C.I.A. interrogators used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique that top Obama administration officials have described as illegal torture, 266 times on two key prisoners from Al Qaeda, far more than had been previously reported.
A footnote to another 2005 Justice Department memo released Thursday said waterboarding was used both more frequently and with a greater volume of water than the C.I.A. rules permitted.
The Times article, based on information from former intelligence officers who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abu Zubaydah had revealed a great deal of information before harsh methods were used and after his captors stripped him of clothes, kept him in a cold cell and kept him awake at night. The article said interrogators at the secret prison in Thailand believed he had given up all the information he had, but officials at headquarters ordered them to use waterboarding.
He revealed no new information after being waterboarded, the article said, a conclusion that appears to be supported by a footnote to a 2005 Justice Department memo saying the use of the harshest methods appeared to have been “unnecessary” in his case.
KEEP THE PRESSURE ON!Take ten minutes today to do two three four NOW FIVE SIX SEVEN painless things.
EVEN IF YOU CALLED AND WROTE THE LETTERS ALREADY, DO IT AGAIN -- NUMBER SIX IS A FRESH ACTION AS OF 23 APRIL COURTESY OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL!
1) Call the White House at 202-456-1111 (or TTY/TDD: 202-456-6213)
Tell the nice staffer that answers the phone that in order to uphold and defend the Constitution, the criminal prosecution of officials - high and low - is an absolute necessity. Prosecution of Bush-era officials is not retribution. It is the maintenance of law and the repudiation of torture and other illegal acts.
2) Send a letter to your Representatives.
Clicking on the link will take you to IndictBushNow.org which has a form prepared to make it easy. They provide a prewritten paragraph which you can tweak and add to as you wish. The letter will be dispatched to both of your Senators and your Congressional representative.
***Be sure to correct their spelling of maintenance. They made an error and have it spelled "maintainance."***
Easy form to fill out and send an email to the president. The White House phone line has been pretty busy, so this is another thing to do while waiting for them to pick up.
4) AND 5) Call for the Impeachment of Jay Bybee by writing your Congresional Representative and by writing John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Use Progressive Democrat of America's web page to generate and send a letter to your Congressional Representative calling for the impeachment of Jay Bybee. Bybee is the former DOJ lawyer who authored a torture memo and now has a life appointment to sit as a federal appeals court judge. See Dave Swanson's excellent blog, ImpeachBybee.org, for the sordid details of Bybees war crimes.
Use the Center for Consitutional Right's page to generate a letter to John Conyers and the House Jusiciary Committee. Sending this letter also puts your name on their petition. Two birds, one stone.
Amnesty International has a new letter generator up that sends letters to Obama, your senators and your congressional representative requesting that "...any investigation must be independent, backed by the full force of law, and have enough funding to uncover the full truth behind the U.S. torture program." As usual, you can tweak the verbiage they provide as much or as little as you'd like.
If you are beyond disgusted and want to take the time (less than an hour to sign and call them all), here are more things you can do from your keyboard courtesy of David Swanson's AfterDowningStreet.org.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Prosecutions:
Federal:
Add your organization or individual name to joint statement requesting a Special Prosecutor. Ask organizations you're in touch with to sign on. The demand for prosecution has been supported by many members of Congress.
Sign a petition asking Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in war crimes. Sign now.
Collect signatures in the real world by printing out this PDF. Please enter the data you collect on the petition online and/or mail the completed (or partially completed) forms to JDS, 4407 Garrison Street NW, Washington DC 20016.
Phone and Email and fax the Office of the Attorney General at 202-514-2001 AskDOJ@usdoj.gov fax:202-307-6777 to request a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in war crimes.
The ACLU now has its own petition to Holder: Sign it now.
Firedoglake now has one too: Sign it here.
In June 2008, 56 Democratic Congress members, led by Congressman John Conyers, wrote to Attorney General Mukasey asking for a Special Prosecutor. Conyers and Congressman Jerrold Nadler wrote to Mukasey again in December 2008. Please ask them to re-send these letters to the new Attorney General, Eric Holder. Conyers 202-225-5126, Nadler 202-225-5635. Nadler says he's drafting a new letter. Here's a letter we've drafted that you can ask your congress member to send.
Also sign the No Amnesty for Torturers Petition to Congress.
