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More documents prove that top defense officials approved of abuse at Guantanamo detention center

The American Civil Liberties Union has released documents that prove that top Department of Defense officials endorsed interrogation methods at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp that the FBI described as both abusive and illegal.

“We now possess overwhelming evidence that political and military leaders endorsed interrogation methods that violate both domestic and international law,” said Jameel Jaffer, an attorney with the ACLU. “It is entirely unacceptable that no senior official has been held accountable.”

A memo written in 2003 names Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, former Commander of Joint Task Force--Guantanamo, as favoring interrogation techniques that the FBI said “could easily result in the elicitation of unreliable and legally inadmissible information.” That memo also indicates that FBI personnel brought their concerns to senior Department of Defense officials, but those concerns were ignored.

A few days ago, The New Yorker released a memo from Alberto Mora, outgoing General Counsel of the U.S. Navy, which describes his unsuccessful efforts in 2002 and 2003 to convince the Pentagon to renounce the prisoner abuse at Guantanamo. One of the people he had trouble convincing was his boss, William J. Haynes II, General Counsel of the Department of Defense.

At one point, however, Haynes did take Mora's concerns to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who responded by joking that he himself often stood for eight hours a day. "Torture? That's not torture!" One of his staff members reminded him that he had the option to sit down whenever he chose.

Posted by Diane E. Dees on 02/23/06 at 10:05 AM | E-mail | Print | Digg this | de.licio.us



Comments

It's becoming abundantly clear that, despite Rumsfeld's illusory, laughable, and foolish to accept (if one could get there) due to no access to the prisoners, invitation for anyone to "jump on a plane and go to Gitmo", torture at Guantanamo will be denied, denied, denied.

After all, with Frank Luntz defining and re-defining every word we "used" to know in the english language, Gonzales further twisting them until they are unrecognizable, and George Bush mangling them so he can later say, "AWW, Shucks!", we will never know who was, and is, responsible.

If, by chance, we do find out- they'll just be pardoned or given a Presidential Medal of Honor thereby creating the impression, and giving the presumption, that somehow they sullied every one of us for our own good.

The only hope we have is for someone to call Greta Van Susteren at FOX and tell her that, on information and belief, Natalee Holloway is being held there and having unspeakable things done to her.

It's a good bet that for the ratings, Murdoch would abandon Bush quickly for the chance at the "exclusive".

The sad part is, even then, those who support the Administration would have no problem with it.

Posted by: AmeriPundit on 02/23/06 at 1:23 PM

To quote the New Testament, "Blessed are those victimized by the righteous," and this is pertinent on the issue of torture--because it's certainly difficult to ascribe righteousness as a quality of the unlawful torturers of the US government...
In the past, enemy combatants have been allowed to post bonds to ensure their non-combatant status.
Hell, the Nazi's held innocent people hostage as a way of guaranteeing complience from members of the resistance, and then they'd murder them if there were acts of violence, but even that didn't always work..
So what's the answer here (there)...?
Either try those men in a lawful court of law or let them go home. And like it would really matter, when, plainly, not only is there an over abundance of willing combatants, but it would seem there's an abundance of combatants willing to commit suicide...
I mean--what should we expect when we sold Iraq a billion dollars worth of components for their nuclear program, not to mention the pesticide factory that was converted to produce their chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Huh, what hapens when you open Pandora's box, and then use that as an excuse to invade--this whilst the UN is busy conducting a lawful search for those weapons of mass destruction...
Yeah, isn't the real issue here--how sad is it that American servicemen are dying at the hands of combatants carrying weapons made in the good ol' USA...?

Posted by: Michael L. Wagner on 02/23/06 at 2:24 PM

FOR THIS ABUSE AND FSI ABUSE , REMOVAL OF BUSH AND CHENEY MAY BE CALLED FOR. THOSE TOO ARE ARROGANT IN THNKING THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW.

Posted by: morgan lamberth on 02/24/06 at 8:33 AM

These men will never be let go, because they will tell the truth about what is going on there. The truth has started to be told over and over again, and has started to be denied over and over again, but with this information being repeated by 500 prisoners (or maybe 485 because there are possibly 15 "terrorists" there together with 485 innocents) the treatment being inflicted by the Cross-bearing representatives of the "land of the free" -- and the numerous lawsuits that undoubtedly will be engendered -- will make it impossible for this country to put up a logical defense to this insane behavior.

Posted by: Khadijah on 02/25/06 at 6:14 AM

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