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Secret Red Cross report of C.I.A. torture of Qaeda captives


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Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001. The book says that the International Committee of the Red Cross declared in the report, given to the C.I.A. last year, that the methods used on Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure the United States captured, were "categorically" torture, which is illegal under both American and international law. The book says Abu Zubaydah was confined in a box "so small ... he had to double up his limbs in the fetal position" and was one of several prisoners to be "slammed against the walls," according to the Red Cross report. The C.I.A. has admitted that Abu Zubaydah and two other prisoners were waterboarded, a practice in which water is poured in the nose and mouth to [cause near] suffocation and drowning. The book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, by Jane Mayer ... offers new details of the agency’s secret detention program, as well as the bitter debates in the administration over interrogation methods. Citing unnamed "sources familiar with the report," Ms. Mayer wrote that the Red Cross document "warned that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted."
dearmat23

30 responses // Secret Red Cross report of C.I.A. torture of Qaeda captives

  • I think those that interrogate should watch sci-fi movies to update their methods. You can catch flies with honey instead of vinegar.

    Psychopaths are clever, witty and charming. They can weave words to make people not see that they are in fact cold blooded killers at heart. That when they were 15 they shot their grandmother in the head and stabbed her repeatedly. Then waited for their grandfather to come home and shot him dead so he wouldn't have to suffer the loss of his wife. And when asked by authorities why did he do it (Because he called his mom and waited for the cops) he said that he just wanted to know how it felt to kill someone. Then he spent 5 years being "rehabilitated" (with an expunged record--removing the murder of his grandparents) fooled everyone into believing he was getting better (Found God too). Though the Doctors said he was not fully ready yet and he readily agreed but the State released him. Then he killed again--6 women. Had sex with their dead mutilated bodies. After that he went to his mothers and killed her. Had sex with her body. cut off her head and placed it on the mantle and shot darts at it. He was captured and he wanted to be sentence to death, he asked for it at trial and they sentenced him to life.

    The point is that if a psychopath can be convincing and fool people into thinking he's fine and get what he wants by luring people towards him, then a interrogator can do so with terrorist by speaking and not hurting. Or they just have a whole bunch of stupid interrogators. If they were smart enough they'd get information without inflicting pain. It's possible.
    J_Jammer
    4 responses to this
  • ya'know when bush is eventually tried, they aren't even going to have to investigate, they can just collect all the war crimes published by the media over the years and say "well, there ya go". easy as pie.
    jh64487
  • Sucks to be a terrorist.
    damnneargenius
  • Why do they keep on trying to destroy the dignity of other human beings?
    thekingbeyond
  • Why is Bush still in office?
    erodut
  • Any Government that tortures is a Criminal Government and anyone who supports this Government is an accessory to crimes against humanity.
    recommended by  Vierotchka
    BretByron
    3 responses to this
  • http://current.com/items/89104618_first_guantanamo_bay_...
    Everyone who is Pro-Torture proceeds from the exact same false assumption.

    We were told (*cough* lied to *cough*) that GitMo held the "worst of the worst."

    We were told that GitMo housed terrorists so powerful, so evil that lex Luthur himself would shit his pants in terror.

    And a lot of people believed that bullshit hook, line and sinker --- and then defend torture as necessary because they still think GitMo houses nothing but Dr. Evil-style super villians.

    Follow the link above to another news story that came out regarding the release of an interrogation video of a 15 year old kid currently residing at GitMo.

    This 15 year old was picked up in Afghanistan after allegedly throwing a hand grenade at US soliders. Let's assume that he was caught redhanded (the evidence is a little sketchy) -- why the fuck is he at GitMo and costing us taxpayers $100,000 a year to house him there?

    At 15 years old is obviously isn't a terror cell mastermind -- nor is he some billionaire arms dealer personally arming terror camps all over the world. At best he's a punk teenager who was in the middle of a warzone. An asshole? Yes! A criminal mastermind so dangerous to the US he needs to be beaten, waterboarded and sodomized because he and he alone has access to ultra critical information? Not a chance.

    Again -- the pro-torture camps seems to be under the deeply misguided asumption that GitMo houses "the worst of the worst" and yet time and time again we keep reading about teenagers being held there, old men being held there, not to mention the dozens that are released because (oops!) they turned out to be totally innocent.

    What's interesting to me is that so many of the pro-torture people actually have ZERO faith in government on ANY other topic.

    They want to abolish the Federal Reserve, get rid of the EPA, burn the FDA to the ground -- all on the belief that government is hopless incompetent.

    "Government fucks everything up!" they cry whenever universal healthcare is suggested.

    And yet when it comes to GitMo they suddenly have a change of heart.

    "Of course government is nearly perfect, saintly and flawless! How dare you suggest we have the wrong people in custody or would ever do anything less than Christ-like! How dare you!"

