State Dept. Warned White House on Torture

[Spazito]

WASHINGTON - The State Department warned the White House two years ago that rejecting international standards against torture when dealing with detainees could put U.S. troops at risk.


A department memo from Feb. 2, 2002, surfaced Thursday as President Bush (news - web sites) said he ordered U.S. officials to follow the law while interrogating suspected terrorists. Bush sidestepped an opportunity to denounce the use of torture.


"What I've authorized is that we stay within U.S. law," Bush told reporters at the close of the G-8 summit in Georgia.

snip

A decision that the conventions do not apply to the conflict in Afghanistan in which our armed forces are engaged deprives our troops there of any claim to the protection of the convention in the event they are captured," State Department legal adviser William H. Taft IV wrote in the 2002 memo to presidential counsel.


Furthermore, refusing Geneva standards to detainees "weakens protections afforded by the conventions to our troops in future conflicts," Taft wrote. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo.

more

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=ap/bush_prisoner_abuse

[molly]

1. Those "visiting" DU should pay attention

to these articles instead of getting someone fired for freedom of speech.

[Justice]

2. Drip, Drip, Drip

The state dept memo "surfaces" to say we told the WH torture was wrong. All the fingers and all the eyes are turning to the WH.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. A "surfaced" memo makes a pretty pathetic firewall,

if that's all they have. This means Colon's rectum is getting tight.

[struggle4progress]

24. I bet they have a memo for every occasion.

[Justice]

28. I Bet They "Gots" Lots More Than A Memo

They at least have Colin Powell testifying under oath to a jury that he tried to warn Bush and Cheney but was repuked.

Colin would still be guilty, but get a lesser sentence.

[Tight_rope]

30. When you follow the dripping blood..it leads right up the the WH...

and straight into the Oval office. Every time I see Bushes ugly face I see the face of a devil. :evilgrin: When I look as his hands, I see the blood of innocent people, but Iraqis and Americans.

[Just Me]

3. I wonder if Dub's general counsel is starting to sweat bullets.

I don't doubt he was instructed to find some way to render war crimes inapplicable or inoperable.

[cmayer]

9. On the good side...

he will never get on the Supreme Court.

There goes the #1 candidate.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. You know W doesn't listen to focus groups.

n/t

[hlthe2b]

5. Buh Bye to Gonzales' hopes of being appointed to the Supreme Court

....karma's a bitch, hmmm?

[UpInArms]

6. Gonzales decided in August 2002 that Bush had authority OVER

Congress and did not require Congressional approval to go to war

see:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/3938859.htm?1c

Posted on Mon, Aug. 26, 2002

Bush's lawyers OK plan to attack

WASHINGTON - Lawyers for President Bush have concluded that he can launch an attack on Iraq without new approval from Congress, in part because they say that permission remains in force from the 1991 resolution giving Bush's father authority to wage war in the Persian Gulf, according to administration officials.

<snip>

"We don't want to be in the legal position of asking Congress to authorize the use of force when the president already has that full authority," said a senior administration official involved in setting the strategy. "We don't want, in getting a resolution, to have conceded that one was constitutionally necessary."

<snip>

White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales had his deputy, Timothy Flanagan, develop the administration's legal position on questions surrounding a war with Iraq.

That legal review is largely complete, officials said, with the consensus emerging that the president would not be legally bound to obtain approval for action against Iraq. In making this case, officials point first to the Constitution's designation of the president as commander in chief.

<snip>

(and this one just shows why Cheney kept saying - al Qaeda/Iraq)

Administration officials said their position was bolstered by a Sept. 14 resolution, passed 98 to 0 in the Senate and 420 to 1 in the House, endorsing a military response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That argument would depend on linking Iraq and al Qaeda.

...more...

[Edmond Dantes]

10. Principal Deputy White House Counsel Timothy E Flanigan....

was Assistant Attorney General for OLC (DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel) during the final year of Bush I. If Flanigan developed the Administration's legal position vis-a-vis the war with Iraq, then it is highly likely that C. Boyden Gray's fingerprints can be found as well. (Gray, heir to a tobacco fortune, was White House Counsel for Bush I -- the quintessential corporate pig).

Flanigan has since left the White House for Tyco. (You remember the Tyco scandal, right?)

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:4y9zXLZO4DsJ:www.kendallhq.com/thnews/112102.pdf+flanigan+tyco&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[UpInArms]

25. Welcome to DU Ewan I Bushwackers!

Glad to have you here!

:toast:

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. So...in essence The War on Terror equals

CYA. No sarcasm when I say this...it honestly is the thing that connects the dots. They're promoting Iraq as part "War on Terror" umbrella in an attempt to keep their asses out of being tried for high treason.

[wabeewoman]

18. Exactly....

When things don't make sense, just dig deeper into the muck and there will be ulterior motives or lots of money with this gang of crooks.
"That argument would depend on linking Iraq and al Qaeda." Makes sense now, doesn't it?

[UpInArms]

26. That's correct, liburl

as long as they can continue to say Iraq/al Qaeda or Iraq/War on Terra they believe that they have their "get out of jail free" card.

