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Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Solstice Bush Blogging Part I: Torture
Posted by Jill | 7:20 AM
Lots to report today on the horror that is George W. Bush.

To begin, via just about everyone in Blogistan, we have this ACLU release indicating that the torture of Iraqi detainees may have been authorized by none other than C-Plus Caligula himself:

A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.

[snip]

The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized.

Another e-mail, dated December 2003, describes an incident in which Defense Department interrogators at Guantánamo Bay impersonated FBI agents while using "torture techniques" against a detainee. The e-mail concludes "If this detainee is ever released or his story made public in any way, DOD interrogators will not be held accountable because these torture techniques were done [sic] the ‘FBI’ interrogators. The FBI will [sic] left holding the bag before the public."

The document also says that no "intelligence of a threat neutralization nature" was garnered by the "FBI" interrogation, and that the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) believes that the Defense Department’s actions have destroyed any chance of prosecuting the detainee. The e-mail’s author writes that he or she is documenting the incident "in order to protect the FBI."


Not that any of Bush's disciples and worshippers gives a rat's ass that he may have authorized torture, for they've been convinced that everyone from the Middle East is somehow subhuman, that they're all terrorists, and whatever we do to them is perfectly justified. However, we are, after all, supposed to be a civilized nation and beacon of virtue to the world. The leader we are about to re-install in office on January 20 is showing himself to be no better than the tinpot dictators he loves to rail against.

This should be front page news, but how can this possibly compete with those Krazy Kristmas Shoppers, the beginning of the Robert Blake trial, and the return of Leomania when The Aviator goes into wide release on Saturday?

Peace on Earth my ass.
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