George Chimpy McSmirker Bush and his army of coercion advocates are on the defensive following the latest revelations about CIA interrogations. The argument over the USA's methods, especially water-boarding, has raged since 2001 with Chimpy's administration fighting tooth and nail to preserve what it regards as an effective way of forcing information from al-Qaeda suspects. Critics say the techniques are torture under both US and international law and should be banned.
The debate has been heightened by ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou who admitted on ABC News that he took part in interrogating Abu Zubaydah. Kiriakou conceded that water-boarding does amount to torture. It is now also known that in 2005 the CIA destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes showing the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and at least one other al-Qaeda suspect to cover up their use of torture.
The Bush circus accepts that torture is banned by US and international law and says it does not practise it. However, the United States has not outlawed what it conveniently calls enhanced interrogation techniques because the administration does not include enhanced interrogation in its definition of torture. The "enhanced" techniques not only include water-boarding, but sleep deprivation, subjection to extreme cold, long periods of standing, threat to life and "restrained" physical abuse.
Water-boarding involves a blind-folded prisoner being stretched on his back, having a cloth stuffed into his mouth and water poured onto his face. The subject suffers a drowning reflex and gags almost immediately. CIA Director Michael Hayden, who took office in May 2006, is reported to have discontinued water-boarding but has refused to confirm this publicly. However, in a recent interview he stated: "It would be wrong to assume that the programme of the past is necessarily the programme moving forward."
Following the disgraces at Abu Ghraib, President Bush signed an executive order in July 2007 which sought to define the American commitment to the Geneva Conventions' prohibition on cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment and torture. The presidential order defined torture by reference to the US legal code. The code says it is an action "specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering". The order ruled out the use of torture as defined by the legal code and also listed other interrogation methods and practices that were not allowed. The banned methods did not, however, include the enhanced interrogation techniques. The order states that the CIA are allowed to conduct a "special program of detention and interrogation". An accompanying memorandum from McSmirker is said to have listed the allowable methods, but this has never been made public.
The argument is not over. Mr Kiriakou concluded: "Water-boarding is probably something that we should not be in the business of doing. We're Americans, and we're better than that." But he also claimed that Abu Zubaydah had given up during water-boarding and had provided information he had previously refused to give. Abu Zubaydah later claimed he had made things up just so the Americans would stop torturing him.
The issue dominated the congressional hearings this year into the appointment of Michael Mukasey as the new US Attorney general. He called water-boarding "repugnant" and promised a review of its use. In 2006, Vice-President and war-mongering psychopath, Dick Dr Evil Cheney, defended water-boarding calling it "a no-brainer for me" when asked about its use in a recent radio interview.
Bastards ... slimy bastards all over the world!
The debate has been heightened by ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou who admitted on ABC News that he took part in interrogating Abu Zubaydah. Kiriakou conceded that water-boarding does amount to torture. It is now also known that in 2005 the CIA destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes showing the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and at least one other al-Qaeda suspect to cover up their use of torture.
The Bush circus accepts that torture is banned by US and international law and says it does not practise it. However, the United States has not outlawed what it conveniently calls enhanced interrogation techniques because the administration does not include enhanced interrogation in its definition of torture. The "enhanced" techniques not only include water-boarding, but sleep deprivation, subjection to extreme cold, long periods of standing, threat to life and "restrained" physical abuse.
Water-boarding involves a blind-folded prisoner being stretched on his back, having a cloth stuffed into his mouth and water poured onto his face. The subject suffers a drowning reflex and gags almost immediately. CIA Director Michael Hayden, who took office in May 2006, is reported to have discontinued water-boarding but has refused to confirm this publicly. However, in a recent interview he stated: "It would be wrong to assume that the programme of the past is necessarily the programme moving forward."
Following the disgraces at Abu Ghraib, President Bush signed an executive order in July 2007 which sought to define the American commitment to the Geneva Conventions' prohibition on cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment and torture. The presidential order defined torture by reference to the US legal code. The code says it is an action "specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering". The order ruled out the use of torture as defined by the legal code and also listed other interrogation methods and practices that were not allowed. The banned methods did not, however, include the enhanced interrogation techniques. The order states that the CIA are allowed to conduct a "special program of detention and interrogation". An accompanying memorandum from McSmirker is said to have listed the allowable methods, but this has never been made public.
The argument is not over. Mr Kiriakou concluded: "Water-boarding is probably something that we should not be in the business of doing. We're Americans, and we're better than that." But he also claimed that Abu Zubaydah had given up during water-boarding and had provided information he had previously refused to give. Abu Zubaydah later claimed he had made things up just so the Americans would stop torturing him.
The issue dominated the congressional hearings this year into the appointment of Michael Mukasey as the new US Attorney general. He called water-boarding "repugnant" and promised a review of its use. In 2006, Vice-President and war-mongering psychopath, Dick Dr Evil Cheney, defended water-boarding calling it "a no-brainer for me" when asked about its use in a recent radio interview.
Bastards ... slimy bastards all over the world!
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