That's why just last week the SnoozeMax had their Iraq/al Qaeda tie in and 9/11 tie story.

That's why 80% of FAUX viewers think there is a link between 9/11 and Iraq.

That's why Cheney continues to say it.

It's their story and they're sticking with it.

Let's hope they stick to the flypaper and get thrown out with the trash.

[Sugarbleus]

31. Geeminy Ka risstmas! I'm longing and waiting for the

shootout at the white house when these bass tards get their arses yanked outta there in handcuffs and at gunpoint.

Wouldn't ya just love for our military to turn on these corrupt warmongers!!? THAT would be the REAL law Mr. Bushtard!

[Edmond Dantes]

12. Neocons don't think Gonzales is conservative enough anyway.

Gonzales is in trouble because he relied on the legal advice he received from neocons like Timothy E. Flanigan (former Asst. Attorney General for OLC) and now David Leitch (former Deputy Asst. Attorney General for OLC, former General Counsel of FAA on 9/11, and former Rehnquist law clerk.)

My understanding is that neocon crackpot Ted Olson (current Solicitor General) detests Gonzales for being insufficiently hard-line. Neocons are setting Gonzales up to take the fall, which is the exact same thing they did to Kenneth Starr -- and for the exact same reason. (Yes, neocons believed Starr to be too moderate. I believe that he was set up to do the dirty work and to take the fall in his capacity as the anti-Clinton Independent Counsel).

Neocon Olson wants to sit on the US Supreme Court himself. He would love to see the more moderate Gonzales go down in flames, thereby eliminating some of the competition -- just like Starr was eliminated. Rehnquist (former OLC Asst Attorney General) and Scalia (former OLC Asst Attorney General) will back Olson (former OLC Asst Attorney General).

[hlthe2b]

21. Your assessment seems on target to me....

Are you a lawyer by chance? (just curious)

[Edmond Dantes]

22. Bingo!

Yes, I'm an attorney. Been in DC for over a decade.

[John_H]

7. "Stay in the law" as it is determined by AsKKKroft=Torture.

My God, the whores are stupid and lazy. Chimp tipped what his hand will be as this develops--if it develops. Their :limited fallback" position is "Yeah, the president authorized it, but it was because we told him it was within the law."

[librechik]

11. Kerry needs to denounce torture immediately

Make a statement, John! Answer the question the Chimp avoided!

[nolabels]

19. On the other hand would anyone think he could endorse it?

:crazy:

Take him away from the many layers of advisor's (probably many more recently) and the real JFK could come out ( only that it's posible, but I am not holding my breath)

[KansDem]

13. What were we to expect???

As a kid, Bush blew up frogs with firecrackers! As an adult, he used expletives in social settings to ridicule and off-color language to describe people! He mocked the condemned he was about to execute!

He even implied that he talks about his mother's vagina with his father!!!

What made us think he was "compassionate?" What made us think he had ANY respect or reverence for life?

GW Bush is a no-class slob with no morals or ethics. The fundies need to realize they need to look at the character of the man, not whether or not he's "born again." They are responsible for putting this creature in the White House; they need to stay home next election!!!"

To paraphrase Barnum:
"There's a sucker 'born-again' every minute"

[Bandit]

14. "What I've authorized is that we stay within U.S. law,"

In the USA the Supreme Law of the land is Treaty. If we break a treaty we are breaking US Law in fact Supreme Law. There is no justification ~ none ~ for breaking the Treaty of the Geneva Convention and it is quite specific in how we deal with civilians and combatants alike.

[Bragi]

16. What about the U.S War Crime Act?

Why isn't anyone focusing on the US War Crimes Act? I seldom see it mentioned anywhere in reporting and commentary on the abuse of Iraqi civilians and prisoners by Americans, despite the fact that this statute was passed by Congress precisely to cover such acts.

See http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2441.html


- B

[Beetwasher]

17. Colon Bowel Covering His Ass

Sorry Colon, you didn't do nearly enough. You're a criminal thug now too. Deal with it.

[Pallas180]

20. "What I've authorized is that we stay within U.S. law," he said

parsing. Law is subject to interpretation, is what he's saying.
And HIS PEOPLE interpreted that the Geneva Conventions did not apply
to people he could associate with Al Queda. They're not a state. Therefore in their minds they could label them detainess or some such
nonsense and not have to mind Geneva...torture would be okay if they
could identify them as Al Queda.

But didn't he call some enemy combatants? And didn't news articles
actually SAY, the President was personally making the decisions as to
who was named what? whether they would go to Guantanamo or a military court etc?

We may yet see georgie in the docket of the Hague. I sincerely hope so.

And by the way, Kissinger has been indicted in another country as a war criminal. How come he hasn't been grabbed and taken the way Pinochet was?

Thinking about it, even if georgie porgie gets away with this with our republican house of representatives refusing impeachment or special prosecutors, some other country will indict him in absentia..and perhaps grab him 30 years from now.

Something to look forward to.

[treepig]

23. raping children?

that's within the law?

this guy's gone totally insane. (stating the obvious)

[MaineDem]

27. Kick

:kick:

[struggle4progress]

29. and ...

:kick: