through their representatives, or ignored McClatchy requests for interviews:

* Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

* Sandra Hodgkinson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

* William Haynes II, former Department of Defense general counsel.

* Marshall Billingslea, former acting assistant U.S. secretary of defense for special operations/low-intensity conflict and current deputy undersecretary of the Navy.

* David Addington, longtime legal adviser and now chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

* Jack Goldsmith, former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

* Timothy E. Flanigan, former deputy assistant to President Bush and deputy White House counsel.

* Alberto Gonzales, former White House counsel and attorney general.

* Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England.

The 15 questions from Oct. 1, Keck's response and the three questions from Oct. 9, which were never answered, are listed below in their original forms. These don't include e-mails and phone conversations that took place during many other attempts to lobby Keck for interviews with defense officials.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38771.html

[barbtries]

1. the government of the united states

refuses to inform the people of the united states. it's wrong.

[jimshoes]

2. Citizen to government: "I have some grievances I'd like redressed".

Government: "Go fuck yourself".

[Peace Patriot]

3. See my solution - Comment no. 1, at...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x365630

It doesn't address the issue of what to do with the likes of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld et al, who directed U.S. personnel to torture prisoners, and to detain thousands of prisoners indefinitely without charge, and with those who are now covering it up--such as those on the above list.

We have a mighty reckoning that needs to be done, in this country, with regard to many heinous crimes committed in our name. Some have proposed a 'Truth and Reconciliation' process--which, when it works right--provides for society to discover the whole truth, but eschews retribution except in the case of those who continue to lie and cover up. Full confession is retribution enough--is the basis of a T&R process--and the information that is exposed contributes to healing of the society and strengthening of the human and civil rights aspects of democracy, as well as policy development.

I would favor such a process on one condition--that all profits, and government salaries and benefits, be forfeited by those who want "reconciliation," and that they not only help us find out who did what, but how to locate and retrieve stolen billions. Those who don't want "reconciliation" should face the full force of the law for war crimes, such as mass murder and torture, and for perjury, theft and other felonies, but I would exclude the death penalty, in favor of appropriate community service, such as (my favorite) a lifetime of cleaning bedpans in veterans' hospitals. No more state-inflicted death! That, too, is a crime, in my opinion. And it serves to cheapen human life, not enhance it--by contributing to a brutal, fascist prison culture that violates the Constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Let the healing begin with our rejection of the fascist, Bushite solution to problems: killing people.

[Peace Patriot]

4. I also want to praise McClatchy News Service for its awesome investigative work

on this matter. They are laying the foundations for action to put our country right again--whether it be further investigation, prosecution and imprisonment, or a "Truth and Reconciliation" process, or some other means of exposing and dealing with Bush Junta crimes. McClatchy is doing the journalism work that no other corporate news service is doing. And their Knight-Ridder component (McClatchy recently bought K-R) has been doing this kind of excellent journalism--and was all alone in doing so--during the buildup to the Iraq War, the invasion and occupation. They were the only reliable U.S. or "western" news source on the war.

Some of us were very concerned that McClatchy buying up Knight-Ridder would shut down K-R's awesome news staff--but that has not occurred. The reverse has occurred--it appears. K-R is influencing McClatchy and making it a better news organization. McClatchy deserves high praise for this investigation, and other efforts at good, honest, well-researched reporting. They are putting other news organizations to shame.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Another related McClatchy news post

McClatchy Newspapers: America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x365626