"I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work."
Donald Rumsfeld, for Defense Secretary
Truer words have never been said.
Rumsfeld was questioned by the House Armed Service
Services Committee in 2005 about the number of insurgents in Iraq. Rumsfeld dodged the question because he had no idea. This is what happens when a Defense Secretary doesn't do either intelligence or "intelligent" work.
In 2001, Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert was in charge of detainee treatment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Lehnert attempted to have Marine security personel honor the Geneva Conventions. Former Se. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld opposed Lehnert's efforts. Lehnert told Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times Guantanamo Bay hurt America's international standing.
"I think we lost the moral high ground," Lehnert said. "For those who do not think much of the moral high ground, that is not that significant.
"But for those who think our standing in the international community is important, we need to stand for American values. You have to walk the walk, talk the talk."
Lehnert advocates for the immediate closing of Gitmo.
"I think we should close it down," he said. "I think the information we're getting is not worth the international beating we're taking."
No, it isn't. The recent arrest of Najibullah Zazi proves terrorism can be prevented without torture. The inhumane treatment of detainees at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib have been used by Al-Qaeda for recruitment. Creating more terrorists is a terrible tactic for terrorism prevention.
The Joint Personal Recovery Agency told the Pentagon's Office of the General Counsel torture was unlikely to produce useful intelligence. The JPRA memo interrogations that involved gaining the detainees trust will be more effective.
(U) As noted previously, upwards of 90 percent of interrogations have been successful through the exclusive use of a direct approach, where a degree of rapport is established with the prisoner. Once any means of duress has been purposefully applied to the prisoner, the formerly cooperative relationship can not be reestablished. In addition, the prisoner's level of resolve to resist cooperating with the interrogator will likely be increased as a result of harsh or brutal treatment.
(U) For skilled interrogators, the observation ofsubtle nonverbal behaviors provides an invaluable assessment of the prisoner's psychological and emotional state. This offers important insights into how the prisoner can be most effectively leveraged into compliance. Further, it often enables the interrogator to form a reasonably accurate assessment ofthe prisoner's veracity in answering pertinent questions. The prisoner's physical response to the pain inflicted by an interrogator would obliterate such nuance and deprive the interrogator of these key tools.
The JPRA compared the interrogation methods the Bush administration would later adopt to the techniques used by oppressive regimes. The memo stresses detainees will lie, in order to stop being tortured. The false information defeats the whole point of the interrogation.
(U) In numerous cases, interrogation has been used as a tool of mass intimidation by oppressive regimes. Often, the interrogators operate from the assumption (often incorrect) that a prisoner possesses information of interest. When the prisoner is not forthcoming, physical and psychological pressures are increased. Eventually, the prisoner will provide answers that they feel the interrogator is seeking. In this instance, the information is neither reliable nor accurate (note: A critical element of the interrogation process is to assess the prisoner's knowledgeability. A reasoned assessment of what the prisoner should know, based on experience, training, position, and access should drive the questioning process.)
The question is if Donald Rumsfeld saw this memo. All indications are Rumsfeld was firmly committed to the torture policy. It is known that Rumsfeld approved of stress positions.
President Barack Obama has left the door open to prosecution of Bush administration lawyers involved in making torture policy.
"With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the Attorney General within the parameters of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that. I think that there are a host of very complicated issues involved there."
Asked about his opinion of a congressional investigation into the matter, Obama refrained from taking a position -- but maintained that such an investigation should be bipartisan if it happens. "As a general deal, I think that we should be looking forward and not backwards. I do worry about this getting so politicized that we cannot function effectively, and it hampers our ability to carry out critical national security operations."
Asked Sunday on ABC's "This Week" about the fate of those officials, Emanuel said the president believes they "should not be prosecuted either and that's not the place that we go."
The release of the memos was going to create pressure on Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute. Obama was asked in the Oval Office if Bush lawyers could be prosecuted. "I don’t want to prejudge that," Obama answered.
Obama repeatly stressed C.I.A. operatives will not be prosecuted. The President went to the Langley headquarters to personally deliver that message.
The White House press corp is curious about why the Obama administration backtracked on previous statements about criminal prosecutions against Bush officials. Press Sec. Robert Gibbs does his best to spin.
Kevin Drum makes a strong argument that Office of Legal Counsel attorney can not be prosecuted without charges leading to George W. Bush. Drum sees Obama eventually ruling prosecution is impossible. My take is this is take on momentum of it's own. Bush supporters are fewer than the people that dislkie him. That doesn't mean Bush, Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld will be prosecuted. George Tenet is another story. Some people were born to fall on the sword.
Karl Rove and Bill Kristol literally laugh off serious claims that the Bush administration profiled and violated the civil rights of American Muslims. Even if you agree with the Bush administration's detainment policy (which I don't), Kristol and Rove show a childish lack of sensitivity.
KRISTOL: What have we done to Muslims in America? What has happened?
JENKINS: Arrested them.
KRISTOL: We’ve arrested Muslims in America? [LAUGHTER]
JENKINS: Incarcerated them without trial.
KRISTOL: We’ve incarcerated Muslims in America without trial?
ROVE: Rounded them up? Rounded, rounded them up? Name one?
KRISTOL: Nonsense.
ROVE: Name one instance.
JENKINS: The, [UNCLEAR] belabor me all day with lists of people who have vanished. Vanished.
ROVE: You know-
KRISTOL: Well, that-
ROVE: This is on the border of lunacy, with all due respect.
JENKINS: But you didn’t need to do it, you didn’t need to do it-
ROVE: We didn’t do it!
The United States just aren't detaining American citizens. Canadian Maher Arar was detained during a JFK International Airport layover. He was rendition to Syria and tortured. The Canadian government has cleared Arar. The Bush administration will not talk publicly about Arar's case.
"The information is also significant because it shows that the CIA was involved, and that two days after Maher was jetted out of the U.S., before anyone knew where he was, CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) officials thought the U.S. wanted to send him to a country that 'could have their way with him' -- confirming that the U.S. officials who sent Maher to Syria did so to have him interrogated under torture," she said.
"The revelations from last week about complicity and torture confirm our worst suspicions of the dangers of unchecked executive power in a democracy," Jason Gratl, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, told IPS in an interview.
"The willingness of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to mislead the judiciary with respect to the origins of the information derived from torture demonstrates once again that balance of power must be rectified."
Kristol and Rove are delusional. They are less scary than torture architects Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. The latter felt the United States was too timid and wanted even harsher torture.
This June 30, 2003 exchange between Donald Rumsfeld and CNN Correspondent Jamie McIntyre illustrates the length the Bush administration would go to deny the realities of growing insurgency in Iraq.
MCINTYRE (voice-over): I want the DOD definition of guerilla war.
RUMSFELD: I was afraid you would. I should have looked it up. I knew I should have looked it up. I could die that I didn't look it up.
MCINTYRE: The Pentagon's own definition (unintelligible): "Military and paramilitary operations conducted in enemy-held or hostile territory by an irregular predominantly indigenous forces." It seems to fit a lot of what's going on in Iraq.
RUMSFELD: It really doesn't.
The vast majority of U.S. military casualties occurred after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. There were early signs of an insurgency and Rumsfeld was too incompetent to address the situation. Republicans appoint people like Rumsfeld and tell us they are the only political party that can keep them. That is about as believable as there was no guerilla war in the summer of 2003.
A young female college student told President Bush, she asked Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld what laws govern American contractors in Iraq. She informed the President that Rumsfeld did not know. Bush laughed and informed the woman he was also clueless. The video shows Bush's willful arrogance.
According to the Jamie Leigh Jones Foundation, 38 American woman have experienced sexual assault and harassment from fellow contractors. Jones told Congress, "Victims of crime perpetrated by employees of taxpayer-funded government contracts in Iraq deserve the same standard of treatment and protection governed by the same laws whether they are working in the U.S. or abroad." The State Department failed to ask the Justice Department to investigate Jones's allegations that she was gang raped. Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice missed Bill Nelson's deadline to respond to allegation of female contractors sexually assaulted. Last year, the Justice Department refused to send a representative to the House Judiciary Committee hearing on the matter. The Bush administration is stonewalling.
The Pentagon has refused to provide Nelson with information on how many rape examinations were performed by military doctors. The Criminal Investigation Command of the Army informed Nelson, 124 sexual assaults have been documented. Contractors fall under the State Department's jurisdiction. The Dep. of State has investigated only four sexual assaults.
Former KBR employee Mary Beth Kineston said, "I felt safer on the convoys with the Army than I ever did working for KBR." Kineston was fired after complaining about being physically groped. "At least if you got in trouble on a convoy, you could radio the Army and they would come and help you out. But when I complained to KBR, they didn’t do anything. I still have nightmares. They changed my life forever, and they got away with it."
