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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post Did NYPD “Undercover Agent” Try to Suborn Tarek Mehanna into a “Terrorist Plot”? by Jeff Kaye.
Readers should be interested in this very related WSJ article I only saw after I wrote the above piece: Consequences for security as NYPD-FBI rift widens
While Mehanna was in jail in Boston, a source working with the NYPD was in contact with Mehanna, according to current and former FBI and NYPD officials involved in the case. [...]
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post Did NYPD “Undercover Agent” Try to Suborn Tarek Mehanna into a “Terrorist Plot”? by Jeff Kaye.
Definitely an attempt to entrap Mehanna, but not entrapment because the young man never involved himself in the proposed crime. @Frank33, your point is well-taken, and the people who constructed “Shock and Awe”, or the various torture and rendition programs were engaging in terroristic enterprises, as their intent was to terrorize individuals (or even nations) into [...]
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post Did NYPD “Undercover Agent” Try to Suborn Tarek Mehanna into a “Terrorist Plot”? by Jeff Kaye.
Far be it from me to short-change EW, who is one of the finest, one of the top political bloggers of our time. She certainly has written some on the Mehanna case, mostly highlighting the outrageous use of “material support to terrorism” laws in Mehanna’s and other cases. I chose the links I did on [...]
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post Did NYPD “Undercover Agent” Try to Suborn Tarek Mehanna into a “Terrorist Plot”? by Jeff Kaye.
What bothered me was the fact that not one media source ever discussed this aspect of what Tarek Mehanna said in his otherwise widely disseminated statement. I was glad to see the informant aspect aired, but this other crucial part of what Mehanna endured at the hands of government agents was passed over. Why?
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Jeff Kaye wrote a new diary post: Did NYPD “Undercover Agent” Try to Suborn Tarek Mehanna into a “Terrorist Plot”?
Many bloggers and the press have reposted Tarek Mehanna’s impassioned speech to the court as he was sentenced to 17-1/2 years for supposedly providing “material support” to terrorists. (See here, here, here, and especially the ACLU’s Nancy Murray’s widely quoted article at the Boston Globe here.) But few have commented on Mehanna’s charges that he was set up by an [...]
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Jeff Kaye commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Larissa Tracy, Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature Negotiations of National Identity
Thanks, Larissa, Jason, FDL, etc.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Larissa Tracy, Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature Negotiations of National Identity
Could you elaborate a bit re “the Scavenger’s Daughter”?
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Jeff Kaye commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Larissa Tracy, Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature Negotiations of National Identity
By the by, Larissa, as more brutal forms of torture and punishment were gradually abandoned (maybe very gradually!), modern torture often relies on “psychological” techniques rooted in isolation and sensory deprivation or overload. Is there any indication of the beginnings of this kind of maltreatment in the “medieval” world?
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Jeff Kaye commented on the blog post FDL Book Salon Welcomes Larissa Tracy, Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature Negotiations of National Identity
Hi Larissa, I’m a bit late to this discussion. Your book would appear to be an important contribution to grounding the torture issue in fact rather than mythology. I look forward to reading it.
I’m struck by what appears to be an increase in use of torture as the Middle Ages gave way to the beginnings of the modern period, circa the 17 and 18th centuries. Certainly Voltaire’s campaign against “l’infame” helped frame the issue for modern audiences, with his campaign to publicize the Calas and de la Barre cases. I’ve always assumed his accusations re the use of torture by reigious authorities were meant to go far back in time, but perhaps this was not as ancient an evil as portrayed?
In any case, two questions. How prevalent was the “breaking upon the wheel” such as happened to Calas? And how important was the work of the Voltaire and other Enlightenment figures in changing the modern attitude towards torture? (Modern used here as contemporary to the 18 and 19th centuries.)
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Jeff Kaye commented on the blog post Dissenting Torture Memo Bush Administration Tried to Destroy Released
Bottom line: Zelikowmonly blanched at some of the torture.
In a very related story, Jason Leopold and I published an analysis of the first actual SERE working doc the Bush Principals used to okay torture in May 2002, before the Yoo memos. You can download the document – Pre-Academic Laboratory Manual – at the story, too. — Bottom line here, authorities state this manual was for a class to inoculate US prisoners from the type of torture used to get false confessions, or be used for propaganda purposes.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
That’s okay. It’s still helpful info. I have a former Gitmo guard who tells me something similar. Also, these were disposable safety razors, and not easy to break down and use.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
Very interesting. Certainly the razor claim is one of the main problems I have with the government’s tale of Al Amri’s death. I’m not sure how you know about how the authorities deal with razors at Guantanamo, but if you know more, or care to describe to me how you know what you know, then [...]
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
No, these are not the same suicides as Scott Horton investigated. Altogether there have been six deaths at Guantanamo the government attributes to suicide.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
Since I just paid my membership re-up to FDL, maybe I’ll send s.t. to Mr. Silber. Don’t want him to lose his Internet connection. I don’t think you’ll mind your sixteen bits going to him.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
Wow! Thaanks, Wendy!
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
Wendy, if you have any influence on Floyd or Silber, you might want to see if they would pay some attention to this particular story. I’d add that I have no monopoly on this material. I’ve linked to the relevant documents, and if any investigators out there wish to push this farther on their own, [...]
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
Thanks so much, DW. Of course, I hope my work does make some difference, and largely for the very reasons you state.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
Your point on prisons is well-taken, ubetchaiam. In fact, in an article at my blog — “Faciliated Suicide” and the Death of Mohammed Al Hanashi — I noted the eerie resemblances between the death of Al Hanashi and that of Matthew Bullock, a prisoner at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, Texas.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
DW, I’m sorry my early typo misled you. Prof. Heynes IS looking into these deaths. I caught the typo quickly (I thought), so apologize to you and Prof. Heynes for any confusion.
I’ll add that a top forensic investigator, with special expertise in autopsies, is also looking into this. I’ll report when I have results.
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Jeff Kaye commented on the diary post DoD Cover-up: Gitmo detainee found hanged with hands tied behind back by Jeff Kaye.
Not off the road at all, Wendy. These are important thoughts at this time. Silber is a wonderful commenter, and essential reading for those of use who are trying to make sense of this senseless world, and those of use trying to change things.
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