It’s Official – Bush, Gonzales, Authorize Torture: The People Must Drive Out This Regime of War and Torture
The October 4 issue of the New York Times broke a story exposing the legacy of torture, “outsourced torture” (i.e., “prisoner rendition”) and endless lies that the Bush Regime has institutionalized.
These war criminals went to great lengths to establish and institutionalize a system that allows their agents to torture “suspects”, and provided specific instructions as to which barbaric procedures – things like near drowning, beatings, sleep deprivation for days and weeks, barrages of deafening noise that continue for days – should be used, and in what combinations. They conducted a purge of the Department of Justice to get rid of lawyers who had qualms about institutionalizing torture. And they brazenly lied at every step of the way – publicly announcing in December 2004 that they think torture is “abhorrent”, and two months later, in February 2005, issuing a secret memorandum which endorsed and authorized what the New York Times calls “the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency”.
Bush and his entire Regime are monstrous war criminals. They have for years sustained an effort to maintain a series of unjust wars to expand and consolidate empire. They have developed the methods and concocted “justifications” for unspeakably cruel torture. They have spewed endless lies about everything they are doing, and sought to intimidate and criminalize everyone who opposes them. They are fully intent on locking this society into a horrific zone of endless war and institutionalized torture, and in fact we are very far along that path.
The question is – how are the people going to respond? Are we going to be like cowardly “good Germans” who pretended not to know of the deportations and executions carried out in their name? Or are we going to be a generation of heroes, who display the courage and determination needed to put an end to these atrocities that are always, always justified as being done for the “security” of the American people. These are the times, and these are the events, which will determine our legacy to humanity.
More than ever, the world can’t wait for the Bush Regime to be driven out. Display your convictions everywhere by wearing orange – the color of the detainees being tortured at Guantanamo and countless “black sites” throughout the world. Challenge everyone you know, and everyone you encounter, to take a decisive stand against all these atrocities. Challenge yourself to do even more. Join with World Can’t Wait/Drive out the Bush Regime to spread the contagion of orange throughout all society.
More Torture Memos Revealed as Bush Promises More of the Same
By Kenneth J. Theisen
On Friday, October 5, 2007 President Bush once again defended his regime’s use of torture and promised more of the same. ”When we find somebody who may have information regarding a potential attack on America, you bet we’re going to detain them, and you bet we’re going to question them. The American people expect us to find out information, actionable intelligence so we can help protect them. That’s our job”.” the president told assembled reporters. In an attempt to justify the regime’s illegal and immoral actions, Bush stated, ”And by the way, we have gotten information from these high-value detainees that have helped protect you.” Bush also made it clear that the most recent revelations will not deter further use of torture, ”The American people expect their government to take action to protect them from further attack. And that’s exactly what this government is doing. And that’s exactly what we’ll continue to do.”
Bush was reacting to a new political firestorm which began with an October 4th New York Times article which revealed the existence of two secret memos from 2005 that authorized torture against alleged terrorist suspects. The secret legal opinions were issued shortly after Alberto Gonzales became the Attorney General.
Publicly, the Department of Justice (DOJ) in December 2004 stated “Torture is abhorrent both to American law and values and to international norms.” But behind the scenes, the regime’s DOJ was issuing memos to justify the utilization of waterboarding, being chained in stress positions, withholding food, head slapping, sleep deprivation, and subjecting naked prisoners to freezing temperatures in order to get them to talk.
DOJ has a long history of legally justifying torture. In August 2002 a legal opinion was written by DOJ lawyer, John Yoo. The opinion permitted “interrogation practices” that stopped short of producing pain equivalent to experiencing “organ failure” or “death.” This legal opinion justifiably became known as the “torture memo.” That interpretation of what was allowed was allegedly withdrawn in June 2004.
The reason DOJ had to issue such opinions is because the CIA, which operated secret prisons for suspected terrorist detainees, had asked the Bush regime for its opinion as to whether its interrogation methods complied with U.S. law. The DOJ was then given the job of providing legal justification for what anyone would consider torture, except those with warped moral judgment. In 2005, DOJ issued a secret opinion stating that C.I.A. interrogation methods did not violate U.S. law.
The secret opinions were signed by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel acting head, Steven G. Bradbury. He has also defended other controversial programs of the regime, including the massive NSA spying program and other detention policies which have stripped prisoners of most of their due process rights. He was a prime mover behind getting congress to pass the Military Commissions Act. Bradbury has proudly stated, “The White House has accepted and respected our opinions”” Why not? He and Gonzales gave the regime everything it wanted in the way of legal justification for its policies. Bush must be very grateful.
In July 2006, Bush authorized the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques.” These “techniques” still remain a secret. But the presidential executive order allowing them was approved by Bradbury and the Office of Legal Counsel. The Bush regime has always claimed the CIA techniques do not constitute torture. It also claimed that the CIA was not bound by international treaties which forbid the use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment. When Congress also passed a law using these words to ban such treatment, Bradbury came through with the right legal interpretation for the Bush regime. His legal opinion said the Detainee Treatment Act would not outlaw any CIA tactics as they were not cruel, inhuman or degrading in certain circumstances.
But just to make sure, Bush added a signing statement to the law. He stated he had the legal authority to set aside the legal restrictions if they interfered with his constitutional powers as Commander-in-Chief and as the head of the executive branch of government. In other words, he declared he was above the law.
Since the breaking of the New York Times story, congressional Democrats are demanding to see the legal opinions. The regime will undoubtedly fall back on its tried and true arguments that this jeopardizes national security and that the opinions are protected as legal advice and by executive privilege.
The White House through its official spokesperson, Tony Fratto also attacked the messenger, when he stated, ”It’s troubling. I’ve had the awful responsibility to have to work with The New York Times and other news organizations on stories that involve the release of classified information. And I can tell you that every time I’ve dealt with any of these stories, I have felt that we have chipped away at the safety and security of America with the publication of this kind of information.” Torture is okay, but how dare any of the media release information about our use of torture is the regime’s response to the leaks. Perhaps the Bush regime will start an investigation of the leak.
World Can’t Wait will follow this story as it continues. Congress as usual will go through the motions of conducting an investigation. The White House will throw up its usual roadblocks to the investigation. In the meantime, how many will be tortured under the guise of protecting us?