What The Admin/CIA Want To Hide: "It’s Not the Water-Boarding, It’s the Blows to the Head"

[kpete]

"I was taken out of my cell and one of the interrogators wrapped a towel around my neck, they then used it to swing me around and smash me repeatedly against the hard walls of the room."

---shows that they were using physics, as well. By using a towel wrapped around the victim’s neck, they were essentially using arm extensions to increase the speed of the victim’s head as it hit the wall. The higher the speed at impact, the greater the force of impact. For the geeks around, the speed and force of impact go up with the square of the extension (linear speed of the head is rotation of the center point per unit time times pi times the radius squared). Net result: even the short arm extension provided by the towel results in a tremendous increase in the force of impact. “Techonology” at work. Can’t get much more disgusting than this.

.........................

It’s Not the Water-Boarding, It’s the Blows to the Head
By: emptywheel Tuesday April 14, 2009 8:06 pm

Just to lay out a few details based on this article explaining that Obama continues to waver on what parts of the 2005 Bradbury torture memos to reveal. (h/t Steve)
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123975168816518691-lMyQjAxMDI5MzE5NDcxNTQxWj.html

---1. According to the WSJ, it's not the description of water-boarding that the CIA wants to hide. It's the description of how the CIA threw people against the wall.

--- Among the details in the still-classified memos is approval for a technique in which a prisoner's head could be struck against a wall as long as the head was being held and the force of the blow was controlled by the interrogator, according to people familiar with the memos.

2. We know from the ICRC report this technique had been used, three years before Bradbury wrote his OLC memos, with Abu Zubaydah.
http://www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf
.................

...these details have already been made public, in the ICRC report and elsewhere. What the intelligence officials want to hide is that--even after they did this damage to Abu Zubadaydah (though before the ICRC called it torture in 2007)--Steven Bradbury wrote an OLC memo declaring this treatment legal.

more at:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/04/14/its-not-the-water-boarding-its-the-blows-to-the-head/

[ThomWV]

1. The ICRC Report says a collar was used for this purpose

Read the report, a link to it sould be easy to find.

[Stinger2]

28. Al Jazeera News Reported Phone Call from Prisoner... Oooops

US silent on Guantanamo abuse claim

The US state department has refused to comment on a claim that guards at Guantanamo Bay prison camp abused a Chadian prisoner held there.

Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday that Mohammad al-Qurani had been beaten and tear-gassed by guards after Barack Obama, the US president, pledged to end abuse at the camp in January.

Al-Qurani made the call to Sami al-Hajj, an Al Jazeera cameraman who was himself held at Guantanamo Bay for more than six years.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/04/2009415181944841547.html

Decision likely in US torture case in Spain

By PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press Writer

Decision likely in US torture case in Spain

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Spanish prosecutors will likely decide this week whether to recommend a full investigation into allegations that six Bush Administration officials sanctioned torture of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, an official in the prosecutor's office said Tuesday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SPAIN_US_TORTURE?SITE=SCCHA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[dipsydoodle]

2. Why am I not surprised.

x(

[paparush]

3. How, how, how can the current administration turn a blind eye to this?

How do they think we will ever restore credibility?

[sellitman]

30. They can't do crap because they knew!

Too many high level Dems knew what we were doing and now are afraid of getting caught up in the same mess the Repiggies are in.

Especially Harry & Nancy.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

31. How will Obama keep his credibility if he doesn't hold criminals accountable? ..n/t

[RainDog]

33. He won't.

at least with many, many people I know.

[Demeter]

4. It's ALL Despicable. It's ALL Illegal. It's ALL Got to be Prosecuted

[indepat]

5. Kick to the greatest page

[Solly Mack]

6. K&R

[rcrush]

7. Waterboarding was probably the least physical thing done to those prisoners

Most of the time the soldiers just kicked the shit out of them. Like making them stand for 20 hours while they beat your legs with batons. You should see Taxi To The Dark Side.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. And where, is the "Change"

[Individualist]

9. K&R

[LeFleur1]

10. Scumbags

Evil radiated from Bush and his mobster mentality administration. We should have known what they were up to.
Does it make anyone else wonder if a majority of our Senators and Representatives belong in DC?
If one branch of our government goes off track (two, let's count the justice dept.) isn't it up to the third branch to raise hell? Where were they? Calling themselves "The Honorable...?" How honorable is it to turn a blind eye to this sort of scumminess?

Don't the people in our country believe that if someone is taken, thrown against a wall, beat up, held under water, otherwise tortured, the perp will pay, and so will the mobster who ordered it?

