Waterboarding is torture

[ProSense]

Malcolm Nance: Waterboarding is Torture… Period (Links Updated # 9)

Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Rep. William D. Delahunt: Waterboarding is Drowning, Waterboarding is Torture

Human Rights Watch: Waterboarding is torture.

HOLDER: 'WATERBOARDING IS TORTURE'

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell: Waterboarding Is Torture

Tom Ridge: Waterboarding Is Torture

Mukasey On Waterboarding: ‘I Would Feel That It Was’ Torture ‘If It Were Done To Me’

Retired Judge Advocates General Write To Leahy Condemning Waterboarding

November 2, 2007

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman United States Senate Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Leahy,

In the course of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of President Bush’s nominee for the post of Attorney General, there has been much discussion, but little clarity, about the legality of “waterboarding” under United States and international law. We write because this issue above all demands clarity: Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal.

In 2006 the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the authority to prosecute terrorists under the war crimes provisions of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. In connection with those hearings the sitting Judge Advocates General of the military services were asked to submit written responses to a series of questions regarding “the use of a wet towel and dripping water to induce the misperception of drowning (i.e., waterboarding) . . .” Major General Scott Black, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General, Major General Jack Rives, U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General, Rear Admiral Bruce MacDonald, U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General, and Brigadier Gen. Kevin Sandkuhler, Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, unanimously and unambiguously agreed that such conduct is inhumane and illegal and would constitute a violation of international law, to include Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

We agree with our active duty colleagues. This is a critically important issue - but it is not, and never has been, a complex issue, and even to suggest otherwise does a terrible disservice to this nation. All U.S. Government agencies and personnel, and not just America’s military forces, must abide by both the spirit and letter of the controlling provisions of international law. Cruelty and torture - no less than wanton killing - is neither justified nor legal in any circumstance. It is essential to be clear, specific and unambiguous about this fact - as in fact we have been throughout America’s history, at least until the last few years. Abu Ghraib and other notorious examples of detainee abuse have been the product, at least in part, of a self-serving and destructive disregard for the well- established legal principles applicable to this issue. This must end.

The Rule of Law is fundamental to our existence as a civilized nation. The Rule of Law is not a goal which we merely aspire to achieve; it is the floor below which we must not sink. For the Rule of Law to function effectively, however, it must provide actual rules that can be followed. In this instance, the relevant rule - the law - has long been clear: Waterboarding detainees amounts to illegal torture in all circumstances. To suggest otherwise - or even to give credence to such a suggestion - represents both an affront to the law and to the core values of our nation.

We respectfully urge you to consider these principles in connection with the nomination of Judge Mukasey.

Sincerely,

Rear Admiral Donald J. Guter, United States Navy (Ret.) Judge Advocate General of the Navy, 2000-02
Rear Admiral John D. Hutson, United States Navy (Ret.) Judge Advocate General of the Navy, 1997-2000
Major General John L. Fugh, United States Army (Ret.) Judge Advocate General of the Army, 1991-93
Brigadier General David M. Brahms, United States Marine Corps (Ret.) Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant, 1985-88

(emphasis added)

KSM Was Waterboarded 183 Times in One Month

On page 37 of the OLC memo, in a passage discussing the differences between SERE techniques and the torture used with detainees, the memo explains:

The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.

Note, the information comes from the CIA IG report which, in the case of Abu Zubaydah, is based on having viewed the torture tapes as well as other materials. So this is presumably a number that was once backed up by video evidence.

On edit: Will all those who said "waterboarding is torture" now call for prosecutions?

[ProSense]

1. "not a single one of the cases in which the [US] has prosecuted people for waterboarding turns up...

Disturbing: More Things That Are Missing

<...>

Isn't it strange, then, that not a single one of the cases in which the United States has prosecuted people for waterboarding turns up in these memos? You'd think they might be apposite. Oddly enough, though, Steven Bradbury didn't think to include them.

<...>

With all those psychological workups having been conducted on CIA detainees over a period of nearly three years, one might think that the CIA, and specifically its Office of Medical Services, would have lots of information on whether or not the techniques under discussion actually did produce any "prolonged mental harm." And yet, strange to say, the memos don't mention any evidence at all about the effects of these techniques on CIA detainees*.

