Pic courtesy of Hershell Hershey, via Flickr

On Friday I got an e-mail from the Center for Constitutional Rights explaining that their plan to provide the legal justification for a preliminary criminal investigation of George W. Bush to the General Prosecutor of the Canton of Geneva with regards to his actions in the torture of so-called “enemy combatants”. The plan had to be canceled because the former President had canceled his trip to Geneva. It lead to this post .

By Swiss law a person accused of torture under the International Conventions Against Torture (ICAT) has to be present in Swiss territory for the government to act. With the cancellation of the trip, the CCR and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIHR) could not file this criminal complaint, but that is not stopping them from working to make it impossible for President Bush to travel to Europe in the future.

One of the incredible frustrations for those of us who have been pushing for torture investigations and prosecutions in this country is that there is so much prima fascia evidence of criminal wrong doing. The CRR and FIHR have done yeoman’s work in putting together all the supporting legal details that are publicly known about the criminal President Bush’s role in approving the use of torture. You can read the complaint here, but let me give you a summary.

There are a lot of moving pieces the overall narrative of torture and there are things that we do not actually know which can provide confusion. In the complaint the CCR shows first that it was under President Bush’s and no others authorization that detainees from Afghanistan and else where were not to fall under the Geneva Conventions, that it was he who approved the use of so called “enhanced interrogation” and that he had been advised that some of his actions were illegal under the Geneva Convention rules.

They then rely on the investigations of the International Committee of the Red Cross for accounts from the so-called “High Value Detainees” on what happened to them under U.S. custody. Particularly horrifying is the account by Abu Zubaydah on how on his second time being waterboarded he lost control of his bladder from fear. Now when he is stressed he still loses control of his bladder.
Read the rest of this entry →

It is a bit of a philosophical conundrum if one can actually do good through bad methods. Of course you have to define good and bad, which are always value judgments. Let’s make this a little more concrete; one of the Presidents unfulfilled promises is to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It is a national shame that a prison was built specifically to try to avoid the legal system of the United States. There have been credible allegations of torture there, as well as statements by Bush era officials that the totality of treatment there also rises to the level of torture.

Over time the numbers of prisoners held there have been reduced from a high of over 800 to 174 today. The problem is that for those 174 they are basically in legal limbo. 50 of them are in the category of having no plans to charge nor will they be released. This is an obvious problem for our system of law. For the remaining 124 the plan has been to treat them like other criminals, charge them in federal court, present the evidence against them and see if we can convince a jury they should be imprisoned in one of our Super-Max prisons here the United States, just like any other criminal.

However the fear mongering by the Republicans and the acceptance of it by some of our more….oh hell I am just going to say it cowardly Democrats, has made this a political issue. In the recently passed Defense Authorization Bill, language was included that prevents the spending of military money for moving the prisoners from Guantanamo to the United States, even for trials and such. The language also limits but not completely prohibits the Executive branch from releasing the prisoners to a third country without a series of certifications and exemptions that, in practice, will make it all but impossible.

The White House and the President are still clear in their desire to close one of national shames, the Gitmo prison, but to do so they may have to resort to tactics used and abused by the criminal Bush administration, namely a signing statement.

Read the rest of this entry →

There is nothing about torture that is good or positive. The act itself is one of the most brutal and heinous that humans have ever committed. The affect on a society that condones torture is one of rising fear and brutality. The information (if it can be called that) gained under torture is so suspect as to be worthless. Perhaps the worst aspect is that torture, once accepted is used not only on enemies or bad people, but innocent victims as well.

