Senate Judiciary Hearing NOW on Coercive interrogation techniques

[MiniMe]

Sorry, looks like it started at 9:30 am but sounds interesting so far.

Webcast from the Senate Judiciary Committee website: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=3399

The hearing on “Coercive Interrogation Techniques: Do They Work, Are They Reliable, and What Did the FBI Know About Them?” scheduled by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for Tuesday, June 10, 2008 in the Senate Dirksen Office Building, Room 226 will begin at 9:30 a.m. rather than the previously scheduled time of 10:00 a.m.

Senator Feinstein will preside.

By order of the Chairman

Witness List

Hearing before the
Senate Judiciary Committee

on

“Coercive Interrogation Techniques: Do They Work, Are They Reliable, and What Did the FBI Know About Them?”

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226
10:00 a.m.

Panel I:

The Honorable Glenn A. Fine
Inspector General
Department of Justice
Washington, DC

Valerie Caproni
General Counsel
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington, DC

Panel II:

Jack Cloonan
Former FBI Special Agent
West Caldwell, NJ

Philippe Sands QC
Professor of Law and Director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals
University College London

Philip B. Heymann
James Barr Ames Professor of Law
Harvard Law School
Cambridge, MA

[malaise]

1. Thanks

Watching now

[bdamomma]

2. thanks minime!!

:hi:

[MiniMe]

3. You're welcome

:hi:

Its pretty interesting, its about torture technics and if they work.

[malaise]

5. Sands coming up on this panel n/t

[MiniMe]

4. Second panel just being introduced. INCLUDES PHILIPE SANDS

Includes a former FBI agent.

[MiniMe]

6. What a surprise. Heavy handed techniques can impair a person't ability to answer

[MiniMe]

7. I'm at work and I had to go do something. Are they taking a break?

[MiniMe]

8. OK, looks like they will be resuming at 2pm. I hope more people are watching

this afternoon. This issue should be near and dear to our hearts!

[MiniMe]

9. Hearings to resume at 2pm. This hearing is on coercive interrogation techniques

ie - torture. Philipe Sands is in this panel. This should be a great hearing, and about what the US is all about. It can only be viewed from the Judiciary Committee website: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=3399

Starting in about 10 minutes

[MiniMe]

10. The hearing has restarted. Philips Sands is giving his opening statement

[MiniMe]

11. Nobody else is interested in this?

This is the stuff we care about, I thought.

[bdamomma]

13. hey minime, I just can't get that website at work.

what is Sands saying.

[MiniMe]

14. Thanks Alyce, I was beginning to think I was typing to myself again.

:hi:

[MiniMe]

12. Philip Heymann saying that there is absolutely no reason to torture

But says that the words have lost their meaning. Said that they have banned torture, but doesn't think that water boarding is torture.

[MiniMe]

15. Heymann says that there is no definition of what is cruel and unusual or not allowed

Just that everybody agrees that torture is banned.

[MiniMe]

16. More from DiFi re: using the Army interrogation manual as the standard

for everything.

Whitehouse up now.

[MiniMe]

17. Whitehouse: VP comparing WB'ing to a dunk in the water, and

stress positions as standing beside the desk. Is it torture.

Cloone says wb'ing is an extreme technique, it should be considered torture. Stress positions also torture, and their description is wrong.

Sands agrees that it is torture.

[MiniMe]

18. Whitehouse says either those indiv's are very naive, or they are misleading

Sands says your first part is way too generous. He basically says of course they are doing it to decieve intentionally.

[MiniMe]

19. Whitehouse got them to say that Justice Department working hand in hand

with the countertism department and the WH.

[MiniMe]

20. Heymenn just blasted * on special powers

[MiniMe]

21. I don't think that any repukes showed up for this hearing

I only caught the end of the hearing this morning with the first panel, and I only heard Schumer, DiFi, Cardin, and Whitehouse speak. So far this afternoon, I have only heard DiFi and Whitehouse. I can't believe that none of the repukes showed up to try to weaken this message.

[PatSeg]

22. Thanks for the thread

I was able to catch some of it, but it kept timing out on my computer. Just wanted you to know you weren't alone.

[MiniMe]

23. Not many senators there, but a fascinating discussion

Glad I wasn't alone. :hi:

[bdamomma]

24. I read from the other thread here, that a repig shut down the

Committee by doing something like calling a recess or something??? These repigs are getting very desperate aren't they?

[MiniMe]

25. Interesting. But they held it anyway with just a few Senators

I don't know if the minority can call a recess, but who knows? Senate rules are strange sometimes.