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Guantanamo/Torture News Roundup Wednesday

By possum

Every day there are new and different stories from the world of darkness we call Guantanamo.  Analysis arrives from around the globe as the facts continue to come to light.

Concern about words not matching actions is in the forefront.

ImageBased on legal precedence, there is plenty of evidence that interrogation techniques used in Guantanamo Bay and other US run facilities, such as Abu Ghraib, constituted torture in violation of US and international laws. It makes no difference that some slick legal counselors, that were under pressure to deliver lies, skirted these regulations and informed operatives that barbaric actions are acceptable. Regardless of the justifications used, the infractions still stand and represent a breach of laws that government agencies are sworn to uphold.

And in conclusion from the same article

If so, our entire nation, after having lost its way, truly is as bad as any common thuggish pirating lowlife on the high seas or elsewhere. Surely we, as a people and a nation, can collectively rise above that despicably squat, base and deficient stature. If not, all of the underlying principles of our country's founding fathers, our justice system, itself, and the ethical underpinnings that make our country truly great are without value. They are merely empty platitudes and nothing more.

The ongoing wishy-washy Obama talk about prosecutions makes news almost every day.  Today maybe prosecutions are not ruled out after all.

President Barack Obama is leaving the door open to the possible prosecution of Bush administration officials who approved harsh interrogation methods for suspected terror detainees after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. At the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Obama said he worries that any congressional hearings on the policies could be politically divisive, but that he could support a bi-partisan inquiry.

Time will tell...

And more criticism of the Obama administration.

"Equal Justice Under Law"

"Justice, the Guardian of Liberty"

These principles should mean something. Obama promised change but he has now decided, much like when Nixon declared that when the President does it, it is not illegal, that when the CIA gets permission from the Justice Department, that also means that it is not illegal. Obama decided that the interrogators who followed the 'guidelines' rules of torture would not be prosecuted. The problem is that those rules were written for and by the Bush administration who wanted to torture.

Maybe good news for the Uighurs at Guantanamo.

White House lawyers are refusing to accept the findings of an inter-agency committee that the Uighur Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay are too dangerous to release inside the U.S.

The GOP ramps up its stance against closing Guantanamo.  Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell

Guantanamo currently houses some of the most dangerous men alive. These are men who are proud of the innocent lives they've taken and who want to return to terrorism.

And so the rhetoric continues.

Legal experts around the world seek more information from Obama about torture under Bush.

Champions of the environment and the law concede that Obama has a lot on his plate, but impatience is setting in following missed opportunities in recent weeks to signal a new direction on fighting terrorism and global warming.

The hesitation to make a radical departure from the Bush years in security matters has some legal analysts concerned that Obama's team is more talk than action.

beachblogger42, Flickr, Creative Commons

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).