On Monday the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of one such innocent victim of torture, Mr. Maher Arar, a Syrian born Canadian citizen. In 2002 he was returning to Canada from a trip abroad. At a stop over at JFK Airport he was detained by the US Government and held in solitary confinement for two weeks without access to an attorney. Mr. Arar was then deported, not to his nation of citizenship, Canada but, to Syria and put in the hands of the Syrian intelligence services, who are well known for their torture activities.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

Read the rest of this entry →

Dear President Obama;

I wanted to take the occasion of Presidents Day to write to you. Today is the day we celebrate the birthdays of two of our all time great presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

It is fitting that we celebrate the first of our presidents and the president who held the Union together and ended the precious practice of human slavery. These men stand as examples of what America can be and should be.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

Read the rest of this entry →

This is the panel the Dog has been waiting for! Torture and accountability. On the panel we have Vince Warren,. Rep. Jerry Nadler, Marcy Wheeler and Melisa Goodman. The Dog is going to try to live blog this for those playing our home game.

Update one. Hey this is going to be on the web somewhere in the future. That is pretty damned cool!

Campaign for torture accountability. Heather is put some talking points down and is passing them out. I’ll post them at the end.

The moderator is talking about how even a year ago no one at NN wanted to to speak out for the option of accountability. Today we will be talking about Congresses role, what don’t we know about torture, what is the balance between the law and the nations desire?

First up is Representative Nadler from the NY 9th. Senior Member of the Judiciary and Transportation committees. Is a strong proponent of investigations

Vince Warren – executive director of Center for Constitutional Rights. Has been extremely active in the litigation for torture victims.

Melisa Goodman – Attorney with the ACLU National Security project. Has acted on illegal wiretapping. FISA and National Security letters are among her litigation.

Last and certainly not least Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel fame. If you don’t know Marcy, then you need to Google her, but do it when you have a lot of time to read!

Update 3
Rep Nadler: We are at a pivotal moment in this nation in terms of Rule of Law. As Congress debates or fails to, blogger have a big part to play.

We must face the fact the US has tortured and outsourced torture, engaged in it, and tried to conceal it. This is all supported by evidence.

President Obama has said we would stop this Read the rest of this entry →

Happy Monday and welcome to the Dog’s on going letter writing campaign for accountability and the rule of law for the apparent Bush Era torture programs. The premise of this campaign is the Dog will write a letter to one of the key decision makers (with carbon copies to others) and provide the links to reach these worthies. Your job, gentle reader, is to either use the letter as a jumping off point for your own letter, or just cut and paste the letter and send it off under your own signature.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

The intent here is to keep a constant level of incoming pressure about this issue on the people who can move the issue forward. It is an important thing to do as there are many other issues which are getting a higher priority right now. This campaign will remind our leaders that while they can work on other things, this issue is not going away, at least if we the people have anything to say about it.

This week we will be writing to the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, with carbon copies to Sen. Leahy (Sen. Judiciary Chair), Rep. Ike Skelton and Sen. Carl Levin, the respective chairs of the Armed Services Committees and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Dear Chairman Conyers;

I write you today as a citizen gravely concerned with the lack of action on the Bush Administrations apparent State Sponsored Torture program. Our nation was founded on the premise that none would be above the reach of the law, for it is only in the evenhanded and impartial application of the law it becomes clear all citizens are equal in a democracy. While Attorney General holder ponders whether he will follow the International Conventions Against Torture and the Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to the 11th in the Dog’s letter writing campaign for torture accountability. This the basic premise of this campaign is the Dog writes a letter which the user can then use as a jumping off point for their own letter or cut and paste to send under their own name. In previous weeks we have written to the President, AG Holder, the Supreme Court Justices, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid.

This week’s letter focuses on the entire House Judiciary Committee, but is addressed to Chairman John Conyers. Below are the letter and the e-mail links for the 40 Representatives on the Committee.

Dear Chairman Conyers;

I am writing today not as one of your constituents but as a citizens appealing to his government for help. The issue I and the nation need your help on is accountability for the apparent State Sponsored Torture program of the Bush Administration.

As the Chair of the Judiciary Committee you have oversight responsibility over the Department of Justice and the FBI. It is gravely concerning to me and many other citizens that a crimes under Federal statute has been admitted to in Congressional testimony and elsewhere, yet there seems to be no criminal investigation Read the rest of this entry →