The Tortured Party

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
The Tortured Party
472
Fri, 12-12-2008 - 11:15pm

Now that he's got nothing to lose by dropping the pandering, McCain issued a joint report just that found that Rumsfeld was right in the middle of authorizing the torture:

"Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Approves Aggressive Techniques (U)
(U) With respect to GTMO’s October 11, 2002 request to use aggressive interrogation
techniques, Mr. Haynes said that “there was a sense by the DoD Leadership that this decision
was taking too long” and that Secretary Rumsfeld told his senior advisors “I need a
recommendation.” On November 27, 2002, the Secretary got one. Notwithstanding the serious
legal concerns raised by the military services, Mr. Haynes sent a one page memo to the
Secretary, recommending that he approve all but three of the eighteen techniques in the GTMO
request. Techniques such as stress positions, removal of clothing, use of phobias (such as fear of
dogs), and deprivation of light and auditory stimuli were all recommended for approval.
(U) Mr. Haynes’s memo indicated that he had discussed the issue with Deputy Secretary
of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith, and General
Myers and that he believed they concurred in his recommendation. When asked what he relied
on to make his recommendation that the aggressive techniques be approved, the only written
legal opinion Mr. Haynes cited was Lieutenant Colonel Beaver’s legal analysis, which senior
military lawyers had considered “legally insufficient” and “woefully inadequate,” and which
LTC Beaver herself had expected would be supplemented with a review by persons with greater
experience than her own.
(U) On December 2, 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld signed Mr. Haynes’s recommendation,
adding a handwritten note that referred to limits proposed in the memo on the use of stress
positions: “I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?”
(U) SERE school techniques are designed to simulate abusive tactics used by our
enemies. There are fundamental differences between a SERE school exercise and a real world
interrogation. At SERE school, students are subject to an extensive medical and psychological
pre-screening prior to being subjected to physical and psychological pressures. The schools
impose strict limits on the frequency, duration, and/or intensity of certain techniques.
Psychologists are present throughout SERE training to intervene should the need arise and to
help students cope with associated stress. And SERE school is voluntary; students are even
given a special phrase they can use to immediately stop the techniques from being used against
them.
(U) Neither those differences, nor the serious legal concerns that had been registered,
stopped the Secretary of Defense from approving the use of the aggressive techniques against
detainees. Moreover, Secretary Rumsfeld authorized the techniques without apparently
providing any written guidance as to how they should be administered. "

http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/supporting/2008/Detainees.121108.pdf

What a surprise! There will be a lot more on this. If we don't hold those who broke the law accountable, the rampant rate of lawbreaking in the Republican Party will not slow down in the slightest. It will also be a good message to Democrats not to make the same mistakes.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:31pm
How do you know how all of the troops think/feel? What gives you the right to speak for them?
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-19-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:32pm
I guess I'll wait to see what his reading list contained......
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:35pm

<>


Is that so?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:36pm

Of course...

;)

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:36pm
Aide the savages?? A bit extreme to say the least. So are Indians still savages, what about Native Hawaiians, O' and we mustn't forget the Native Alaskans. They were all called savages because they didn't confirm to what the white man thought was "normal".
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:42pm
The foe became the friend when they were willing to underwrite our national debt. Money has paved the way for centuries.
.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:43pm

I am well aware what the word

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:45pm
In many, not all, and that is what is important. Your right the law is flawed, a rich person is far more likely to get away with breaking the law then a poor person is. No law is perfect so putting people through torture, or death, that may be innocent is wrong!
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:49pm
It's kinda of cool how you have the power to see into
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Sat, 12-27-2008 - 7:56pm
I bet all of the other people on this board are so jealous. I have my very own editor. Yeah!

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