The hot air networks will isolate soundbites and applause lines, the wire services will emphasize Obama's call for a united front against terrorism, especially in Afghanistan. But Barack Obama's speech today before a quarter of a million Europeans--some who came from Poland and the Netherlands and across Europe to Berlin to hear him--was a call for a greater unity, for a world united to foster equality, freedom and peace.
He used the Berlin airlift of 1948 as his central metaphor--the moment, so soon after the horrific bombings that turned many cities in Europe and Japan into literal holocausts--that wave upon wave of American airplanes dropped not bombs but food, to sustain the people of West Berlin.
And from across the Atlantic, we could hear the chants in Berlin: Yes, we can.
The Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its interrogators working abroad would not violate U.S. prohibitions against torture unless they "have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering," according to a previously secret Justice Department memo released Thursday.
The interrogator's "good faith" and "honest belief" that the interrogation will not cause such suffering protects the interrogator, the memo adds.
"Because specific intent is an element of the offense, the absence of specific intent negates the charge of torture," Jay Bybee, then the assistant attorney general, wrote in the memo.
So there you have it. If the interrogator didn't mean to torture the suspect, it wasn't torture! Brilliant logic from the Bush administration yet again!
The ACLU has posted documents from their Freedom of Information Act request regarding the DoJ's position on torture. The heavily redacted memos with summaries can be found here.
In speaking to David Kirkpatrick for a piece in the New York Times’ ongoing (and going, and going. . .) series “The Long Run,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) contributes to the ever-growing list of leading Republicans’ attempts to dismiss the illegal abuse of detainees at Guatanamo Bay as little more than a mild discomfort or a puckish hazing ritual.
[McCain] likes trading jokes about colleagues with a small group of friends that includes Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. . . . Entertaining guests at his property in Sedona, Ariz., [McCain] invariably drags them for long walks to indulge his passion for bird watching. “If you took all the people at Gitmo, put them in the cabin for the weekend and made them listen to John talk about the birds, they would all spill their guts.” Mr. Graham said.
I will agree with Lindsey Graham on one point: listening to John McCain speak is unfailingly tedious—however. . .
This is a diary that may shock and even sicken you. It is the story of Benyam Mohammed, a British citizen who ended up in Guantanamo. Where he remains to this day, even though the British government requested his release at one point.
He has never been tried, let alone convicted. He may soon receive a military tribunal trial.
This is his story of a trip through some kind of hell, with diary entries read by his brother. It's not easy reading, especially when it's your brother:
Tomorrow, on Benyam's 30th birthday, there will be a "Free Benyam" rally opposite Downing St. Two days later, Obama will be meeting top British government officials. My hope is that this diary will make an impression on Obama's handlers, his confidants. Read more of Benyam's story over the jump...
It's been a very busy week for war crimes and war criminals. In some good news for the cause of justice and the upholding of international law, Bosnian Serb mass murder Radavan Karadzic was finally captured in Belgrade, just days after the International Criminal Court charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with crimes against humanity in Darfur. But for Americans, those positive developments were offset by news that the Bush administration's own war crimes trials - and potential pre-emptive pardons - put the United States in the same discussion with Sudan and the Republica Serbska.
I dont' see any point in impeaching George W. Bush. I know these are pro-forma hearings, but if they are to have any consequence they have to include the possibility of passing articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney. In fact, I'd argue the future of this country depends on at the very least subjecting Cheney to a Senate trial.
While we are getting excited about Sen. Obama’s world tour and what it means to our chances of repairing relationships with the countries of the world that we have alienated, it is good to remember how we got here. Our unilateral decision to invade Iraq was bad enough, but we did have some allies from the rest of the world with us to give it that patina of respectability. The major one of these allies in the so called "Coalition of the Willing" is the United Kingdom. Not only did they send a significant number of troops, but they were willing to stay there with us for the first four years of the occupation, with little or no difference in our policies.
I know that many Kossacks share my sense that one of the most awful things that the Bush Administration has done has been expanding the use of torture as an open and official part of U.S. policy. And, also like a lot of people around here, I hope that, after Bush departs, the U.S. will move in a significantly different direction, and join most developed democracies in absolutely condemning torture and working for its eradication around the world.
However, unlike many on this list, I don't think that merely electing Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress will get us there. Turning our country away from torture will be a long and bitter battle, and it will involve more than just turning the clock back to the years before George W. Bush.
I've put "NOT BREAKING" in this diary's title because, as awful and new as the current administration's use of torture has been, our country's reliance on torture goes back decades and involves both Republican and Democratic administrations. So the real news about torture is that it's not really new. And those of us opposed to torture need to think of how to leverage Democratic victories in November to take steps toward actually eliminating it.
Well, are we still winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim world when an article like this appears in a UK newspaper?
In a submission to the UN in May, the Pentagon said that no more than eight youths, aged 13 to 17 at time of capture, were held at Guantánamo Bay. But a prisoner list released in 2006 in response to US freedom of information act litigation names 21 inmates under 18 when they arrived. A separate defence department admission brings the total to 22. Testimonies collected by the charity Reprieve, which represents 30 inmates at Guantánamo, indicate the actual number is much higher.
Spending a month away, among people who had a lot of questions about where the United States is heading, made me realize more than ever what a colossal, nearly impossible job the next president has. Not only have Bush and Cheney driven the country into a ditch, the wheels have pretty much come off the car. And we all know how expensive it will be to fill it with gas.
Yesterday I posted a comment about the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, and was surprised by the response. My comment suggested that perhaps Hollywood ought to pay as much attention to the messages of their films as they do to their fundraisers. The Dark Knight, as I read it, went a little too soft on the torture and domestic spying points. The upshot seemed to be that it was okay to do both -- as long as you only do it once, and it works.
But there's a larger concern than just this one movie. Sometimes, well-meaning directors can become the mouthpiece for pretty horrific propaganda from the right. The Steven Spielberg film Jurassic Park is a great example.
I’ve written a number of articles on torture—"Verschärfte Vernehmung Revisited," "Of Torture, Garlic, and Vampires," and others—but I’m not sure we can talk enough about it. I asked a friend if I could publish a paper he wrote recently on the subject, and he agreed. Dave Nagler is pastor of Nativity Lutheran Church in Bend, Oregon. However dismayed about the reality of the practice by our government, I am encouraged by the fact that there are some pastors talking to their congregations about it and some congregations listening.
Trolls on your marks. Get Set. Counting down: 3, 2, 1. Go.
John Ashcroft thinks it's okay to torture members of the United States Armed Forces. However, Mr. Ashcroft sometimes has problems with facts and reality. It seems unlikely that he would approve of the use of waterboarding on his own person. Perhaps waterboarding would help change his mind.
A special shout out to Michael Savage. The "brats" aren't faking autism. In Michael's case I'd say he's not faking stupidity either.
Just for the record, in case anyone gets confused, I'm voting for the candidate who works out (That's bad, Nutz?). He's a strong man, both physically and of character. You may have heard of him. His name is Barack.
Number of times I wanted Ron Paul to run the show: -1000
Number of insane things Congress has done: I lost count.
Keep your head down, this bazooka has a hair trigger.
Onward.
