Democracy Now! | Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture &Disappearance

[flyarm]

oh noooo bush doesn't torture..nooooo..we don't send people to be tortured through rendition...

click on link and listen to this segment..

well listen to this!!

Democracy Now! | Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War on Terror'

Friday, September 15th, 2006
Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War on Terror'

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/15/1342246

As Spain acknowledges its territory may have been used as a stopover for the CIA's transfer of prisoners known as extraordinary rendition, we excerpt a new documentary by the human rights group Witness. "Outlawed" tells the stories of two men who have survived extraordinary rendition, secret detention, and torture by the U.S. government working with various other governments worldwide.



snip:
BINYAM MOHAMED: “I was taken from airport, blindfolded and cuffed by a van to the security zone. It was when I got to Morocco that they said that some big people in Al Qaeda were talking about me. They told me that the U.S. had a story they wanted from me and that it was their job to get it. They talked about Jose Padilla, and they said I was going to testify against him and big people. The interrogator told me that we have been working with the British. I was surprised that the British were siding with the Americans. I sought asylum in Britain rather than America because it’s known as the one country that has laws that it follows.”



snip:
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: We do not condone torture. I have never ordered torture. I will never order torture. The values of this country are such that torture is not a part of our soul and our being.

NARRATOR: August 2002, Morocco. Mohamed is tortured by “Marwan” and his masked accomplices.

BINYAM MOHAMED: “They cut off my clothes with some kind of doctor's scalpel. I was totally naked. They took the scalpel to my right chest. It was only a small cut, maybe an inch. At first I just screamed. One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make a cut. He did it once and then stood still for maybe a minute, watched my reaction. It was an agony, crying, trying desperately to suppress my feelings, but I was screaming. There was blood all over. ‘If I told you I was going to teach you – I told you I was going to teach you who is the man,’ ‘Marwan’ eventually said. They cut all over my private parts. One of them said it would be better just to cut it off, as it would only breed terrorists. I suffered the razor treatment about once a month for the remaining time I was in Morocco. It became like a routine. They used to be very slow. Deliberately slow. One would cut me. They would take a rest. Then another would take his turn.

”In all 18 months I was there, I never went outside. I never saw the sun, not even once. I never saw any human being except the guards and my tormentors. When the Americans told me in Karachi, ‘Our friends the Arabs know how to deal with you,’ I didn’t really know what they were talking about. Now I understand why the Americans called the Moroccans ‘our Arab friends.’”

[texpatriot2004]

1. Democracy Now is wonderful nm

[rhiannon55]

2. I start every day with Amy

Democracy Now with my coffee. :donut: :hippie:

[EFerrari]

3. Right on, fly. Amy is incredible. Thanks for putting this up.

K&R

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. K & R

[intaglio]

5. Bush has admitted that 14 were held in overseas prisons

but the European Air traffic control has recorded over 1000 undocumented CIA flights

[me b zola]

8. "So What?!"

...that was the idiot king's response to being questioned on that fact.

Or, as translated..."Mashed Potatos?!"

[mmonk]

13. Thousands of people in this country were gathered up

and "disappeared" in this country following 9/11. They were beaten, suffered isolation with no charges ever being filed and the actions were actually videotaped and recorded. There are something like 300 video tapes and written documentation (which shows you just how crazy this country has gotten). There are so many stories out there of what this country has done.

[flyarm]

6. Warner: Senators "Need to Explore" JAG Controversy

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001526.php

Warner: Senators "Need to Explore" JAG Controversy

By Justin Rood - September 14, 2006, 11:35 PM

Comments by Sen. John Warner (R-VA) this afternoon fuel speculation over whether and how the Bush administration pressured JAGs to reverse position on torture, on the eve of a crucial vote -- and what his panel intends to do about it.

The Armed Services Committee chairman made the statements after his panel passed his bill to constrain the detention, interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects in U.S. custody, a blow to the White House's agenda. Emphasis added:

QUESTION: A lot of what you put together is based on testimony by and large from the JAG.
WARNER: Yes.

QUESTION: A letter was sent, though, that would seem to be counter to your position.

