Thursday, December 11, 2014

without torture prosecutions america can't claim to be a nation of laws...,


LATimes |  There’s a lot to be appalled about in the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA torture report -- and yes, what the CIA did was torture. Beyond the atrocious physical abuse of detainees, the report details the agency’s incompetence -- it doesn’t know how many people it detained -- and its willful efforts to hide its misdeeds by lying to the president and Congress and maintaining a disinformation campaign with the media.

As others have noted, the conduct by the CIA and some of its contractors was inhumane and disgusting, regardless of whether they thought they were covered by Bush administration attorney John Yoo's legal rationalization. Much has been made that in the end, the “intelligence” the agents squeezed out of their victims was of little value, which makes a point of painful irony but obscures the darker reality. Even if the CIA had tortured a morsel of useful information out of someone, they still resorted to indefensible practices.

Imagine what the U.S. reaction -- from government officials to everyday people -- would be if we learned that agents of another country had grabbed people from outside its borders, spirited them away to clandestine chambers in third countries, and tortured them. Special forces would be deployed. The United Nations Security Council would convene. Sanctions would be imposed amid talk of isolating a rogue nation from the civilized world.

But because it was the U.S., it's likely nothing will happen despite calls for prosecutions. The Justice Department, which has already passed on prosecutions once, affirmed Tuesday that it will not reopen investigations into possible illegal acts committed by CIA agents and officials, or the people hired by them (yes, the U.S. even outsources torture).

If it is true that we are at war with terrorist organizations, then how is it not a war crime when U.S. agents take prisoners to secret complexes, deprive them of sleep, force them to stand on broken feet, manacle their hands above their heads, and “feed” them rectally?

Torture is illegal. Letting those responsible for such inhumane acts slip away without being brought to justice compounds the crime. We like to think of ourselves as a nation governed by laws, but to shrug off torture by agents of our own government tells the world that we not only find the crimes inconsequential, but we’ve turned off the international beacon of justice.

The Times editorial board read the report for what it is: An indictment:

24 comments:

Vic78 said...

I blame some of the older DC residents. Remember, they reelected their crack smoking mayor during Gingrich's rampage in the 90s. Congress made sure the residents paid for their stupidity. They had another opportunity to push for changes when Obama had a congressional majority. There was a time when they could've convinced Pelosi to cut a deal to put them on the way to statehood or at least a better arrangement than they had at the time. I found out the mayor and the council were too crooked to care about any of that.

Vic78 said...

Where was this outrage when evidence showed this was happening in real time? Everyone knew this was happening. Fuck these people. The only people I remember seeing this as a problem were renegade journalists and bloggers.

CNu said...

Help me out Vic, what do those "woulda, coulda, shoulda's" have to do with authoritarian republicans in congress ignoring the legitimate voice of the people in the District this week? I mean, nice to know that 2nd/3rd line geriatrics were near-sighted, corrupt, and stupid - but that's a generation removed from the good people who got the ballot initiative, got out the vote, and made their preferences known through entirely legitimate channels.



From where I sit, this is some straight-up inappropriate "rule of law" burra-shit!

CNu said...

lol, butt all we heard about was "waterboarding" - ain't nobody know that the authoritarian, rule of law, republicans under the leadership of Richard Bruce Cheney were some straight-up Shotwell Catacombs 3.0 type freakout http://bustakay.tumblr.com/post/39654975543/the-catacombs-on-21st-street-was-san-franciscos

Vic78 said...

Today's citizens are paying for the 90s fuckups. DC was more independent before Barry was reelected. Gingrich went and took everything they worked for from them. They ended up becoming a permanent preschool district.

John Kurman said...

Every single person in this clip was receiving a Murphy Drip during the broadcast. Jess sayin'...

Vic78 said...

Hopefully, it cuts down on kids who want to join the CIA after watching 24.

Cheney's a different kind of cat. Wasn't he watching videos of that?

Damn, the Catacombs was some freaky shit. Them old folks can't say shit about me. I think the freaky shit is making comeback...

http://janetmock.com

CNu said...

lol, don't even lie Vic - Janet Mock's a special case make a brother check over his shoulder to make sure nobody's looking - and then if the coast is clear - he's going in http://youtu.be/Xd55yq4LMC8

CNu said...

Andrea Tantaros frequently forgets to play at her level and stay in her lane On the August 20, 2014 edition of Outnumbered, in response to ISIL's beheading of James Foley,
Tantaros, serving as co-host, spoke about Muslims, Islam and ISIS
interchangeably. “They’ve been doing this for hundreds and hundreds of
years if you study the history of Islam,” she said. "This isn't a
surprise. You can’t solve it with a dialogue. You can’t solve it with a
summit. You solve it with a bullet to the head.".[14] In response, the Asian American Journalists Association called the comment "alarming", "inflammatory" and "Islamophobi[c]" and demanded an apology.[15] Tantaros declared that she has "no intention of apologizing".[16] Roger Ailes may need to remind her exactly what she's being paid the big bucks to do on Fox News https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=andrea+tantaros+legs

Constructive_Feedback said...

[quote]- would be if we learned that agents of another country had grabbed people from outside its borders, spirited them away to clandestine chambers in third countries, and tortured them. Special forces would be deployed. The United Nations Security Council would convene. Sanctions would be imposed amid talk of isolating a rogue nation from the civilized world.[/quote]

JUNE 17, 2014: The US Commandos Use The Benefit Of The Non-Existent Government Of Libya That It Destroyed In A Previous Coup To Grab Up A "Libyan National" And Toss Him Upon A US Warship For TRIAL IN THE USA To Be Run By The US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT And Not A Military Tribunal

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-captured-benghazi-suspect-in-secret-raid/2014/06/17/7ef8746e-f5cf-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html





DO-DAMNED-DAY: The Social Justice Movement In The USA Goes To The US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT To Stop UNIFORMED GOVERNMENT AGENTS In Police Forces From Executing What They Deem As WHITE SUPREMACY Upon Them




BROTHER CNU - Do you See A PROBLEM?