I expect this new administration and this Democratic House and Senate to look at this terrible record of torture and DO something about it. They need to step up and hold those who ordered it or allowed it to happen accountable. Stop being a bunch of pansyassed cowards.

[L. Coyote]

11. K & REC as this story just keeps building. And the deadline is tomorrow ...

for the Obama DoJ and the Torture DOCS! Then this story will be VIRAL.

Current COMPILATION thread: CIA Has 3,000 Docs on Torture Tapes
Mar-21-09 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5303329

[formercia]

12. I would bet it's a lot worse than what we've see so far.

Having known some of the sadistic assholes involved, this is just childs'play.

[leftstreet]

13. K&R

[Political Heretic]

14. And where's Obama on this?

[jtrockville]

15. This is a source of SHAME and will remain so until we PROSECUTE

[EFerrari]

20. And close down the School for Torturers. n/t

[Supersedeas]

45. there has been no indication that anyone would be prosecuted for this, has there?

[s-cubed]

16. SO WRITE THE WHITE HOUSE AT WHITEHOUSE.GOV n/t

[ima_sinnic]

24. do snail mail, also--and long hand is even more impressive.

phone calls and faxes also work. go beyond e-mail.

[troubleinwinter]

34. Ya mean the prez is too clueless and uncommitted to do right without a letter from me?

I thought he was elected BECAUSE he supposedly has judgement and will do right. I'm tired of writing letters over the last several years. If I have to attempt to lead him by the nose because he has no clue what is just and right and proper, then I am no better off wasting my time than I was writing congress the last many years.

[indimuse]

17. knr!

i have no words. :(

[democrank]

18. Prosecute!

No more stalling!

[lebkuchen]

19. All of it makes me sick. Obama must open the files

and make way for the open government he had promised.

[omega minimo]

21. And Impeachment was "Off The Table" because......................

[pmorlan1]

22. Thanks.

Thanks for posting the emptywheel column. I wrote a blog post this morning about the former Bush officials pathetic arguments for keeping the contents of the memos hidden. I sure hope Obama sees their arguments for what they are - A COVERUP.

http://wwwdemocracity.blogspot.com/2009/04/mr-president-dont-let-bush-holdovers.html

[L. Coyote]

29. Thank you. Good clear read.

[Overseas]

23. K&R !! //nt

[Seldona]

25. K&R

Sickening.

[defendandprotect]

26. Amazing that it's easier to prove "blows to the head" is torture . . .

while so many want to suggest that waterboarding isn't --- !!!

All of this is abuse and sadistic --- and the lies that permitted them to do this!

[Jefferson23]

27. K&R For JUSTICE seekers every where.

[Octafish]

32. Bush got his rocks off.

Soon, the sick little turd from Crawford is going to The Hague.

[sam kane]

35. kpete, you bring the most important info.

thanks for your work.

[leveymg]

36. What they want to hide was what Abu Zubaydah knew about how the CIA was running al-Qaeda

against the Russians in Chechnya and as part of a powerplay within Saudi Arabia, and why this is the reason the hijackers were allowed into the U.S. and to roam around free until 9/11. They were part of a CIA-run terrorist cell. Abu Zubyadeh was a key link between al-Qaeda and CIA who had trained five of the 9/11 hijackers as part of the Chechnya operation, and a key planner of the 9/11 and USS Cole attacks - he, along with several others, was a double-agent.

That's what everyone in Washington wanted Abu Zubaydeh to forget the details about.

This had nothing to do with wanting to cause injury other than to the brains of those who knew too much.

See,

TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Today's Must ReadIn addition to waterboarding, Zubaydah was subjected to sleep deprivation and ... I highly recommend DKos user leveymg's recent series of diaries regarding ...
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2007/12/todays_must_read_236.php - 176k - Cached - Similar pages

Daily Kos: CIA Detainee Torture, Memory Loss, and the Bush ...Dec 13, 2007 ... ABU ZUBAYDAH: WATERBOARDING AND MEMORY ERASURE ..... by leveymg on Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 12:50:38 PM PDT. < Parent > ...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/13/134311/17/385/421664 - 41k - Cached - Similar pages

Daily Kos: CIA Used Banned Cold War “Brainwashing” Techniques on ...Abu Zubaydah was one of several "high-value" al Qaeda detainees subjected to ... waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation." leveymg's diary :: :: ...
http://www.leveymg.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/18/141435/27/213/423878 - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

leveymg's Journal - CIA Detainee Torture, Memory Loss, and the ...Posted by leveymg in General Discussion Thu Dec 13th 2007, 12:35 PM ... ABU ZUBAYDAH: WATERBOARDING AND MEMORY ERASURE Abu Zubaydah was the first "high ...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/333 - 40k - Cached - Similar pages

[TBF]

37. Exactly right - and only Americans are ignorant about this.

I was in grad school in Wash DC at the time of the 9/11 "attacks". Foreign students knew what was up with this... they were the first to assert that our government at the very least "knew this could happen", and of course they were shouted down by Americans.

