This past week, more than 150 people rallied against torture in Sierra Vista, Arizona, culminating in a mile-long march to the main gate of Ft. Huachuca, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center where interrogators are trained. The protesters delivered a message saying: "Rogue assassinations and torture have damaged the soul of our nation and tarnished our image around the world.”This past week, more than 150 people rallied against torture in Sierra Vista, Arizona,... more
A new law signed by President Obama last month now allows the US Defense Secretary to block the release of photos depicting the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. This past week, Robert Gates put this new power to work for the first time.A new law signed by President Obama last month now allows the US Defense Secretary to... more
Jeremy Scahill: "Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama"
Jeremy Scahill reports the Obama administration is continuing to use a notorious military police unit at Guantanamo that regularly brutalizes unarmed prisoners including gang beating them, breaking their bones, gouging their eyes and dousing them with chemicals. This force officially known as the Immediate Reaction Force has been labeled the Extreme Repression Force by Guantanamo prisoners and human rights lawyers call their actions illegal.Jeremy Scahill: "Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo... more
Bagram prison in Afghanistan has become almost as notorious as Guantanamo. But whilst the Obama administration has committed to closing the facility in Cuba, this one is here to stay.
In an attempt to get away from its controversial past, the prison has been given a facelift, as well as a new name - the Parwan Detention Facility.
The United States army opened it up for inspection to journalists in an unprecedented guided tour.Bagram prison in Afghanistan has become almost as notorious as Guantanamo. But whilst... more
Allegations of one detainee raped at knife-point in military facility. Philip Shiner talks about these terrible cases of sexual abuse, "hooding", sleep/food/water deprivation, etc.Allegations of one detainee raped at knife-point in military facility. Philip Shiner... more
The Men Who Stare At Goats is a hilarious new film starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey. Unfortunately, the true story it's based on is no laughing matter, especially if you happen to be a de-bleated goat housed in the U.S. Army's top secret Goat Lab or a guest of our government at Guantánamo Bay or Abu Ghraib.The Men Who Stare At Goats is a hilarious new film starring George Clooney, Jeff... more
A music promo/viral about the world we live in right now by the amazingly talented Riz MC. www.myspace.com/rizmcA music promo/viral about the world we live in right now by the amazingly talented Riz... more
Humans are amazing creations; we possess impressive intelligent. With this intelligence we have ruled the world and destroyed it too. Here are the 29 of some of the saddest pictures which tell our sad past.Humans are amazing creations; we possess impressive intelligent. With this... more
"A forensic examiner found that he (the prisoner) had essentially been crucified; he died from asphyxiation after having been hung by his arms, in a hood, and suffering broken ribs," the magazine's Jane Mayer writes in the magazine's June 22nd issue. "Military pathologists classified the case a homicide."CIA Crucified Captive in Abu Ghraib Prison
By Sherwood Ross
"A forensic... more
"When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Convention, we rightly have been criticized" http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22738.htmGen. Petraeus : US Violated Geneva Convention
3 Minute Video and Transcript... more
One can only react with horror. Contained in the stories and images of the torture of defenseless prisoners, some of them boys and women, is the true face of US imperialism, which finds no crime beneath its dignity in its effort to subjugate Iraq and Afghanistan.
White House takes swipe at British press over Daily Telegraph report
White House takes swipe at British press over Daily Telegraph report
Daniel Nasaw in Washington
guardian.co.uk,
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Gibbs twice more criticised the British press. "I think if you do an even moderate Google search, you're not going to find many of these newspapers and truth within, say, 25 words of each other," he said, adding, "I hate to lend any more credibility to nonfactual reports."
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The White House has taken a swipe at the British press in an effort to fend off questions about photographs that reportedly show US soldiers in Iraq raping and sexually abusing prisoners.
At the daily White House press briefing, spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked to comment on a report in yesterday's Telegraph that quoted a retired American general describing shocking details of photographs from US detention facilities in Iraq, which President Barack Obama has declined to release to the public.
"If I wanted to read a write-up today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League cup, I might open up a British newspaper," Gibbs said. "If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not sure it would be the first stack of clips I picked up."
The Telegraph quoted retired Major General Antonio Taguba, who investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, as saying that the unreleased photos "show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency" committed on prisoners in US custody.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Telegraph "completely mischaracterised the images", and said "none of the photos in question depict the images that are described in that article".
Gibbs twice more criticised the British press. "I think if you do an even moderate Google search, you're not going to find many of these newspapers and truth within, say, 25 words of each other," he said, adding, "I hate to lend any more credibility to nonfactual reports."White House takes swipe at British press over Daily Telegraph report... more
Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged.