Congressman John Conyers has proposed extending statutes of limitations on Bush-Cheney crimes. Help make this happen.
Contact the State Department's Office of War Crimes Issues and urge them to ask Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in war crimes.
International:The International Criminal Court can also indict. Please request it.
And petition the United Nations to set up an international tribunal.
Foreign:
Our friends at the Center for Constitutional Rights are coordinating with attorneys pursuing prosecutions in other countries under universal jurisdiction.
The British and Spanish governments have begun criminal investigations.
Best of Torture on Open Salon that you won't see on the front page:
Dennis Loo
Obama Calls for Changes to the Criminal Code
Tugging on the Torture Thread
Penis Cutting: Torture or State Sponsored Body Modification?
Why Obama Released the Torture Memos
"Lack a Certain Polish:" Torture and the American Conscience
Maj. Gen. Taguba Calls for War Crimes Commission
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Torture Revealed Yet Again
Personal Torture Laws: Your Tax Dollars at Work
ImpeachBybee.org
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Monte Canfield
President Obama Confronts Evil and Blinks, Again!
The Ethics of The President's Decision on Torture
Options for a CIA/Justice/White House Torture Probe
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TadCF
WHAT ABOUT TORTURE?
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norman kelley
Jesus and Torture: Or, What If Jesus Was Waterboarded?
American Water Torture: Once Is Not Enough
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Norwonk
Dick Cheney, National Coward
Prosecution of Torturers? That's So Banana Republic!
The Defense Phil Spector Should Have Used
Barack Obama, War Criminal?
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trevor seitz
Does Torture Have A Statute Of Limitations?
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libertarius
Obama and Torture: Did He Say Just Following Orders?
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Gary Herstein
The Works (or, do I hear water?)
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Paul J. O'Rourke
Politics and Torture
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Tom Cordle
Tortured Principles and Temporary Practicality
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Kent Pitman
Hypocrisy and High Collar Crimes
Rule of Law
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Douglas Moran
Torture: The Under-the-Radar Folks
Torture: The Supporters
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Carey Krause
Morals and CIA Memos: Can we practice what we preach?
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markinjapan
Tortured decision
Generals and Admirals
Obama tries to put one over on us
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Lisa Solod Warren
"Trickle Down Torture"
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Mick Arran
Cheney Defends Torture
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Noahvose
TORTURE: Principles or Security?
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Paul Levinson
The Deeper Issue in Investigating Bush Admin Torture Policy
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fingerlakeswanderer
Where Was the Torture Outrage in 2005?
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D.M. Schwartz
Play the Torture Tapes
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OEsheepdog
Torture Works? A movie that turns that idea on its head.
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Faith Paulsen
My 30-Year Learning Curve on the Torture Issue
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J.E. Robertson
Cheney Throws Last Shred of Credibility to the Wind
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Lea Lane
Torture Prosecution: “Conviction” To Counter “Passion"
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Sally Swift
Abu Ghraib Tortured Us All
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Kind of Blue
Christopher Hitchens On Video Being Water Boarded.
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Bart Hawkins Kreps
Decriminalizing torture
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Owl_Says_Who
The Torturers Could Have Been You . . . or Me
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DJohn
Is The Speaker in Trouble?
What Would YOU Do? Remember, NO "Torture"!
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Tony Wang
Obama: Torture Investigations Distracting
All Torture, All the Time
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ESSENTIAL SATIRE:
Procopius
Breaking News: Solzhenitsyn Nobel Posthumously Rescinded!
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The Desperate Blogger
Cheney Calls for Probe of McCain, POWs
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The Nudity - lest we forget:
Comments
Take action today and force Obama to do the right thing.
Why isn't there an article about torture on the front page?
None of the excellent articles I have linked to above are even editor's picks.
Is Open Salon pretending the torture didn't happen?
I went to her blog and it’s got explosive, well-sourced material such as today’s post about how the NSA intercepted a conversation between Rep. Jane Harman (D-Ca) telling an AIPAC agent that in exchange for his help getting Pelosi to appoint her as Chair of the House Intel Committee, she would intercede on his behalf to protect him against espionage charges by the US. Harman apparently was one of the people who helped persuade the NYT not to publish what they knew about the NSA’s illegal surveillance before the 2004 election. Gonzalez shielded Harman from the revelations of her assisting the AIPAC agent – what the DOJ then called a “completed crime” on Harman’s part – because the AG needed Harman’s support on the warrantless wiretapping program.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/
This post of empywheel's is particularly stunning:
What Does a House Intelligence Chairmanship Cost?