WARNER: On its face, that is true, but there are further aspects to that letter that the committee needs to explore, and we will do so.

QUESTION: Can you clarify what you mean by that...

WARNER: Beg your pardon?

QUESTION: Can you clarify what you mean by that; "further aspects of the letter that you want to explore"?

WARNER: No. It's just that a senator has information that needs to be brought to the attention of the committee as it reviews the letter from the JAG.

QUESTION: What is that information?

WARNER: Beg your pardon?

QUESTION: What is that information?

WARNER: Until I get it, I can't explain it.

[bleever]

7. K&R. Thanks.

[fooj]

9. OMG! What have we become?

I WILL NEVER forgive that treasonous, rat bastard for what he has done. NEVER!

[EFerrari]

10. Kick

[magellan]

11. Binyam Mohamed's allegations are in Hamdan vs Rumsfeld et al

www.hamdanvrumsfeld.com/MohamedAmicusFinal.pdf

There are a few more details in there of what he claims to have endured, torture techniques that are shockingly similar to the claims of other detainees who have been released without charge after months or years of secret imprisonment.

It is truly shameful to me as American that this man and so many others are STILL waiting for a trial. If what he's saying was done to him is true then he deserves to see GW Bush** and his cabal sent to the Hague.

As far as I know, Democracy Now! is the only media program covering the allegations made by suspects. I think if more Americans heard these charges, and understood that many of them are coming from people who have ultimately been released without charge, they would DEMAND Bush**'s head.

[rman]

12. "our Arab friends"

Saudis to pull out W when his oil corporation had drilled another dry hole, some in Marocco to help with the torture, Pakistan secret service financing Al Qaeda and Atta. (see "9/11 Press for Truth)

That's what friends are for...

[dailykoff]

14. Very disturbing.

And for what, except to recruit a fresh supply of enemies and give the psychopaths in DC a thrill?

Thanks for posting this.

[flyarm]

15. Exiting Iraq: Gen. William Odom's View

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6087743

Exiting Iraq: Gen. William Odom's View

Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.) -- former director of the National Security Agency -- says it's dangerous to build an Iraqi army until there's a stable government. And he warns that Iraq will make its decisions "with a gun, not a vote."

[flyarm]

16. Britain warns US on terror

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1874555,00.html


Britain warns US on terror

The Attorney-General says treatment of al-Qaeda suspects must not breach the Geneva Convention

Mark Townsend and Jamie Doward
Sunday September 17, 2006
The Observer


Britain's alliance with the US in the so-called war on terror was under strain last night after the Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, warned the Bush administration that it risked international condemnation if its detention of al-Qaeda suspects was in breach of the Geneva Convention.



In a hard-hitting speech last night, its impact rendered all the more powerful by the fact the government's most senior lawyer has made it on American soil, Goldsmith suggested such a move would be seen as unacceptable in the eyes of the international community. In a speech to American lawyers in Chicago, he suggested conditions in Guantanamo risked breaching fundamental human rights laws.

A copy of his speech, seen by The Observer, states: 'Given the political discussions about this issue at the moment, I must be careful what I say. I will say only this today: that this is an international standard of very considerable importance and its content must be the same for all nations... These are standards which must apply to all those detained in what has been termed the "war on terror".'



snip:

Tomorrow Goldsmith will meet his US counterpart, Alberto Gonzales, to discuss Guantanamo and the Bush administration's approach to international law.

snip:

Goldsmith's comments, made with the tacit support of Downing Street, will be widely interpreted as an attempt by Britain to put some distance between this country and the US over the controversial issue of Guantanamo, which Goldsmith described as 'a symbol of injustice, a recruiting agent for terrorists'.
The UK government is increasingly concerned over the Bush administration's practice of taking terror suspects hooded and shackled in the middle of the night for detention at Guantanamo.
The Washington Post recently revealed how men were covertly gathered from locations across the world and flown to CIA facilities hidden throughout Eastern Europe and Asia.

[intaglio]

17. Now all we need is for somebody to give B-Liar a backbone

so that he can add his voice to the condemnation