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Are Methods of Torture State Secrets? Bush Lawyers Argue They Are

Posted on November 4, 2006
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By Kenneth J. Theisen, 11/4/06

The Bush regime considers its “alternative interrogation methods” (torture) to be sensitive national security secrets that if revealed “could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage.” In recent court pleadings administration attorneys have told a federal court that suspects held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to tell even their own attorneys details of their torture. In fact, the government does not even want to allow the detainees to see their attorneys. According to pleadings filed on October 26, 2006 with U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, the government argues that terrorists could use information about how these prisoners were tortured to defeat CIA interrogations.

In September, fourteen detainees held in secret CIA prisons were
transferred to a military  prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. One of the
transferred detainees was Majid Khan. A lawyer employed by the Center
for Constitutional Rights is requesting the court to provide emergency
access to him. The Bush regime is denying such access and arguing to
the court that the detainees’ interrogations and other facts related to
their secret imprisonment are a national security secret.

In a affidavit filed with the court, the government states that Khan
“was detained by CIA in this program, he may have come into possession
of information, including locations of detention, conditions of
detention, and alternative interrogation techniques that is classified
at the TOP SECRET//SCI level.”

It is clear that the government is really trying to keep the
tortures perpetrated on these detainees a secret from the public. The
government is using the recently passed Military Commissions Act (MCA)
to keep the details of the torture secret, as well. Administration
attorneys argue that the detainees have no automatic right to speak to
lawyers because the MCA stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction
over such detainees. The MCA authorized military tribunals for
terrorism suspects instead.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is presently
hearing a case as to whether prisoners held in Guantanamo may challenge
their incarceration in U.S. courts. In the Khan case, the regime is
arguing that the court should defer any decision on attorney access
until the Court of Appeals rules on the U.S. courts” jurisdiction.
It is an open secret that these 14 detainees have been tortured with
such techniques as waterboarding. But the regime has come under intense
criticism for its use of torture and after the Vice-President condoned
waterboarding by calling it a “no brainer” in a recent interview, the
regime has begun to respond to questions about interrogation with the
standard, “we do not comment on methods of interrogation.”

The Bush administration is now using the courts to “hush up” those
it has tortured. As usual, it is resorting to the magic words “national
security” to cover-up its crimes. But no amount of legalese can hide
the fact that the regime has used torture and continues to use it.  And
if we do nothing to halt the regime, we are then complicit in its
crimes.

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