Andy Worthington: Seven Years of War in Iraq: Still Based on Cheney's Torture and Lies

Andy Worthington: Seven Years of War in Iraq: Still Based on Cheney's Torture and Lies

Seven years later, Dick Cheney's exaggerations and untruths are still circulating, many of them unchallenged, as the impetus for war against Iraq. However, as the political leader of the screaming right's opposition to President Obama's agenda, particularly on national security, Cheney remains an outspoken supporter of the torture that brought us the misleading intelligence meant to convince the world that Saddam Hussein's regime was a threat to global security. Like a hound dog protectively gnawing a grizzled bone, Cheney refuses to let go of his delusions. Unfortunately, his delusions led to thousands of American and Iraqi deaths. When will he be brought to account?

(see Andy Worthington's excellent discussion of the torture-based evidence here.)

George W. Bush 'knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent' - Times Online

George W. Bush 'knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent' - Times Online

According to the Times newspaper of London, leaders in the Bush Administration, including President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, knew the vast majority of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay detention center were innocent, but estimated that it was "politically impossible" to release them. If hundreds of innocent people were swept up and detained in the effort to capture a few hard-core terrorists, then the effort was worth it. One of the justifications for the detention operations, according to the Times, was to obtain intelligence on a potential al-Qaeda link to Saddam Hussein in order to justify the impending American invasion. In the Guantanamo detention center, hundreds of prisoners have been held without legal recourse to challenging their detention. Many were subject to various forms of "enhanced interrogation" in an effort to extract "actionable intelligence" from them (whether or not they actually knew useful information or not).

Together with today's revelation that President Obama's nominee to the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department withdrew from consideration because of Republican objections to her strong criticism of Bush Administration torture policies, it is apparent that American public opinion and political power is turning away from traditional concerns for human rights and justice. A jingoistic rhetoric unconcerned with the rights of others now dominates the political landscape.

When our highest officials demonstrate a lack of concern about the rights of the innocent, it is time to re-examine the direction of American public policy.

"Friending" Binyam Mohamed

According to Naomi Wolf in the Huffington Post, past detainees at Guantanamo Bay and CIA "black sites" are prohibited from sharing their experiences with the public for fear of releasing classified information. Since most of these detainees have been tortured, we are therefore prevented from hearing the deeds committed in our name by our government.

There is something essentially against our identity as Americans and freedom-loving people in what is going on here. A person's own experiences, even though experienced against his will (or particularly because of this) should be part of individual free expression. He has the right to tell it, and we have the right to hear it - it is his experience of torture. We should be able to hear what is being done in our name. It is shameful that a democracy suppresses evidence of its own misconduct. I don't believe this is what America stands for.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A Truly Shocking Guantanamo Story: Judge Confirms That an Innocent Man Was Tortured to Make False Confessions

While this is shocking, it doesn't surprise me given the scandalous behavior of the last 9 years. False confessions are simply part and parcel of torture. That is one practical reason why torture should not be done. Aside, of course, from the moral reasons. Even after all this news has come out, part of me simply cannot believe that the United States of America *tortures* - it is against everything we stand for. But one look at Bush and (especially) Cheney, and I remember the identity change that has taken place in the last 20-30 years. No longer is the US at the forefront of human rights law and practice. No longer does the United States stand up for what is right in the world. More often, we are seen standing up for the interests of the powerful (usually us), not the people and the underdog. We have lost our heritage. And it is a shame.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost