Gitmo Is All About Politics

Kristen Breitweiser was one of the infamous Jersey Girls that pressured Congress to form the 9/11 Commission. Breitweiser writes about how President Obama invited 9/11 families to the White House and promised to close Guantanamo Bay.

For the past two years, it's been President Obama in the Oval Office. Quite early on in his presidency, Obama invited the 9/11 families to the White House to discuss 9/11-related issues. During this meeting in Feb '09 the topic of closing Guantanamo and the use of Article 3 courts to prosecute the remaining alleged 9/11 conspirators was discussed. Many of us were incredibly relieved to learn that as a matter of course President Obama was going to shut down Guantanamo and support the open prosecution of the alleged 9/11 conspirators. He gave us -- the varies widows and children at the meeting -- his golden word. He shook our hands. He smiled broadly. He posed for pictures. (In fact, several weeks later many of the widows received hand signed courtesy copies of these photos from Obama -- a nice touch. I did not receive such a photo.)

Obama's "golden word" isn't worth much. The Justice Department announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried in a military tribunal at Guantanamo. In Obama's defense, Congress refused to fund the transfer of detainees to the United States. Slate columnist Dahlia Lithwick knocks the blame Republican defense aside.

Say what you will about how Congress forced Obama's hand today by making it all but impossible to try the 9/11 conspirators in regular Article III courts. The only lesson learned is that Obama's hand can be forced. That there is no principle he can't be bullied into abandoning. In the future, when seeking to pass laws that treat different people differently for purely political reasons, Congress needs only fear-monger and fabricate to get the president to cave. Nobody claims that this was a legal decision. It was a political triumph or loss, depending on your viewpoint. The rule of law is an afterthought, either way.

Obama's and the Republican Party's legal stance makes sense when viewed through the prism of politics. Republicans could play to the base by keeping detainees at Gitmo. Obama needed the base in 2008 and had to campaign against Bush's unpopular detainee torture and secret prison policies. Once Obama got elected he could forget about the detainees issue after Republicans shot it down in Congress. Obama wasn't about to spend political capital defending the rights of the very guilty Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Republicans were spared from having to defend torture. Everyone wins. Except the rule of law.

Bush Admits to Ordering Torture

The Washington Post reports former President George W. Bush admits to ordering the waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.

In his book, titled "Decision Points," Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the United States. Bush writes that his reply was "Damn right" and states that he would make the same decision again to save lives, according to a someone close to Bush who has read the book.

Bush previously had acknowledged endorsing what he described as the CIA's "enhanced" interrogation techniques - a term meant to encompass irregular, coercive methods - after Justice Department officials and other top aides assured him they were legal. "I was a big supporter of waterboarding," Vice President Richard B. Cheney acknowledged in a television interview in February.

"Damn right" Bush ordered torture. Bush wasn't so cavalier about this fact when he was in the White House. Bush gave Katie Couric an alternative version of reality.

"I've said to the people that we don't torture, and we don't."

Except when Bush tortures people.

The United States is violating the Geneva Conventions it is legally obligated to comply with. The CIA destroyed 92 videotapes to hide evidence of torture. The Bush administration was scared of getting prosecuted. Bush can now brag about torture because President Barack Obama has vowed to to prosecute anyone involved with waterboarding. Bush is legally in the clear and knows it.

Why We Should Care About Torture

"Why does the media care So much about torture?"

Jim Johnson, of State of Sunshine.

We should all care about torture. It is an act of violence that is morally unacceptable. The Geneva Conventions make clear torture is illegal.

To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:

(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;

(b) Taking of hostages;

(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;

(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

The U.S. Constitution grants Habeas corpus. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Boumediene et al v. Bush allowed detainees to file Habeas corpus petitions. The Eighth Amendment forbids the use of "cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Torture fits the definition of unconstitutional treatment of prisoners. Boumediene does not give detainees the same rights as American citizens. Conservatives argue it is okay to waterboard detainees because they are foreigners. Xenophobia trumps conducting interrogations that would produce quality intelligence.

The question that should be asked is why conservatives care so little about torture. The evidence is torture interrogations did not produce the intelligence the Bush administration claimed. Conservatives rightfully bash repressive regimes for torturing political prisoners. Why is torture good if the United States does it? Repressive if done by China.

Conservatives use the argument of jihadists beheading prisoners as evidence the Bush administration tactics are justified. Conservatives made the simplistic argument two wrongs make a right. Are we suppose to start beheading detainees because terrorists do? The question is asinine. As is waterboarding Khalid Sheik Mohammed 183 times and expecting new information.

The United States has sent Maher Arar sent to Syria to be tortured. He was released because the CIA mistaked him for someone else. Arar was held and tortured in Syria for ten months. Not only do we torture like repressive regimes - we outsource work to these countries

I hope that answers Jim Johnson's question.

'We Don't Torture' Is A Myth

The C.I.A. waterboarded Abu Zubaydah a minimum of 83 times in August of 2002. Khalid Sheik Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003. Firedoglake blogger Marcy Wheeler broke the latter story before the New York Times. Wheeler found information about Mohammed's waterboarding from a C.I.A. memo sent to John Rizzo, Senior Deputy Council for the C.I.A. Rizzo was involved with the C.I.A. secret prisons. His nomination for CIA general counsel was killed in the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The memo makes clear former C.I.A. Director George Tenet had to approve all uses of waterboarding.

