De hoogste assistenten van Bush die voor marteling Guantánamo worden geduwd
Maandag, 21 April, 2008
Door Brad DeLong | OGMB stuurt ons naar:
De hoogste assistenten van Bush die voor marteling Guantánamo worden geduwd: Leider van het hogere ambtenaren de gemeden leger om ondervragingsmethodes te introduceren door Richard Norton-Taylor de Beschermer, Zaterdag 19 April 2008: Meeste hogere was algemeen van Amerika „hoodwinked“ door hoogste het beleidsambtenaren van Bush bepaalde om door agressieve ondervragingstechnieken van verschrikkingsverdachten te duwen die in Baai Guantánamo plaatshebben die, tot de militair V.S. leidt die zijn eeuwenoud verbod op de wrede en inhumane behandeling van gevangenen verlaat, vandaag openbaart de Beschermer. Algemene Richard Myers, voorzitter van de gezamenlijke leiders van de V.S. van personeel vanaf 2001 tot 2005, geloofde verkeerd dat de medebewoners in Guantánamo en andere gevangenissen door de overeenkomsten van Genève en tegen misbruik gelijkwaardig aan marteling werden beschermd. De manier hij was duped door hogere ambtenaren in Washington, dat de overeenkomsten geloofde van Genève en andere traditionele beschermingen verouderd waren, wordt onthuld in een verwoestende rekening van hun rol, de uittreksels waarvan in de Beschermer van vandaag verschijnen.
In zijn nieuw boek, martel Team, Philippe Sands QC, professor van wet bij Universitaire Universiteit Londen, openbaart dat:
- De hogere het beleidscijfers van Bush duwden door eerder verbannen maatregelen met de hulp van onervaren militaire ambtenaren in Guantánamo.
- Myers gelooft hij een slachtoffer van „intrige“ door hoogste advocaten bij het Ministerie van rechtvaardigheid, het bureau van ondervoorzitter Dick Cheney, en bij de defensieafdeling van Donald Rumsfeld was.
- De advocaten Guantánamo die met het bedenken van ondervragingstechnieken worden belast werden geïnspireerdv door de prestaties van Jack Bauer in Amerikaanse reeks 24 van TV.
- Myers geloofde verkeerd de ondervragingstechnieken uit het het gebiedshandboek van het leger waren genomen.
De advocaten, alle politieke aangestelden, die door de ondervragingstechnieken duwden waren Alberto Gonzales, David Addington en William Haynes. Ook geïmpliceerdl werden Doug Feith, de ondersecretaris van Rumsfeld voor beleid, en Jay Bybee en John Yoo, twee hulpprocureursalgemeen. De revelaties hebben een woeste reactie in de V.S. van die vertrouwd met de inhoud van het boek gevonkt, en wie vastbesloten zijn om verantwoordingsplicht voor de manier duidelijk te maken de overtreden internationale en binnenlandse wet van Bush beleid door gevangenemisbruik en marteling te sanctioneren. Het beleid van Bush heeft geprobeerd om de slechte behandeling van gevangenen bij Baai Guantánamo en de gevangenis van Abu Ghraib in Irak weg te verklaren door ondergeschikte ambtenaren te beschuldigen. Sands’ book establishes that pressure for aggressive and cruel treatment of detainees came from the top and was sanctioned by the most senior lawyers.
Myers was one top official who did not understand the implications of what was being done. Sands, who spent three hours with the former general, says he was “confused” about the decisions that were taken. Myers mistakenly believed that new techniques recommended by Haynes and authorised by Rumsfeld in December 2002 for use by the military at Guantánamo had been taken from the US army field manual. They included hooding, sensory deprivation, and physical and mental abuse. “As we worked through the list of techniques, Myers became increasingly hesitant and troubled,” writes Sands. “Haynes and Rumsfeld had been able to run rings around him.”
Myers and his closest advisers were cut out of the decision-making process. He did not know that Bush administration officials were changing the rules allowing interrogation techniques, including the use of dogs, amounting to torture. “We never authorised torture, we just didn’t, not what we would do,” Myers said. Sands comments: “He really had taken his eye off the ball … he didn’t ask too many questions … and kept his distance from the decision-making process.”
Larry Wilkerson, a former army officer and chief of staff to Colin Powell, US secretary of state at the time, told the Guardian: “I do know that Rumsfeld had neutralised the chairman [Myers] in many significant ways. The secretary did this by cutting [Myers] out of important communications, meetings, deliberations and plans. At the end of the day, however, Dick Myers was not a very powerful chairman in the first place, one reason Rumsfeld recommended him for the job”. He added: “Haynes, Feith, Yoo, Bybee, Gonzalez and - at the apex - Addington, should never travel outside the US, except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel. They broke the law; they violated their professional ethical code. In future, some government may build the case necessary to prosecute them in a foreign court, or in an international court.”