[leveymg]

41. Summer 2001 - Tenet pushed Bush to roll up the cells. but not hard enough

We're told that Tenet and Cofer Black, the CTC chief, rushed over to Condi's office on July 10. While Condi appeared to "get it," nothing was done. Then, on August 17 or 24, Tenet made an unscheduled flight to Crawford where they rolled around the canyon in Bush's Jeep talking about it. Again, Bush refused. The only remaining question is, why? What was Bush thinking?

Tenet had at least another half-dozen conversations with Bush during the month leading up to 9/11. He perjured himself about that before the 9/11 Commission, but then changed his story. CIA public affairs had to ring up reporters that night and tell them that Tenet had "misspoke", claiming under oath that he's had no talks with the President during the month before the attacks. Almost all the national media ignored that and never reported it. The Commission didn't say anything further about it. Nobody wanted to burst the bubble of lies that "nobody could have seen it coming."

See,

Crimes of the State: THEY KNEW: Tenet's Book Reveals 9-11 Perjury THEY KNEW: Tenet's Book Reveals 9-11 Perjury. by leveymg. Mon May 07, 2007. George Tenet's new book, At the Center of the Storm, reveals something extremely ...
http://crimesofthestate.blogspot.com/2007/05/they-knew-tenets-book-reveals-9-11.html

Oh, about Cofer Black. He was in charge of the Director's Counter-Terrorism Center on January 15, 2000 - the day that the Flt. 77 hijackers (al-Midhar and al-Hazmi) entered the US after meeting with Abu Zubyadah at an al-Qaeda planning summit in Kuala Lumpur. The FBI liason officer at CTC was ordered to withhold a warning cable about the entrance of al-Midhar and al-Hazmi. Abu Zubaydah had trained the pair in Afghanistan as part of the CIA's al-Qaeda operations against the Soviets in Chechnya and Bosnia. Abu Zubaydah was in Sudan in 1995-96 with bin Laden at the same time that Black was CIA Station Chief there. Black is the last CIA officer who acknowledges having had personal contact with bin Laden shortly before bin Laden moved to Afganistan.

See,

Perjury by CIA Counterterrorism Center Director - the Blocked Memo ...Perjury by CIA Counterterrorism Center Director - the Blocked Memo. ... In this sworn testimony, Cofer Black stated that he and Agency staff had simply missed the ... Now the DU Links should work, leveymg, Jun-10-05 11:03 AM, #4 ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3826660 - 45k - Cached - Similar pages

Rice Also "Forgot" 8 Pre-9/11 Meetings Bush Had With CIA Director ...CIA Counterterror Center Director Cofer Black was also present at .... Same as it is for any other Perjury: 5 years, leveymg, Oct-02-06 03:45 PM, #18 ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2283199 -

[TBF]

43. For a supposedly intelligent woman she sure has a poor memory -

thank you for those links.

[leveymg]

44. Plausible deniability is the last refuge of scoundrels

Not just Condi. All of them, from Bush down, seem to have selective mental impairment. It's a style of governance that lasted eight years.

We'll see if it continues.

[Hubert Flottz]

38. Reminds me of the GESTAPO with a more modern PR...

section.

[RalphieD]

39. Criminal Bush!

Put Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld in Gitmo and throw away the key. 
Then let the release the innocent goatherders from there so
they can go back to their families.  Put a final nail in the
Bush regime coffin!

[Orwellian_Ghost]

40. K&R

[No More Bushbots]

42. This reminds me of the Right-Wing garment rending

Over when was Obama going to do something about the Somali pirates holding an American citizen.
Has it occurred to anyone that maybe the Obama Administration is not going to play its hand until it has an airtight case against the war criminals?
No, because it's more fun to beat your chest on an internet message board about how you are going to hold the Obama Administration personally responsible for not responding to your own special interest.
According to some of the posts that I've seen, gay marriage, marijuana legalization, and the entire Bushyt Misadministration being hung from the gallows in front of the Capitol should have been done within the first week of his administration.