At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.
Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.
Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.
Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.
Allegations of rape and abuse were included in his 2004 report but the fact there were photographs was never revealed. He has now confirmed their existence in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.
The graphic nature of some of the images may explain the US President’s attempts to block the release of an estimated 2,000 photographs from prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan despite an earlier promise to allow them to be published.
Maj Gen Taguba, who retired in January 2007, said he supported the President’s decision, adding: “These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency.
“I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one and the consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them, and British troops who are trying to build security in Afghanistan.
“The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it.”
UPDATE: Reuters reports that the Pentagon is denying these allegations saying that the Telegraph article has 'shown "an inability to get the facts right"'. Link to the article below.Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor... more
Abu Ahmed says he was there: An Iraqi held prisoner at Abu Ghraib by the American military when inmates were abused.
He says he was kept naked and saw other naked inmates stacked onto a pile while photos were taken, photos that would become public and bring shame to the United States.
The pain of the past few years is clearly etched on the man's face and equally obvious as he talks. It began October 1, 2003, he says, when U.S. troops came to his home and detained him during a sweep of his neighborhood.
The next day, he was processed and put into Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
"They made us take off all our clothes, even our underwear," recalled the man who is afraid to reveal his identity, instead offering up the alias of Abu Ahmed.
They walked us in front of all the cells, about 50 or 60 cells, in front of all the detainees, in front of the soldiers, of the female soldiers. They got us in the cells, still naked, and they locked us inside," he said, tears welling in his eyes.
"They made us stand in the corner of the cell. We were not allowed to sit down. We were not even allowed to talk."
That treatment went on and on, Abu Ahmed said. "For 32 days I was without clothes, even if we wanted to pray, we had to pray naked."
Abu Ahmed has never been charged with a single crime.Abu Ahmed says he was there: An Iraqi held prisoner at Abu Ghraib by the American... more
Watch the video to find out what turned ordinary American soldiers into the monsters revealed in the photographs.
Tales of Murder and Torture
The latest chapter in reporter Olivia Rousset's Abu Ghraib revelations. Three weeks ago on Dateline, Olivia revealed new evidence of horrific abuse at Abu Ghraib.
On the link above you can read the full transcript of the interview.....I suggest you read it, copy it, and mail it to everyone on your mailing list.
On a recent trip to the US, Olivia managed to track down two former Abu Ghraib guards - one who served time for committing abuses against Iraqi detainees and another who witnessed those shocking events. It's no small irony that both of these former US military policemen now see themselves as being among the victims of Abu Ghraib. Here's Olivia's story. And, as you would expect with this sort of report, be warned - some of what you're about to see is not exactly pretty and could even offend.
Broadcast - -Dateline - SBS Australia 03/08/06Watch the video to find out what turned ordinary American soldiers into the monsters... more
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared Wednesday he would try to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners, abruptly reversing his position out of concern the pictures would "further inflame anti-American opinion" and endanger U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama's turnabout set off immediate reactions from bloggers, both liberals who decried that he was buckling to political pressure and conservatives who agreed with the decision but said it proved the president was a flip-flopper.
The White House had said last month it would not oppose the release of dozens of photos from military investigations of alleged misconduct. But American commanders in the war zones expressed deep concern about fresh damage the photos might do, especially as the U.S. tries to wind down the Iraq war and step up operations against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan.
When photos emerged in 2004 from the infamous U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, showing grinning American soldiers posing with detainees — some of the prisoners naked, some being held on leashes — the pictures caused a huge anti-American backlash around the globe, particularly in the Muslim world.
Obama, realizing how high emotions run on detainee treatment during the Bush administration and now, made it a point to personally explain his change of heart, stopping to address TV cameras late in the day as he left the White House for a flight to Arizona.
He said the photos had already served their purpose in investigations of "a small number of individuals." Those cases were all concluded by 2004, and the president said "the individuals who were involved have been identified, and appropriate actions have been taken."
The Pentagon conducted 200 investigations into alleged abuse connected with the photos that are now in question. The administration did not provide an immediate accounting of how they turned out.
"This is not a situation in which the Pentagon has concealed or sought to justify inappropriate action," Obama said of the photos. "In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger."
The Justice Department immediately filed a notice with the court of its new position on the release, including that it was considering an appeal with the Supreme Court. The government has until June 9 to do so.
Obama said, "I want to emphasize that these photos that were requested in this case are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib."
Still, he said he had made it newly clear: "Any abuse of detainees is unacceptable. It is against our values. It endangers our security. It will not be tolerated."