Impeach George W. Bush. Impeach Richard Cheney. Impeach all present and former members of their personal staffs. Impeach Gonzales, Addington, Haynes, Feith, Bybee, and Yoo. Impeach every present and former cabinet and subcabinet official in the Bush administration.
Do it now.
The former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, was bypassed and given the runaround by Bush administration officials keen to implement torture of detainees but worried that Myers would object, according to the Guardian today.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff from 2001 to 2005, wrongly believed that inmates at Guantánamo and other prisons were protected by the Geneva conventions and from abuse tantamount to torture.
The way he was duped by senior officials in Washington, who believed the Geneva conventions and other traditional safeguards were out of date, is disclosed in a devastating account of their role, extracts of which appear in today’s Guardian.
In his new book, Torture Team, Philippe Sands QC, professor of law at University College London, reveals that:
· Senior Bush administration figures pushed through previously outlawed measures with the aid of inexperienced military officials at Guantánamo.
· Myers believes he was a victim of “intrigue” by top lawyers at the department of justice, the office of vice-president Dick Cheney, and at Donald Rumsfeld’s defence department.
· The Guantánamo lawyers charged with devising interrogation techniques were inspired by the exploits of Jack Bauer in the American TV series 24.
· Myers wrongly believed interrogation techniques had been taken from the army’s field manual.
Philippe Sands Q.C. isn’t just any professor of law dabbling in instant punditry, by the way. He’s Director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at University College London and a member of the internationally renowned form of Matrix Chambers - definitely the A-Team. He also personally interviewed most of the main players in the Bush administration for his book, including Myers.
The first big decision was Geneva. For historic, cultural and training reasons, Myers insisted that the Geneva conventions should apply, even to a rogue, lawless actor such as al-Qaida. It became clear to me that Myers was a little confused about the decision that was actually taken. He claimed to be satisfied with the president’s decision of February 7 2002. “After all the arguments were done, the decision was, we don’t think it applies in a technical sense, but we’re going to behave as if it does.” That wasn’t what the president decided.
The actual decision distinguished between the Taliban - to whom Geneva applied, although detainees could not invoke rights under it because they were not wearing uniforms or insignia - and al-Qaida, to whom it didn’t apply at all because they were not a state. Had Myers understood what had been decided? Did he appreciate the consequences for interrogation techniques? If the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was confused, then inevitably soldiers in the field would also be confused. As one seasoned observer of military affairs put it to me, Myers was “well and truly hoodwinked”.
So what did Myers think about the new techniques? “We thought, OK, all the techniques came out of the book, there weren’t any techniques invented.” I stopped him.
“Out of which book?” I asked.
“Out of 34-52,” he replied. “I think all of these are in the manual.” They were not - not one of them. “They aren’t?” he asked, surprised. Not only that, but most of them violated Geneva’s Common Article 3. Such an answer from the chairman of the joint chiefs surprised me.
As we worked through the list of techniques, Myers became increasingly hesitant and troubled. At forced grooming and dogs he became defensive. “Dogs were only to be present, never to be…” his words tailed off. “When you see this, you say, holy mackerel,” he exclaimed. “We never authorised torture, we just didn’t. Not what we would do.” Little by little, my understanding of Myers’s role was becoming more focused. He hadn’t pushed for these new techniques, but he didn’t resist them, either. He didn’t inquire too deeply.
That’s just one part of a long excerpt from Sand’s book at The Guardian backing their main story. It ends with a little bit of hope for those who would preserve the rule of law even against the most powerful politicians on earth - the incumbents of the American White House.
Parties to the international Torture Convention are required to investigate any person who is alleged to have committed torture. If appropriate, they must then prosecute - or extradite the person to a place where he will be prosecuted. The Torture Convention is also more explicit than Geneva in that it criminalises any act that constitutes complicity or participation in torture. Complicity or participation could certainly be extended not only to the politicians and but also the lawyers involved in the condoning of the 18 techniques.
We may yet see these criminals in court one day - but not in America.
(Hat tip - Kat, our intrepid researcher)
Update Oh look - the NYT editorial board finally noticed that their President bragged about authorising torture.
See More:Bush Guantanamo USA NewsHave Your Say: Top Bush aides pushed for Guantánamo torture
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This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008at 3:18 amand is filed under War & Terrorism News, Political News, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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