CIA torture memos: Prisoners thrown against a wall 30 consecutive times,stuffed in to box of insects

[sabra]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-cia_17apr17,0,5313134.story

CIA interrogation memos: Obama unseals Justice Department documents


President says CIA operatives will be protected from prosecution


WASHINGTON — Prisoners could be kept awake for more than a week. They could be stripped of their clothes, fed nothing but liquid and thrown against a wall 30 consecutive times.

In one case, the CIA was told it could prey on one prisoner's fear of insects by stuffing him into a box with a bug. When all else failed, the CIA could turn to what a Justice Department memo described as "the most traumatic" interrogation technique of all, waterboarding.

...

Prisoners could be kept shackled in a standing position for as many as 180 hours. The documents provide statistics, noting that more than a dozen CIA prisoners had been deprived of sleep for at least 48 hours, three for more than 96, and one for the nearly eight-day maximum stated on one memo. Another seemed to endorse sleep deprivation for 11 days.

The documents include elaborate legal debate over waterboarding, the interrogation technique that makes a prisoner believe he is in imminent danger of drowning. The memos spell out that a prisoner could be waterboarded at most six times during a two-hour session, and they require an attending physician to be on duty in case a prisoner didn't recover after being returned to an upright position.

In that event, "the intervening physician would perform a tracheotomy," said a May 10, 2005, memo, one of several documents that seemed to strain to find a legal rationale for the technique.

[pat_k]

1. "officials who acted reasonably. . ."

intelligence community officials who acted reasonably and relied in good faith on authoritative legal advice from the Justice Department . . .would not face federal prosecutions for that conduct.
--Eric Holder, Justice Department Statement

Bash a prisoner's head against the wall only 30 times? Couldn't possibly be inhumane, cruel, or degrading. Couldn't possibly be a violation of Article III. (And therefore a violation of U.S.C. Title 18, Sec 2441. War Crimes.)

Nope. Perfectly "reasonable" to believe one is at no risk of life imprisonment. (Or the penalty of death if the person you are bashing dies on you.)

[EFerrari]

4. "Dedicated men and women" "courageous men and women".

:shrug:

[chill_wind]

6. and so much for their "good faith" on all that "authoritative legal advice"

when in fact they were sweating bullets right before the 2006 Dem elections.

They thought Dems might actually question that advice with the same skepticism as they themselves did.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091001286_pf.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5473047

[Bluebear]

2. It's time to "move on" & put this behind us. We don't "want a partisan witch hunt"

[merh]

3. what good does a trach do if your heart stops?

:cry:

[rhett o rick]

5. "relied in good faith on authoritative legal advice", bull shit. It was a friggin memo that was

supposed to supersede the Constitution and the Geneva Convention.

[leftstreet]

12. People forget that

A memo.

Jeez.

[OnyxCollie]

7. "You know what's in Room 101, Winston..."

[canadianbeaver]

22. exactly........

box with rats...thats what's in Room 101...or rather insects....
reading that book again right now.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. Dumb question, why would they put this stuff on paper?

[bottomtheweaver]

13. To cover for the stuff they didn't put on paper.

Like the power drills and dental torture they used on those corpses that used to litter Baghdad streets every early morning. Good times.

[HamdenRice]

15. Because it's an official legal opinion. An opinion from DOJ is like a license to commit crime

but it obviously has to be written on paper as a memo.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8347886

[Hippo_Tron]

16. I wonder if they still would've done it if it hadn't been in a memo

Just call up the office of legal counsel and ask for his advice.

[HamdenRice]

18. Some would have, some alread had

If you parse Obama's statement, the lack of prosecution only applies to those who in good faith relied on opinions. It's obvious that some had already engaged in torture before getting the opinions.

[populistdriven]

9. I wish the media could explain the truth "believe he is in imminent danger of drowning" is not the

truth.

The truth is they are drowning and revived before they die. If they stop breathing surgery is performed to revive them.

[glitch]

10. They can't anymore.

They can't even think truth, let alone tell it.

[ConcernedCanuk]

14. "They can't even think truth, let alone tell it" - sadly - that is too true . .

.
.
.

We have met the enemy,

and they are us.

(sigh)

[Solly Mack]

11. K&R

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. And, the monsters who did it just got a "get out of jail free" pass.

[Supersedeas]

19. and a memo writers gets a lifetime appointment to the Circuit Court of Appeals

[StrongBad]

20. "The CIA...could prey on one prisoner's fear of insects by stuffing him into a box with a bug"

Just one bug? Was it a mutant bug of sorts that could take out the prisoner?

Such an odd sentence...

[blindpig]

21. It's OK

They were only following orders.....



Nuremberg, down the memory hole.