High level Democrats are complicit in the torture program. Obama must be forced to take action and let the chips fall where they may.
Obama is right to fear investigations because he has become a war criminal himself, but it is not too late to save him from himself. He must do the right thing and begin investigations.
Torture is a shocking issue, but I cannot understand why people are also not shocked by the civilians we kill weekly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. By continuing and expanding the illegal war in that region and killing hundreds of women and children in the process, Obama is again committing war crimes.
Yes, I goad.
This is illegal torture and following orders is no excuse.
I will be doing more of your suggestions. Thank you so much for compiling this. It is ironic that the economic meltdown that Bush and his cronies had a hand in creating is likely to become the primary distraction from the prosecution they deserve.
Your point about the economy is valid. It is a distraction. Also, Bush and Cheney and all their friends and family got very rich off the so called war on terror and that contributed to the economic melt down as well. It is all intertwined and related.
The DOJ employees more than enough attorneys to investigate and prosecute the war crime of torture and the white collars crimes of Wall St. If Obama halted marijuana prosecutions, he would free up even more lawyers. America is lousy with lawyers. We have the resources to do the right thing.
I don't know why, but it's the big blood smear on the floor that gets me worst. The rule of law and basic human decency should never result in big smears of blood on the floor. Picturing the person who had to clean that later really brings it home how routine, how normal, this all was for the people who did it.
What I still don't understand: don't people get that how we treat people in our power is who we are?
Those pics alone are enough for me. Enough, I say. I will get on the phone again this afternoon and call. I have sent emails already. I cannot believe it is legal to do this to anyone for any reason. Ever!
This is criminal acts done for no reason. I am very upset about the entire mess. We have got to stand up once in a while and say stop the madness now. This post is excellent.
Thanks BBE
I would give you a jungle of whole monkey hands for this rating!!
You may not think it, but your letters and calls can make a difference. It doesn't have to be eloquent to be counted. Politicians track the calls and letters they receive and if enough are sent/made, it can spur action. A staffer I know in my Congressional rep's office told me each call is calculated as reflecting the opinion of 12,ooo constituents.
Right now Obama lacks political will. He must be forced to act.
I've added a few more blogs to the list. Nice to see the Editors of Open Salon finally featured one on the front page.
The more reporting I read and see about this issue, the more grateful I am to the ACLU. They forced the release of the memos. Who knows what else is waiting to be flushed into light.
It is stunning how obtuse they are:
The Defense Phil Spector Should Have Used
Use this link to get to the Center for Constitutional Right's page where you can generate a letter to John Conyers and the House Judiciary committee. Sending the letter automatically puts your name on a petition as well.
Jay Bybee is the Bush era DOJ lawyer who wrote torture memos and now sits as a federal appellate court judge.
Time for change.
Appreciate the links and suggestions. Will use and pass on.
Being from Australia, I doubt the White House will take much notice me, but I can try. I'll also do the actions shown for the International Community. Thank you for this.
Dennis Loo is one of the best writers on important issues that we have on OS and doesn't get anywhere near enough recognition.
Someone wrote above:
"Why did they use it when they knew it would produce FALSE results"
I think that the most logical answer to this is that they wanted fake confessions and false results. I think that 9/11 had nothing to do with Afghanistan and Bush's administration wanted to get some kinds of fake proofs that it did have.
Now Obama has started to expand the war in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Why?
Because there is money to be made and Obama's corporate masters want to make it.
9/11 was false flag and when that is eventually proved beyond doubt, most Americans will just shrug.
Someone wrote above:
"Why did they use it when they knew it would produce FALSE results"
I think that the most logical answer to this is that they wanted fake confessions and false results. I think that 9/11 had nothing to do with Afghanistan and Bush's administration wanted to get some kinds of fake proofs that it did have.
Now Obama has started to expand the war in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Why?
We cannot allow those who designed the torture and wrote about it in detail, asked for its approval from Justice, and then implemented that very torture to just walk, never be investigated, let alone prosecuted.
Monte
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