Tapes Destroyed . . . Mukasey Still Can't Decide . . .
The Torture Goes On . . .
Do We Want to Live in a Torture State?During the holidays, when we get together with friends and family, will be an important time to talk about this responsibility and what is being done in our name to the people of the world. DVD ordering info below"WASHINGTON (AP) December 11 -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused Tuesday to be rushed into deciding whether he considers waterboarding a form of torture, saying simply he understands the "intense interest" in the issue now at the heart of an inquiry into videotaped interrogations of terror suspects that were destroyed by the CIA."Waterboarding IS Torture - 11/12/2007
by C. Clark Kissinger
When we rolled up to the Justice Department in Washington , we didn’t know what to expect. But we knew that we had to be there. A Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Judge Michael Mukasey to be the next Attorney General would be the next morning, yet he was still refusing to say whether waterboarding is actually torture. We were there to demonstrate that it most definitely is torture.
I had come down from New York only a couple days before with the idea of putting on a very graphic demonstration. Getting on the phone, I quickly found people from a number of local groups who saw the urgency of doing this, including activists from the World Can’t Wait, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Catholic Worker, Code Pink, Montgomery Peace Action, and the Democracy Cell Project.
The most challenging problem came from the press trying to downplay waterboarding as simply “simulated drowning.” How could we demonstrate the awful seriousness waterboarding, yet not endanger our “victim”? Helpfully, Steve Lane from Montgomery Peace Action had already designed a face towel with a piece of plastic behind it to protect the victim from the full force of the water.
We had a chance to try it out Sunday morning when Senator Diane Feinstein was scheduled to be on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. Feinstein had just announced that she would be voting for Mukasey. Code Pink suggested that we all go down and demonstrate waterboarding for her. When Feinstein got out of her limo and headed for the studio doors, the Code Pink banner suddenly moved in front of her, cutting her off, at the same time revealing Steve Lane being held to a board with a gallon of water being poured in his face. Feinstein put on her best plastic smile and hurried on.
The next morning was our demonstration for the media. We announced the waterboarding for noon at 10th & Pennsylvania , right in front of the Justice Department and across the street from the FBI building. When we arrived, there was already quite a crowd of reporters, photographers, and TV cameras waiting for us.
I introduced the scene for media by pointing out that those publications that describe waterboarding as “simulated drowning” are practicing “simulated journalism.” Waterboarding IS drowning. Water is forced up the nose and mouth of the blindfolded victim in a controlled manner. Any attempt to breathe only leads to inspiring more water. The sensation of asphyxiation induces terror: “what if the torturers don’t stop?”
Waterboarding is, of course, part of an arsenal of U.S. psychological torture methods that include sensory deprivation, stress positions, extreme cold, loud incessant music, sleep deprivation, and disorientation through isolation and the manipulation of meal times, sleep, and light. Research studies commissioned by the U.S. government found psychological torture to be more effective at terrorizing subjects than physical torture -- plus it leaves no scars. But no form of torture is effective at obtaining truthful information. It can only force people to say whatever the torturer wants said.
As a matter of fact, all students at the Navy’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego are required to undergo waterboarding and become completely familiar with this technique. Yet to promote “plausible deniability” for the military, the U.S. government regularly employs “private contractors” or CIA personnel to do this dirty work. The government’s other ploy to deny responsibility is “special rendition,” where individuals are shipped to other countries to be tortured in secret at the request of the Bush regime.
The sun was shining brightly and video cameras were trained on the scene as four anti-torture activists, dressed as “civilian contractors,” dragged the victim forward. Maboud Ebrahimzadeh, a 26-year-old Iranian-American actor, had bravely agreed to be the victim. He is dressed in an orange jump suit, his hands tightly bound with duct tape.
“Give us the names!” screams Marietta , a local university drama teacher in real life.
“I don’t have any names. I was in Syria at a conference,” Maboud stammers.
“We can do this the easy way; we can do it the hard way. . . OK, hard way.”
Maboud is grabbed from where he is sitting and forced onto an inclined board, head down, with the towel thrown over his face. “Give us the names!” the interrogator screams as water is poured onto the towel. Although Maboud is protected from the full force of the water by the piece of plastic behind the towel, some water still gets past and runs up his nose. It begins getting very real.
After the first gallon, Maboud is pulled up. “You like that? You like that? That was the hard way. You want to breathe? Give us the names!” the interrogator again demands. Maboud can only cough and gasp for air. Rudely he is push back down on the board and given another gallon of water in the face.
