BUSHCO: New Docs Reveal-America Tortures & "Will Continue" To Torture-"Without Being Legally Liable"

[kpete]

CIA admits they will continue rendition program, which allows torture overseas
John Byrne
Published: Thursday April 24, 2008


The Central Intelligence Agency knew from the beginning that its secret detention and torturous interrogation tactics probably bordered on illegal from the start, according to new documents identified through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

...........................

The CIA also acknowledged in their filings that the program “will continue.” Terror suspects detained or "renditioned" by the United States are transferred to third party countries that allow torture which gives the US a legal loophole to allow harsh interrogation without being legally liable. Such suspects, who effectively disappear, are held without access to courts.

...................

Two recent reports signal that the agency has begun to destroy evidence of harsh interrogations conducted at US prisons. Last year, the CIA acknowledged it had destroyed videotapes of two interrogations they were asked to provide to the Sept. 11 commission.

Earlier this week, the erstwhile director of interrogations at Guantánamo Bay said records of a prisoner who accused his captors of torturing him had been destroyed.


more at:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_knew_secret_detention_interrogation_program_0424.html

[spanone]

1. of course it will, no one with any authority has made one move to stop it. America Tortures

[saigon68]

3. Yes Pelosi and Reid by doing nothing

Condone this behavior.

Hell, pass a bill out lawing torture and let the Chimp veto it.

Then put the repukes who uphold the veto on the hot seat.

I'm sure Joementum Limpmann will uphold the Chimp on this

As a draft dodger ole Joe always wanted someone else, to do the dirty work

[Echo In Light]

5. No move has been made because authority WANTS to torture. Our govt is diseased, period.

[Solly Mack]

10. Yep. - War. Crime. Nation.

[bdamomma]

2. this is sickening.

when will somebody or alot of somebodies stand up and stop this.

[bdamomma]

4. kick

[LynnTheDem]

6. When the next blow-back hits us, DON'T ASK WHY they hate us.

Coz the "why" is more than obvious enough by now for even a rock to understand.

[ananda]

7. All I notice is that..

.. no matter what the evidence..

.. no matter how low Bushinc sinks..

.. they're still doing whatever the hell they want, and..

.. getting whatever they want.

And as far as I can tell, this low denominator for doing
government business is going to continue for the
foreseeable future, even after the next election.

[bluesmail]

8. America does not torture, GW *

oh yes it does.

[crimsonblue]

9. The legality probably depends a bit on the citizenship of the "terrorist"

Rendition on American citizens would be illegal because the government is an accomplice to torture and civil rights violations of its own people. Maybe if the SC actually decides to follow the law (as it has been consistently interpreted for more than 350 years), then the Odah v USA case will guarantee Habeus Corpus in this modern age. If they rule against Odah, say bye bye to ANY notion of freedom. Were the cornerstone of Law to be removed, then the court system will simply disappear. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if the SC rules that Habeus Corpus, and therefore the rule of law, does not apply to foreigners.

[Elsinora]

11. BORDERED on being illegal?

They are illegal. I refer you to first three articles of the UN Convention against Torture, to which we are a party nation (signed in 1988, ratified in 1994):

Article 1

1. For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
2. This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.

Article 2

1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.

Article 3

1. No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

I then refer you to the Senate reservations to said document, which further clarified what constitutes "mental torture":

II. The Senate's advice and consent is subject to the following understandings, which shall apply to the obligations of the United States under this Convention:

(1) (a) That with reference to article 1, the United States understands that, in order to constitute torture, an act must be specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering and that mental pain or suffering refers to prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from (1) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering; (2) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality; (3) the threat of imminent death; or (4) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality.

I then refer you to Former Acting Attorney General Daniel Levin's memo regarding waterboarding (which he had firsthand experience with, having subjected himself to the procedure as part of his investigation of whether or not it was torture), which confirms that waterboarding as practiced by the U.S. is, in fact, illegal under the terms of the UNCAT. I also refer you to the firsthand testimony of people who have been waterboarded as part of special ops training, who insist that even knowing that the procedure would be interrupted if they showed serious discomfort or if they were in danger they still could not shake the certainty that they were going to die. Thus, waterboarding is a form of mock execution--which is made explicitly illegal by the Senate reservations to the UNCAT.

Waterboarding is illegal torture under both U.S. and international law. There is no bordering about it--and anyone with a computer and internet access can confirm it for him or herself, the relevant documents are all online.

The UN Convention against Torture: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cat.htm
The Senate Reservations to the UNCAT: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/ratification/9.htm#reservations
Daniel Levin's memo: http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/18usc23402340a2.htm

[Elsinora]

12. Also...

because the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decided that the 14th Amendment covers Guantanamo detainees, they are covered by the Senate reservations as per Article I of the Senate reservations to the UNCAT.

QED.