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ACLU Releases More Torture Documents

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 11:31:08 AM EST
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The ACLU today released more torture documents obtained from the Government. The new documents are available here. From the press release:

The American Civil Liberties Union today released newly obtained documents showing that senior Defense Department officials approved aggressive interrogation techniques that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents deemed abusive, ineffective and unlawful.

"We now possess overwhelming evidence that political and military leaders endorsed interrogation methods that violate both domestic and international law," said Jameel Jaffer, an attorney with the ACLU. "It is entirely unacceptable that no senior official has been held accountable." ...Today's documents come in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace. The New York Civil Liberties Union is co-counsel in the case.

Check out the May 30 memorandum by FBI personnel, containing "a detailed discussion of tensions between FBI and Defense Department personnel stationed at Guantánamo in late 2002."

According to the memo, Defense Department interrogators were encouraged by their superiors to "use aggressive interrogation tactics" that FBI agents believed were "of questionable effectiveness and subject to uncertain interpretation based on law and regulation." The May 2003 memo specifically names Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who was then Commander of Joint Task Force-Guantánamo, as having favored interrogation methods that FBI agents believed "could easily result in the elicitation of unreliable and legally inadmissible information." The memo states that FBI personnel brought their concerns to the attention of senior Defense Department personnel but that their concerns were brushed aside.

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    ACLU Releases More Torture Documents | 5 comments (5 topical)
    Re: ACLU Releases More Torture Documents (none / 0) (#1)
    by Punchy on Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 11:51:10 AM EST
    Ah..the FBI got the old "Long walk, short pier" routine.... Must be fun being an FBI agent nowadays...trying to follow and abide by pesky things like laws that the CIA, DoD, D of Treasury, President, etc. don't have to honor anymore...

    Re: ACLU Releases More Torture Documents (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 12:04:44 PM EST
    once more you can see all of this in our prison system. what about the mass killings in our jail system of innocent people? did bush order some killed?

    Re: ACLU Releases More Torture Documents (none / 0) (#3)
    by marty on Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 01:15:11 PM EST
    AND YET......EVEN AT THIS POINT....Our power-mad Secretary Of Defense just the other day described the Abu Ghraib events as done by "one night shift in Iraq". It is an obscenity that no senior official has been held accountable. The whole lot of them oought to be hauled up on charges from the Coward-In-Chief on down.

    Re: ACLU Releases More Torture Documents (none / 0) (#4)
    by theologicus on Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 02:01:48 PM EST
    Two troubling reports of death by torture have recently appeared in the news. As usual they have received little or no coverage by the mainstream media. Both involve prisoners either in US custody or else under ultimate US authority and control. The first is a report released yesterday by Human Rights First, documenting the deaths of nearly 100 detainees in US custody since 2002. The second report, even more shocking, is a statement by John Pace, who retired last week as human rights chief for the UN assistance mission in Iraq. Pace, a citizen of Malta, indicated to a newspaper in his country that the US is "aware" that nearly 1000 prisoners die of torture in Iraq each month. Here is a summary of the Human Rights First report: * 98 detainee deaths in U.S. custody. * 45 suspected or confirmed homicides. Thirty-four deaths were homicides under the U.S. military's definition; Human Rights First found 11 additional cases where the facts suggest death as a result of physical abuse or harsh conditions of detention. * In 48 cases - close to half of all the cases - the cause of death remains officially undetermined or unannounced. * Certainly 8, as many as 12, people were tortured to death. * Only 12 deaths have resulted in any kind of punishment. Here is part what was reported by the Times of Malta: The US is "aware" of torture taking place in Iraqi prisons, according to the outgoing Maltese UN human rights chief in Iraq. "Yes, torture is happening now, mainly in illegal detention places. Such centres are mostly being run by militia that have been absorbed by the police force," says John Pace, who retired last week as human rights chief for the UN 
assistance mission in Iraq. In a frank interview with The Times, Dr Pace says photos and forensic records have 
proved that torture was rife inside detention centres. Though the process of release 
has been speeded up, there are an estimated 23,000 people in detention, of 
whom 80 to 90 per cent are innocent. He says the Baghdad morgue received 1,100 bodies in July alone, about 900 of whom bore evidence of torture or summary execution. That continued throughout the year and last December there were 780 bodies, including 400 
having gunshot wounds or wounds as those caused by electric drills. These reports indicate once again why we need the National Religious Campaign Against Torture

    Re: ACLU Releases More Torture Documents (none / 0) (#5)
    by john horse on Thu Feb 23, 2006 at 08:00:23 PM EST
    theologicus, I couldn't agree with you more. Via Eric Alterman, here is a link to the Human Rights First report. As they say, read it and weep. Also, recently "CIA's top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as "water boarding." George Bush once said "Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right, and we are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law. . .Many have been detained, arrested, thrown in prison, and subjected to torture by regimes that fail to understand that their habits of control will not serve them well in the long-term." For once, I couldn't agree with Bush more.

    ACLU Releases More Torture Documents | 5 comments (5 topical)