Any interrogation plan that involves the use of enhanced techniques must be reviewed and approved by "the Director, DCI Counterterrorism Center, with the concurrence Chief, CTC Legal Group."

The memo admits Zubaydah and Mohammed were waterboarded.

Consistent with its heightened standard for the use of waterboarding, the CIA has used this technique in the interrogation of only three detainees to date (KSM, Zubaydah and 'Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri) and has not been used since the March 2003 interrogation of KSM.

The damning evidence is on page 37.

The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.

The memo mostly attempts the legally justify pure torture. Anyone that doesn't think waterboarding is torture should try it. George Tenet approved this. How long until Tenet starts passing the buck to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney?

President Barack Obama spoke at the C.I.A. Langley headquarters. The President promised not to prosecute or release the identity of operatives involved in waterboarding.

"You are an indispensable tool, the tip of the spear in America's international mission and our national security," Obama said. "I will be as vigorous in protecting you as you are in protecting the American people."

He acknowledged that "the last few days have been difficult" and said he would continue to fight to keep classified documents secret. But he defended his administration's decision to release select documents last week, saying much of the information in them was already public knowledge.

"I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos," Obama said.

Releasing the memos will put pressure on Obama to prosecute people. Former C.I.A. Director Michael Hayden has repeatedly attacked Obama. Hayden is obviously nervous. Hayden's argument that terrorsts weren't aware of C.I.A. interrogation methods before the memos were released. That is garbage. Hayden is covering his ass.



This is the same Hayden that told he didn't know if waterboarding was illegal.

It [waterboarding] is not included in the current program, and in my own view, the view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain that that technique would be considered to be lawful under current statute.

I have doubts only three detainees were waterboarded. A 2005 ABC News story details waterboarding and other tortures methods at an secret Afghanistan prison. Hayden told Congress only Zubaydah, Mohammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded. What is going on is Hayden knowingly perjured himself to Congress. I doubt Hayden will get charged for perjury. Hayden isn't so confident.

If waterboarded was safe and legal then why did the Bush administration lie about their interrogation methods for years? The Bush administration either suffered from a collective pathological lying disorder or were afraid of criminal indictments.

Update: Emily Bazelon proposes disbarment for David Addington, Alberto Gonzales and Jim Haynes. I would add Rizzo and Rizzo and John Yoo. How can Obama be able to argue these men shouldn't disbarred?

Update: John McCain criticizes Obama for releasing the memos. (Still testy about the election.) McCain does state waterboarding is morally wrong.

It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. One is too much. Waterboarding is torture, period. I can ensure you that once enough physical pain is inflicted on someone, they will tell that interrogator whatever they think they want to hear. And most importantly, it serves as a great propaganda tool for those who recruit people to fight against us. And I've seen concrete examples of that talking to former high-ranking al-Qaeda individuals in Iraq.

Update: Batocchio has a lengthy must read piece on David Rivkin's defense of waterboarding.

CIA Confirms Waterboarding

CIA Director Michael Hayden confirms that the agency waterboarded detainees Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim Nashiri. Former CIA officer John Kiriakou told the media he supervised in the waterboarding of Abu Zabaydah. Kiriakou told MSNBC host Dan Abrams the White House was aware that Zabaydah was tortured. The CIA destroyed tapes of the detainees of being waterboarded.

Abrams: So do you believe the White House ultimately knew that he was being waterboared?

Kiriakou: Absolutely.



President Bush repeatly denied that the administration was torturing suspects. When pressed about waterboarding, Bush would say he didn't want the enemy to know about interrogation techniques. That is a disingenuous way of the President not giving a yes or no answer. Astronauts on the International Space Station are likely aware that the United States waterboards.

This is the same President whom Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Scott McClellan publicly stated was involved in the leaking and cover up of Valerie Plame's CIA covert status. Bush has no respect for classified information. He is hiding behind secrecy to protect himself from criminal prosecution.

Does anyone really believe Bush has the same difficulty understanding the meaning of waterboarding that Bill Clinton had with the word "is?" Politicians use the stupidity excuse when they are in legal trouble. I doubt Bush will be prosecuted for torture.

After all the deception, Hayden is pleading with Congress not to make a law forbidding waterboarding. The Director uses fearmongering to get his message across.

"One should not expect them to play outside the box because we've entered a new period of threat or danger to the nation, OK? So there's no wink and nod here," he said. "If you create the box, we will play inside the box without exception."

Terrorists aren't the only groups guilty of playing outside the box. The White House still hasn't come clean about secret prisons and the kidnapping of Maher Arar. The Canadian citizen was taken to Syria by the CIA. The Syrian government tortured him. Maher was finally released by Syria and cleared by the Canadian government. Maher was abducted because he had a similar name to a person on the CIA's terrorist watchlist. The Bush administration refuses to comment on the Maher case. The reason is because it is (you guessed it) classified.