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Speaking to the Fort Bend Sun after returning from a tour of Guantanamo, Representative Pete Olson, (W-N, TX) said:
“Our people are doing a bang up job,”
This comes only two days after The Guardian reported on the injuries to Binyam Mohamed, with some evidence that Mohamed’s torture at Guantanamo may have continued even after President Obama was sworn in.
Adding to the idiocy of his "bang up" comment, Olson continued to the Sun, with regard to "our people" at Guantanamo:
“We take them at their word.”
Olson must be among a very small group of those who believe the Penatagon’s own report released Monday that found Guantanamo to be in compliance with the Geneva Conventions. What is it about wing-nuts getting all excited about going to see this place? Here is a photo my wing-nut Congressman actually put on his website a few months back after he had visited. He even dressed up for the occasion and gave his best Lynndie England thumbs up:
Here are some details on that fine treatment "our people" are dishing out:
In GTMO, that ego down translated down to telling the detainee that his mother and sister were whores, he was forced to wear women’s lingerie, multiple allegations of his homosexuality, he was forced to dance with a male interrogator, he was strip searched for control measures, and he was forced to perform dog tricks on a leash.
The quote above comes from this batch of documents (see 06-F-01532 doc 07 from the April 13, 2007 entry, page 6).
For a bit of contrast, compare Olson’s cheerleading with today’s comment piece in The Guardian from British MP Sarah Teather regarding Binyam Mohamed:
He has made allegations of systematic torture, and says he had up to 20 or 30 cuts made into his penis and genitalia, with chemicals poured on the wounds for extra pain. In Guantánamo, reports suggest he was routinely humiliated and abused, resulting in long periods on hunger strike in protest.
/snip/
Torture is wrong, pure and simple. Civilised and democratic governments, including Britain, should have absolutely no role in a practice that is both ineffective and inhumane, and there is no excuse to put our so-called special relationship with the US before the rule of law. It is not enough to simply speak out against torture: the foreign secretary has a duty to help root out and end such practices.
Who in the US Government will stand up and make similar demands of President Obama to expose and truly end torture at Guantanamo?
14 Comments
While I understand the urgent situation that President Obama and our nation have to deal with in regard to the economic situation, health care, education etc. I thought he missed an incredible opportunity to acknowledge the mistakes made by our congress in 2002 by voting for a war resolution based on a “pack of lies” The death and destruction that has taken place due to that decision needs to be acknowledged and apologized for. The whole world is waiting and watching.
On top of that President Obama said “the U.S. does not torture” The whole world knows this is a lie…a flat out lie. The U.S. did torture under the Bush administration. Obama needs to “rephrase” that spin. He could have said “The United States will not torture during my administration”
A question about Oxdown organization, re: posts and diaries, here
Read More ought to take one to the list of all diaries in reverse chronological order. At the bottom of each page is a link going to the previous page.
If you start with promoted diaries on the front page of Oxdown, it is true that you will not see all diaries on that list, because only a few are chosen to be on the Oxdown front page.
Hope this helps.
just another tone-deaf right winger …
” Abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected, human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters. He cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike.
“It’s ‘hey, let’s have our fun while we can,’” said Ghappour, who helped secure the release this week of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident freed from Guantanamo Bay after more than four years in detention without trial or charge.
Ghappour said he had spoken to army guards who, unsolicited, had described the pleasure they took in abusing prisoners, whether interrupting prayer or physical mistreatment. He said they appeared unconcerned about potential repercussions.
He also saw evidence of guards pulling identity numbers off their uniforms or switching them once they were on duty in order to make it more difficult for them to be identified. “
http://uk.reuters.com/article/…..dChannel=0
Digg is open! May not show, but it’s open.
Wow! Check out Glenn Greenwald’s latest: Nancy Pelosi is going to call for prosecutions in her appearance on Rachel Maddow’s show tonight. Glenn is already quoting the transcript.
Thank you for the heads up, Jim. I hardly dare hope, but I’m going to.
” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced Wednesday that the Committee will hold a hearing to explore ideas on how best to establish a commission to examine past national security policies. Leahy first discussed a non-partisan commission of inquiry in a speech at Georgetown University on Feb. 9.
In a statement delivered on the Senate Floor Wednesday, Leahy announced a hearing entitled “Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry.” The hearing will be held Wednesday, March 4, at 10:00 a.m., and will be webcast live online. “
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..69842.html
omg: Greenwald’s got it. Pelosi speaks. Those fools at GitMo have no protection as of January 21st when Obama issued his EOs if you ask me.
This will break open. It doesn’t need Obama. In a way it’s not his job!
Day 35 people. Day 35.
after reading Greenwald, I get a very strong feeling that Obama has completed some sort of internal debate/review and decided to let this go wide and deep. I don’t see any other reason why Pelosi would be changing her tune like this right now.
Could be. If Leahy gets his commission, does that preclude criminal charges from being filed based on the information revealed? Trying to figure out why there seems to be two agendas; Leahy saying commission and Pelosi saying criminal prosecutions. Are they actually saying the same thing?
I’m not particularly concerned about wingnuts. They have had their day and, in many cases, are probably at least a little worried about prosecution. What worries me is the slowness with which a Democratically controlled Congress and Executive are moving to stop the injustices and punish the perpetrators.
I hope the learned commentators above are right and the hammer is about to fall. But, if so, why not drop it today? The delays to date have already done needless damage. And delay has a way of perpetuating itself.