    Seems their political beliefs change as needed.

    They hate the idea of univeral healthcare, so thus all government is corrupt, incompetent, evil, etc.

    They (lets be honest) kind like the idea of showing those savage Iraqi pagans whose boss and getting revenge for 9/11 -- so thus government becomes saintly, pure, ultra efficent, nearly incapable of mistakes.
    recommended by  Vierotchka
    crob80227
    1 response to this
  • It comes down to these fundamental questions. If someone attacked your town in an undeclared war, would you fight back? If you did fight back would you be considered a terrorist by the attacking country for doing so? Is it legal by International Law to physically remove you from your country and imprison you thousands of miles away, or is it kidnapping? If the Geneva Convention is only applicable in a time of declared war, is it not just a little convenient that war was never declared.

    There really is no moral conscience in America anymore. I am not positive when exactly we lost it, but we did.

    This country has conscience of convenience. What ever this government does, either to other nations or to its own citizens is only wrong if it directly effects us personally. Otherwise all is wonderful, and we are the greatest nation on earth.

    Maybe the next generation will quit turning a blind eye .
    recommended by  Vierotchka
    TerryA
  • Another interesting point that has been all over the news this week (much to the ongoing embarrasment of the Bushies) is that the "interrogation techniques" we were using were designed soley to be used to elicit false confessions.

    I believe we actually copied it verbatum from the Koreans/Communists and were using it to teach our soliders how to resist torture if captured.

    These techniques it turns out were never designed to get actual/useful information -- only false confession for propoganda purposes.

    Kinda weird that McCain signed off on them as perfectly legitimate.
    recommended by  Vierotchka
    crob80227
  • Fantastic fantastic points crob.

    Serious kudos.

    You laid out perfectly what I always have trouble convincing people of.
    Saladin
  • What the hell is the red cross doing with "secret reports"?

    CIA 2.0

    Trust no government agency!
    1percent
  • TyMarshal
  • http://current.com/items/89113511_rumsfeld_torture_and_...
    Rumsfeld, Torture, and the Geneva Conventions

    http://current.com/items/89113511_rumsfeld_torture_and_...
    Vierotchka
  • C.I.A. torturing terrorists is not a surprise i mean we are no better then the terrorists
    santana01
  • I just don't understand all this hate in this world.. there are other ways to get info , they don't need to torture and belittle anyone. there are other solutions .
    Bren589
  • I think you people are retarded. torture has been used for thousands and thousands of years. Its not even new in america. Think torture only occured in your lifetime? you people just need to go back to sleep and waste your lives away. Bush knows very little and has very little power. you think the president actually has power? Im sure you all have argued against lobbyists and things like that , think they have no power? Kennedy? think Obama will do what he says and survive? Why dont you wake up. Congress has the power, CIA,Secret Service, The RICH PEOPLE OF THE WORLD.
    Recession, War, rarely the goal of ONE MAN. Shadow governments
    WhatHappened
  • What great example were setting for other people on how "peaceful" we are. Theres no need for any torture unless they need to be interrogated for information in which case you be clever about it because they are very devoted to what they believe in.
    CrocStock
  • you are right bren589 there are other ways to get information from these terrorists but these government bastards don't understand that and the C.I.A. and rest of these clowns are no different from these terrorists
    santana01
  • Santana01 , Maybe one day they will figure it out.. and for whathappened .. we all know there has been torture going on for centuries but don't you agree that its time we all try to put a stop to it ? I do . have a great day
    Bren589
  • torture have been going on for centuries but bren589 let's be honest these government clowns will never figure it out because this president and his girlfriend dick and the C.I.A are too damn stupid and it's time do put a stop to this because this government is no different for these terrorists and you have a great day also bren589
    santana01
  • THe United States does not torture. I am sure the Red Cross has a very different "interpretation' of torture t hat the interrogators they accuse. The CIA has a very serious responsibility to gain intelligence, and the Red Cross has a very serious obligation to remain neutral in such issues.
    mjsmith11
  • Perhaps all the bleeding heart tree huggers need to remember what exactly these people did on Sept. 11, 2001.
    I personally don't think they're being tortured enough.
    Why don't you look some of the children, spouses, moms,dads, siblings and other loved ones of the THOUSANDS that were killed by these people in the eye and say, "They're just confused right now. We're gonna talk to them and see what we can do to help." Whatever.
    Cruel and unusual punishment? What about the victims? Did they die smiling in their sleep? NO! They died horribly and in pain and it probably wasn't quick for many of them.


    OH, and the 15 year old someone was talking about...he's from Canada.
    So what was he doing in Iraq tossing grenades? It's not like it's his hometown or anything. He wasn't protecting his family. He was there because he hates Americans too.
    Cherlhov1976

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