Frantz Fanon: "THE COLONIST RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DOCUMENT HIS OWN VERSION OF HISTORY"


The Americanized Negro is the FIRST POPULATION OF PEOPLE to be SELF-COLONIZED by CONSUMERISM and POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM.

CNu said...

lol Bro.Con.Feed.U (should be read very quickly)

Like a digital Jehovah's Witness going door-to-door offering unsolicited open-online instruction in the neverending and energetic aggravations of a thoroughly frustrated fin d'siecle Garvey-ite delusion....,

1. There is no black diaspora
2. We are afro-saxon Americans
3. We're ~13% of the U.S. population, hardcore white racists ~17%, Latinos ~17%
4. The contentedly consuming American majority ~53% consumers of the bounty of a warsocialist state
5. The majority of the afro-saxon American 13% seeks full assimilation into the 53% consumer of warsocialist bounty
6. An afro-saxon American has been elected and is currently leading the American warsocialist state

Hardcore fringe white racists and hardcore fringe Garvey-ite identity political aspirants have been and will continue having fits about the fact that the first afro-saxon American president is unmoved by their collective respective energetic political aggravations.

Everything else is conversation...., five minutes watching the sheer moral horrors being perpetrated by Africans against Africans is more than sufficient to never want any manner, form, or fashion of association with any member of your delusional Garvey-ite diaspora http://subrealism.blogspot.com/2014/10/architects-of-death-and-chickens-coming.html

CNu said...

Did you see the new Navy laser cannon? http://youtu.be/REHt44BuASk - little disappointing that the PR video only showed it firing on inflatables.., but that's probably all you can expect from a 30 kilowatt device.

BigDonOne said...

...@CNu - Do you really think they showed the world The MegaWatt BigOne...?? The best stuff is all TopSecret......


BTW, the Fox clip was right on the money....

CNu said...

The best stuff is all TopSecret......

rotflmbao..., like Richard Bruce Cheney enhanced interrogation techniques http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Giant-Crisco-and-Detroit-Joe-Louis-Fist-665x385.jpg

ken said...

Fox news was not right on the money. There is no such universal agreement that interrogating a captured known terrorist to the point that they divulge information that saves American or other innocent lives is now considered immoral. They are correct that this was released for political purposes. But was was not amplified is we are treated to the top secret uglies of how we acquired intelligence, but still kept it top secret on what terrorist attempt thwarted and the information gained from the interrogation.

We can't make a moral decision based on looking at the ugly methods while keeping the rest redacted as to what was gleaned and what it prevented who is alive because of the interceptions. With all Obama's talk, he too, clearly let open that there could be a time for enhanced interrogation. So yep Fox got it right that its political, but totally wrong that we all agree that there is never a time for enhanced interrogation, in fact Axelrod's dodge pretty much puts it bipartisan that there is circumstances where it may be useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SbXmBsr2bVI

Vic78 said...

"Everything else is conversation...., five minutes watching the sheer moral horrors being perpetrated by Africans against Africans is more than sufficient to never want any manner, form, or fashion of association with any member of your delusional Garvey-ite diaspora..."

I disagree a little bit. The one in the middle is from Ghana and the other two are from Nigeria. I'd associate with these three.

BigDonOne said...

@Ken .."We can't make a moral decision based on looking at the ugly methods..."
Sorry, Ken, Nice guys finish last...Gen. Patton told his men "to know their enemy’s 'plan' and be as dirty as he is or you’re not going to win.....”

CNu said...

lol, like the rest of us, Pres. Obama probably thought "enhanced interrogation" was referring to waterboarding. I'd guess that like the rest of us, he had no idea that Cheney's top secret concept of EIT stood for Exit Intrusion Techniques.

This week's disclosures bring us to a moment of creative opportunity. Now knowing what we know, we have an opportunity to create an ecumenical bridge. We can put Ted Haggard and Bishop Eddie Long in charge of EIT.

Ted and Eddie both packing the special "leaders rods". They can both reach out to captives, seek to convert them to "special sons" and failng through ego stroking, have at their disposal the almighty "stick of truth", i.e. Aaron's Rod with which they can compel disclosures.
http://youtu.be/raMAr1V2v8s
http://youtu.be/uht-wWAP8vU

CNu said...

lol, BD stays reminiscing about authoritative dirty men in uniform
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rFs0uVY_4rE/TU5VetHKF-I/AAAAAAAAJYs/7UdTvLKzR-w/s400/Tom_of_Finland_09.jpg

CNu said...

You can keep Nigeria, but groundbreaking on the Ghanian consulate begins immediately!!!

Dale Asberry said...

This was not released for political purposes. Sen. Mark Udall was disgusted by what he discovered in this investigation. There were no redeeming redacted sections... the only reason the report was released in redacted form was because he threatened to release it into the Congressional record, unredacted. (It is entirely legal for a congressman to read an entire classified document before congress.) If there was even the remotest possibility of something justifiable, the dirty fscks would've made sure it got released too as a bit of ass-covering.

Dale Asberry said...

Dude, it's just wrong that you go looking for this stuff...

CNu said...

lol, googol "tom of finland police" - everybody knows the iconic tom of finland, just like everybody knows robert crumb or h.r. geiger..,

Dale Asberry said...

Not I. And I am NOT going down that 'rabbit' hole!

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