Pamela Jones experienced similar threats.
Pamela Jones, of Texas, a KBR logistics coordinator in Kuwait in 2003 and 2004, was sexually assaulted by a supervisor. “It was known that if you started complaining that you could lose your job,” said Ms. Jones, who added that she reported it to management. “They give you an 800 number to report. But then they shoved it under the rug, and they told me I was a pest.”
Jamie Leigh Jones and Tracy Barker signed employment contracts that do not allow them to file civil suits against their former companies in court.
Jones didn't know much about arbitration when she signed the contract and was shocked to learn what she had done.
"I learned that I had signed away my right to a trial by jury," she said.
Republican Congressman Bill Poe voiced his disapproval of the employment agreements.
"Air things out in a public forum of a courtroom," said Rep. Poe in an earlier interview with ABC News. "That's why we have courts in the United States."
Bush's ignorance and arrogance is dangerous. The President literally considers laws over contractors are laughing matter. Iraq is a dangerous place to work because of the insugency. Bush makes matters worse by allowing a lawless environment for women to work in. The moral abyss America government has become because of the Bushies will take years to change. Why else would the administration make contractor immune from prosecution?
Yesterday, Jamie Leigh Jones testifying before U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
''How secure can we really be with the final analysis and key judgments?''
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, casting doubt on the National Intelligence Estimate report that Iran ended it's nuclear weapons program in 2003.
First thought: the fact that she feels secure taking Bush's and Cheney's assertions on Iran seriously after they were dead wrong on Iraq should give her constituents pause. Second thought: Ros-Lehtinen didn't seem to bothered by the cherry-picked intell coming from the defunct Office of Special Plans. The intelligence agency was created by Donald Rumsfeld and Douglas Feith and reported directly to Dick Cheney's office.
Ros-Lehtinen voted to declare Iraq the central front on terror and to give Bush the authorization for war. She voted against giving President Clinton the power to invade Kosovo. She decides foreign policy on petty partisanship. Ros-Lehtinen is utterly unserious and should be treated as such.
Now this is interesting. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has summoned Donald Rumsfeld to testify tomorrow. Rumfeld will speak under oath about his knowledge of the Pentagon investigation into Pat Tillman's death.
Here is a list of people who will testify.
The Honorable Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense
Gen. John P. Abizaid (Retired), Former Commander, U.S. Central Command
Gen. Richard B. Myers (Retired), Former Chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Gen. Bryan Douglas Brown (Retired), Former Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger, Jr. (Retired), Former Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
The Pentagon originally stated that Tillman was killed by enemy fire. Tillman and his fellow Rangers never engaged enemy combatants. The firefight started because an unmanned explosive went off. Tillman was awarded a Silver Star was a fictitious battle.
What is baffling is how Tillman was killed with three well-placed bullits to his forehead. The shots were fired from within ten yards. An autopsy was buried until the Associated Press got the documents through the Freedom of Information Act.
"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.
Soldiers in Tillman's untit burned Tillman's body armor and uniform. The White House invoked executive privilege to internal documents relating to Tillman.
In related news: you can donate to the Pat Tillman foundation. The foundation's mission is to educate high school students local, national, and global issues.
Comments like that bother the hell out of me. What has George W. Bush done in the past four years to earn the trust of Congress on Iraq? Bush's sycophants made bogus promises to the American people that the Iraq war would be easy.
"I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators," Dick Cheney said on Meet the Press.
Paul Wolfowitz promised the Iraqis would quickly finance their own government.
"The oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years. Now, there are a lot of claims on that money, but… We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon."
To illustrate just how clueless the Bushies are no moment tops the early part of the war. Donald Rumsfeld described the rioting as "stuff happens." The loiting gave way to crime and social anarchy which created the insurgency. The Iraqi people because hotile at the Americans for not keeping the streets safe.
Vern Buchanan is still willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt. Amazing.
Wonkette and Donkey Rising have reported someone is pretending to be Donald Rumsfeld and is sending out email with a Gmail account. So I shot off an email.
I am a blogger who has discovered that you have a following of college girls who think you are a love stud. How do you feel about being a hunk of burning Rummy? Check out this site if you don't believe me.
The email address is rumsfeldenator@gmail.com. I bet this guy's box is slammed.
