The Torturer's Apprentice-Not Just Cheney-Virtually Entire Governing Class Of USA-Britain+Australia'

[kpete]

Australia's role in the American Inquisition

The revelations of a once secret 2006 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the use of torture and "cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment" on prisoners at Guantánamo and secret CIA jails came as a shock to many. This is odd, because anyone with a keyboard, modem and half a brain, quickly discovered that in the panicky aftermath of 9/11, the West had forged a pact with the Devil. It was not only Dick Cheney who felt the call of the dark side - it was virtually the entire governing class of America, Britain and Australia. Yes, even Australia, a former penal colony that started life as Britain’s Guantanamo.

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In April 2002, after five months of abominable torment, Habib was illegally rendered to Bagram jail in Afghanistan – an infamous hellhole - and later to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by which time he was half dead. Even so, when Habib was carted off to meet Australian officials at Guantanamo, he was handcuffed and chained to the floor, apparently in distress. An official interview transcript names an ASIO agent as present, as well as Australian federal police officers Ramzi Jabbour and Steven Lancaster, plus Glenda Gauci from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Apart from the familiar litany of beatings, drugging and electric shocks, Guantanamo offered unique refinements: being urinated upon, having menstrual blood thrown in your face, being interrogated for 15 hour periods with short breaks. Former British detainee Tarek Degoul said that Habib was beaten, dragged by chains and photographed naked. Doctors who later examined Habib’s medical reports found plenty of signs of abuse.

In May 2004, Australia’s consul general in Washington, Derek Tucker finally arrived at Guantanamo with a warning for Habib: unless he cooperated with the Americans and admitted to something incriminating, he would be sent back to Egypt. The torture continued. US interrogators did everything possible “to make me crazy,” says Habib. He says he was sexually humiliated by a prostitute, told that his family were dead and shown images of his wife’s head superimposed on photographs of naked women next to Osama bin Laden.

In Parliament, John Howard swept aside allegations of torture and quoted the view of Derek Tucker, that Habib “had not been treated unacceptably”. Tucker visited Habib several times and his mantra never varied: unless Habib “co-operated with the Americans”, he would be sent back to Egypt. Only the swift intervention of US human rights lawyer Joe Margulies stopped this illegal act from occurring. After being held in Guantánamo Bay for almost three years, Mamdouh Habib was released without charge.

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more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Torturer-s-Apprentice-by-Richard-Neville-090507-931.html

[Atman]

1. JOE SCARBOROUGH...you reading this? This ain't caterpillars in a box.

Fucking scum sucking fuck bastard. Republicans owned this until now. If we let them pawn it off on us, WE own it.

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[libodem]

2. I feel the same way