It's pretty strange that the CIA had all that data about the psychiatric effects of its interrogation techniques ready to hand, and yet no one mentions it.

Or then again, maybe not.

<...>

Extent of Health Professionals' Role at CIA Prisons Draws Fresh Outrage From Ethicists:

"The health professionals involved in the CIA program broke the law and shame the bedrock ethical traditions of medicine and psychology," said Frank Donaghue, chief executive of Physicians for Human Rights, an international advocacy group made up of physicians opposed to torture. "All psychologists and physicians found to be involved in the torture of detainees must lose their license and never be allowed to practice again."

[ProSense]

2. No comment? On edit: "“The CIA wants you to believe waterboarding is effective. Yet somehow..."

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in one month.

Marcy Wheeler digs through the recently-disclosed Office of Legal Counsel memos authored by the Bush Justice Department and finds these startling statistics: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002. Wheeler concludes, “The CIA wants you to believe waterboarding is effective. Yet somehow, it took them 183 applications of the waterboard in a one month period to get what they claimed was cooperation out of KSM. That doesn’t sound very effective to me.”

[pat_k]

3. Not until they are "cured" of the beltway blindness. . .

. . .that kept impeachment "off the table." The characteristic symptom of the "illness" is the stubborn refusal to question the irreconcilable, irrational, baseless, immoral beliefs that pervade the insular world of the beltway.

Like. . .

• acknowledging that a U.S. President ordered Americans to torture and that people throughout the Executive Branch conspired to see that the orders were carried out (if you even thought for a split-second, "it's Cheney, not Bush" you've got the disease.),


• while believing it would be "useless" to prosecute and "lay blame" for crimes "past." (And the extension of that lunatic proposition -- that no crime should be prosecuted because, by definition, all crimes are "past.")

Like. . .

• believing that releasing memos to "expose the truth" will magically keep "it" from happening again,


• while leaving the perpetrators free to serve in positions of power.

Like. . .

• believing that letting CIA employees who participated in war crimes "off the hook" is "best" for the agency,


• when refusing to prosecute, which would separate the war criminals from the law abiding, marks every employee with the stain of "war criminal."

Like. . .

• believing that prosecuting war criminals would somehow damage the nation


• when harboring them merely shifts the duty to prosecute to the other parties to the Geneva conventions, and forces us to have to look to other countries to bring us back into the community of civilized nations. A shame we would never fully recover from.

The "treatment" is straightforward. Confront them. Pose the questions they seek to escape. Contradict the memes they invoke to escape thought. Follow up. Don't expect a rapid recovery. The http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5447507&mesg_id=5448828">group think that drives their "illness" is a powerful force. (But it is NOT insurmountable.)

[AtomicKitten]

4. I think some people are processing the irrefutable proof that

1) Waterboarding is torture.
2) The U.S. did torture.
3) The torture was ordered from the top of the food chain.

Now those in power are wrestling with their conscience. The wingnut argument has evolved from the flat-out lie "we don't torture" to the false and irrelevant "yes we did it a little bit but it worked," but the fact remains that waterboarding is torture and torture violates several international treaties.

I firmly believe prosecution will happen, from what quarter I'm not sure, but it is the only remedy for this illegal, immoral behavior on the part of the U.S.

[glitch]

5. k & r nt

[slipslidingaway]

6. knr n/t

[TheKentuckian]

7. Rain is wet, the Sun is bright, Mozart had talent

We also know those who took great pride in ordering said torture and the great pains they took to make it happen.

We also pretty much knew when "we" (and I use the word loosely as possible) re-elected the crime syndicate. Tens of millions are complicit in a real way. Congress had some knowledge, if not outright approval. The Courts did nothing.
There is no check within our system for a full failure at this level and no basis for authority to prosecute other than plausibly at the architect level for subversion. Others more learned than I may disagree but I think the system breaks down on this because the alternative is probably quite a bit worse. Anarchy and vendetta aren't effective systems of government.

[ProSense]

8. Yes. n/t

[grantcart]

9. Even if you don't think it is, 183 sessions in one month is.

There is no longer any argument.