At the end of the demonstration, Maboud is coughing and shaken, his hands are quivering. He has, in fact, been partially drowned, much like a swimmer pulled from the surf by a life guard. I pick up the towel and show the reporters the plastic behind the towel. “Had this not been there, this man would be unconscious or worse.”
“It’s only the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had,” Maboud tells reporters. “Although it was a ‘controlled environment,’ when water goes into your lungs, you want to scream and you can’t because you know as soon as you do you’re going to choke. It’s forced drowning. That’s what it is.”
“How do we know you’re not just acting?” says the smart aleck from Fox News. Maboud looks at him with withering disgust. He explains how he prepared himself by studying everything he could find about waterboarding. It was perfectly clear to everyone present that this was not play acting.
With so much media assembled, it was also important to drive home some more points: “Waterboarding is not an ‘enhanced interrogation technique,’ it’s torture. Waterboarding is illegal under both international and domestic law. The U.S. is a signatory of the International Convention Against Torture, and there is a domestic anti-torture law,” I pointed out. “Yet Mukasey says that if Congress will only pass a new law explicitly outlawing waterboarding, he will enforce it. That’s like saying, if Congress will only pass a new law, then I will deign to enforce the existing law!”
The media also tells us that Mukasey won’t call this torture because that might cause legal problems for those who have authorized it. “After World War II, United States prosecuted as war criminals the Japanese officers responsible for waterboarding U.S. prisoners of war. Since when is retroactive immunity provided for war criminals?” I ask the reporters.
By evening, video of the demonstration of waterboarding is all over the internet. Associated Press put out a major story with video, and it is on web pages from the Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times, as well as printed in a number of papers. A few nights later it was shown on the PBS’s News Hour with Jim Lehrer
Yet the next morning, two Democratic Senators, Feinstein and Schumer, provide the key votes to speed Bush’s nominee Mukasey for chief law enforcement officer of the land on to the full Senate -- the same man who will not acknowledge that waterboarding is torture.
When President Bush says “the U.S. does not torture,” he is lying. This in turn presents a challenge to all of us, for torture plus silence equals complicity. We must put a stop to this whole fascist direction. The open practice of torture is yet one more reason why this hateful Bush regime must be driven from office and its whole program repudiated by millions.
More, plus Waterboarding Demonstration at the Justice Department November 5, 2007 video at: www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4411&Itemid=220------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the Verdict of the Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity (2006):"As to Count 1, we find that the Bush Administration authorized the use of torture and abuse in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, customary international law, and domestic constitutional and statutory law.
"In December 2001, the Bush Administration implemented the Special Access Program that authorized the secret seizure, detention, and interrogation of persons and subjected them to torture. The torture included but was not limited to: water boarding, beatings, the administration of electric shocks, extreme temperatures, denial of pain medication for injuries, severe burning, deprivation of food and water, and threats of death and sexual assault of family members."Download the full text of the final verdict in PDF form here
Download the full text of the final verdict in Word format here
Available in printed form from the Commission for $10.
View Bush Commission Torture Video on Line!
Click here to view the first of the Bush Commission videos based on the testimony taken by the commission on torture and indefinite detention (download may take a few minutes).
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski describes the chain of command that authorized the infamous tortures at Abu Graib in Iraq.
Ambassador Craig Murray describes how he discovered the horrible tortures being conducted for the U.S. and the U.K. by the government of Uzbekistan.
Camilo E. Mejia, co-chairman of Iraq Veterans Against the War, tells how ordinary soldiers like him were instructed to treat captured Iraqis "like dogs."
Dr. Stephen Miles describes the homicide of an Iraqi prisoner and you will see the prisoner's body packed in ice with a U.S. soldier giving the "thumbs up."
Barbara Olshansky from the Center for Constitutional Rights pulls together the whole picture of this illegal grab for presidential power, unrestrained by law or morality.
For all above go to:www.bushcommission.org/?q=node/26------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the holidays, when we get together with friends and family, will be an important time to talk about this responsibility and what is being done in our name to the people of the world.Get the full background on U.S. torture policies with the DVDs of testimony before the Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration. Order these DVD compilations on line today.Crimes Against Humanity: 48-minCRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: THE BUSH RECORD Now Available! A new 48-min DVD featuring the highlights of testimony before The International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration. Starting with Katrina, the film presents undeniable evidence of deliberate crimes against humanity by the Bush Administration, including also Destruction of the Global Environment; Destruction of International Public Health (HIV); Torture and Illegal Detention; and Wars of Aggression. This new edit includes testimony from Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former Commander of Prisons in Iraq, Craig Murray, Former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Camilo Mejias, Iraq Vet & War Resister, Malik Rahim, Common Ground, New Orleans, Jeremy Scahill, author, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Barbara Olshansky, attorney for Guantanamo prisoners, and Alan Berkman, MD, international AIDS expert from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and many others. Plus commentary by Harry Belafonte and Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Order: www.worldcantwait.net/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=17Bush Crimes Commission 2 DVD set$25.00
(1) Torture and Illegal Detention: Showing that the Bush administration authorized 1. the use of torture and abuse 2. the transfer (“rendition”) of persons held in U.S. custody to foreign countries where torture is known to be practiced 3. indefinite detention of persons from other countries 4. The round-up and detention of thousands of immigrants without charge or trial 5. Committing murder by authorizing the CIA to kill those that the president designates, either US citizens or non-citizens, anywhere in the world. Testimony by Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski describing the chain of command that authorized the infamous tortures at Abu Graib in Iraq. Ambassador Craig Murray on the tortures being conducted for the U.S. and the U.K. by the government of Uzbekistan. Camilo E. Mejia, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Dr. Stephen Miles describes the homicide of an Iraqi prisoner. Barbara Olshansky from the Center for Constitutional Rights describes the Constitutional issues in this illegal grab for presidential power (2) Global AIDS and Reproductive Rights: 1. Imposition of Abstinence-Only HIV Prevention Program, 2. imposition of gag-rule on abortion counseling or services on clinics receiving US aid 3. Attempts to suppress medical research studies in HIV prevention when it conflicts with the ideology of the Christian Right. 4. Restriction of Generics-- coercing countries into agreements that severely restrict the manufacture and supply of generic drugs, the only affordable option for most HIV positive people in the Third World. Testimony by Dr. Alan Berkman, Columbia University School of Public Health, Vanessa Brocato, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, Naina Dhingra, Advocates for Youth, Dr. Thomas Fasy, Professor of pathology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Campaign Against Depleted Uranium. (3) Destruction of the Global Environment: 1. Denial and Distortion of Scientific Consensus and Findings on Global Warming. 2. Obstructionism on International Efforts to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases. It has withdrawn from any international efforts that would impose binding restrictions, however minimal. It has done this with full knowledge of the catastrophic effects of global warming and the disproportionate U.S. share of world greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of global warming. Testimony by Josh Tulkin, Organizing Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, on the relationship between Hurricane Katrina and global warming. Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, describes the effects of global warming on indigenous peoples. Daphne Wyham, Institute for Policy Studies, Sustainable Energy & Economy Network, and Ted Glick, Climate Crisis Coalition (4) The Response of the Bush Administration to Hurricane Katrina: Before, During and After The record is very clear on this indictment. The Bush administration demonstrated a gross and wanton indifference to human life that caused thousands of Gulf cost residents to die and suffer needlessly. The suffering continues, systemically causing continuous grievous injuries due to displacement and related issues. Featuring Anette Addison, Abigail Bayer, Dr. Robert Bullard, Eric Carter, Prof. John Clark, Carl Dix, King Downing,Dionne Franklin, Arron Guyton, Chokwe Lamumba, Larry McBride, Malik Rahim, Jeremy Scahill, Devon Turner, Emma Lofton Woods, Dr. Beverly Wright, and Tony Zambado. (5) Wars of Aggression, details the violations of international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the Nuremberg principles. This outstanding video features testimony by: Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, on why and how the Bush administration knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq Amy Bartholomew, professor of law, Carleton University, on the structure of international law that prohibits wars of aggression Larry Everest, author of Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda, on the global agenda behind the U.S. war on Iraq Dahr Jamail, independent journalist who has reported extensively from Iraq, on war crimes being committed by U.S. forces in Iraq Jeremy Scahill, writer for The Nation and former correspondent for Democracy Now!, on the targeting of journalists in Iraq Camilo Mejia, Iraq vet and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, on what U.S. soldiers are called on to do to the Iraqi people David Swanson, organizer of Camp Democracy, on the meaning of the Downing Street memo Dr. Thomas Fasy, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, on the use of depleted Uranium weapons
Order:www.worldcantwait.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=20