The effort to keep the photos from becoming public represented for many a sharp reversal from Obama's repeated pledges for open government, and in particular from his promise to be forthcoming with information that courts have ruled should be publicly available.
As such, it invited criticism from the more liberal segments of the Democratic Party, which want a full accounting — and even redress — for what they see as the misdeeds of the Bush administration.
"The decision to not release the photographs makes a mockery of President Obama's promise of transparency and accountability," said ACLU attorney Amrit Singh, who had argued and won the case in question before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. "It is essential that these photographs be released so that the public can examine for itself the full scale and scope of prisoner abuse that was conducted in its name."
{more at link}WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared Wednesday he would try to block the... more
Military guards move a detainee at the detention center at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
Five years ago, people around the world were sickened by photographs that surfaced showing U.S. troops abusing Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Act I resulted in an avalanche of congressional hearings, 15 Pentagon probes and courts-martial. More than 400 U.S. troops — but no senior officials — went to jail or were otherwise punished. Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act to try to prevent future atrocities.Military guards move a detainee at the detention center at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay Naval... more
U.S. officials tell NBC News the Pentagon and military are preparing to release as many as 2,000 photos, including several dozen which show alleged prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay and other military detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The photos, which have not been seen publicly, would be the first visual evidence of possible prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay.
The photos are being released in response to a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
One U.S. official said the photos are "not as bad as those from Abu Ghraib," the prison where U.S. military guards stripped prisoners naked and threatened them with guard dogs, but "they're not good."
According to the official, at least one photo shows a prisoner shoved up against a wall as military guards of interrogators appear to threaten to sexually assault the prisoner with a broomstick.
A federal court in New York had ordered the military to release dozens of photos of detainees sought by the ACLU, but military officials are considering releasing as many as 2,000 photos -- most benign -- to remove any doubt or suspicions about the content of any remaining photos.
As of now the photos are expected to be released within a month.U.S. officials tell NBC News the Pentagon and military are preparing to release as... more
NEW YORK, Apr 16 (IPS) -- In a ruling that could have widespread implications for government contractors overseas, a federal court has concluded that four former Abu Ghraib detainees, who were tortured and later released without charge, can sue the U.S. military contractor who was involved in conducting prisoner interrogations for the Pentagon in Iraq.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1998, denied a motion to dismiss the detainees' claims by the contractor, CACI International. The Arlington, Virginia-based company is a major contractor to the Defense Department.
The former detainees allege multiple violations of U.S. law, including torture, war crimes and civil conspiracy.
The suit alleges that the CACI defendants not only participated in physical and mental abuse of the detainees, but also destroyed documents, videos and photographs; prevented the reporting of the torture and abuse to the International Committee of the Red Cross; hid detainees and other prisoners from the International Committee of the Red Cross; and misled non-conspiring military and government officials about the state of affairs at the Iraq prisons.
CACI sought immunity against the lawsuits and claimed that the actions of its contract interrogators at Abu Ghraib were beyond judicial review. Court martial and other testimony from the soldiers convicted of abuse has linked company personnel to the abuse.NEW YORK, Apr 16 (IPS) -- In a ruling that could have widespread implications for... more
On April 16, 2009, the Department of Justice released four secret memos used by the Bush administration to justify torture.
View them at the link
For more than five years, the ACLU and other advocacy organizations have been seeking the release of Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos that supplied the basis for the Bush administration's interrogation, detention, rendition, and warrantless surveillance policies.
The OLC, which is a component of the Justice Department, was created to provide objective legal advice to the Attorney General and to resolve legal disputes among federal agencies. During the Bush administration, however, the OLC became a facilitator for illegal government conduct, issuing dozens of memos meant to permit gross violations of domestic and international law. Some of these memos have become public through leaks to the media and through the ACLU's litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. But most of them are still secret.
The Obama administration should release the still-secret memos. As the ACLU wrote in a January 28, 2009 letter to the OLC, the release of the memos would allow the public to better understand the legal basis for the Bush administration's national security policies; to better understand the role that the OLC played in developing, justifying, and advocating those policies; and to participate more meaningfully in the ongoing debate about national security, civil liberties, and human rights.On April 16, 2009, the Department of Justice released four secret memos used by the... more
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror interrogations, far more than has previously been acknowledged.
The revelation Monday comes as a criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter.
The acknowledgment of dozens of destroyed tapes came in a letter filed by government lawyers in New York, where the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking more details of terror interrogation programs.WASHINGTON (AP) -- New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror... more
