Monday, January 30, 2006

Pentagon Has Videos Of Sexual Perversion At Iraq Detention Centers Submitted by editor4 on January 30, 2006 - 3:18pm. By Greg Szymanski Source: The Arctic Beacon Although the U.S. government is in possession of video tapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers, the evidence and public clamor to end the torture and killing has done little to change the mindset of the Bush administration. Lawyers for President Bush, including U.S. Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales, have tried to neatly package and justify skirting international law regarding the illegal detention of prisoners. But when it comes to torture, sexual perversion and murder while holding prisoners captive, it would seem obvious there is no legal justification. But not according to a team of Bush's crooked lawyers who concluded in a legal memorandum that President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal anti-torture law because he had the authority as commander in chief to approve any technique needed to protect the nation's security. Besides this bogus legal finding, the administration has also taken the untenable position, according to legal observers, the reported acts of torture and sexual abuse at Abu Ghraib and other detention centers are only isolated incidents of abuse, not officially military policy handed down from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. However, critics contend the mounting number of abuse cases and evidence compiled is more than just coincidence or isolated acts of aggression, but indicate an official policy handed down from top to bottom. Human rights groups, international legal observers and journalists contend Rumsfeld and top Pentagon brass have personally ordered the "torture policy," including authorizing the rape of Iraqi children in prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the so-called anti-American insurgency. If there were only several cases of abuse, the Bush administration's point should be considered. But when the cases of abuse are widespread, then something definitely stinks inside the Pentagon. Take for example journalist Seymour Hersh's quote to the ACLU in 2004 after calling attention to the numerous torture videotapes kept secret by the Pentagon. "The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking," said Hersh. "There is a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher." Next listen to the words of Ed Cone, an observer of the military abuse, as he summarizes evidence uncovered, indicating widespread torture and sexual abuse: "Some of the worse that happened you still don't know about. There are women there and some of you may have read they were passing letters, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib which is 30 miles from Baghdad. "The women were passing messages saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened'. Basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys/children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has? They are in total terror it's going to come out." And the next shocking piece of "torture evidence" is a clear example of just how bad conditions still are at Abu Ghraib and how the abuse complaints are more than just isolated incidents. It should be noted American jurists and the U.S. legal system has done little or nothing to bring Bush and his cronies to justice for obvious violations of international law, leaving the international community stunned by this lack of humanitarian concern. The following are portions of a translation of a sworn statement made by Abu Ghraib detainee Kasim Mehaddi Hilas, detainee No. 15551108, revealing just how deep and widespread the torture policies had become. The Hilas statement was also used against Spc. Charles Grainer for an August 2004 Article 39a hearing The details of the Hilas statement have been watered down by the mainstream media as the acts committed against detainees are far more perverse than just leading them around on a dog leash, as previously reported. After listening, it's also hard to believe Spc. Grainer's acts were a so-called isolated incident, as the Pentagon insists, since the torture and abuse, according to Hilas, seemed to encompass every area of the detention center he witnessed. Here is his statement: "In the name of God, I swear that everything I witnesses, everything I witnesses and everything I am talking about is the truth and I am not saying this to gain any material thing and I was not pressured to do this by any forces. "First, I am going to talk about what happened to me at Abu Ghraib jail. I will not talk about when I was in jail before?but it was very bad. "They stripped me of all my clothes, even my underwear. They gave me women's underwear, that were rose-colored with flowers in it and they put a bag over my face. One of them whispered in my ear, "today I am going to f? you. "When they took me to the cell, the translator, Abu Hamid, came with an American soldier, his rank was sergeant. And he called me a "faggot" because I was wearing women's underwear? "The transfer from Camp B to isolation was full of beatings, but the bags were over our heads, so we couldn't see their faces. And they forced me to wear this underwear all the time - for 51 days - and most days I was wearing nothing else. "I faced more harsh punishment and had my hands cuffed with irons behind my back to the metal of the window, to the point where my feet were off the ground and I was hanging there for about 5 hours?And then they took off all my clothes and they took the female underwear and put it over my head. After being released from the window, they tied me to my bed until dawn?Grainer and the other two soldiers were taking pictures of everything they did to me. I don't know if they took a picture of me because they beat me so bad I lost consciousness after an hour or so?They didn't give us food for a whole day and night and finally gave us one package of emergency food. "Now I will talk about what I saw. "They brought three prisoners completely naked and they tied them together with cuffs and they stuck one to other. I saw the American soldiers hitting them with a football and they were taking pictures. I saw Grainer punching one of the prisoners right in his face very hard when he refuse to take off his underwear and I heard them begging for help. And also the American soldiers told them to do like homosexuals (f?ing). Also female soldiers were taking pictures?And they were ordering them to crawl while they were cuffed together. "I saw (name deleted) f?ing a kid, his age would be about 15-18 years old. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard the screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn't covered and I saw (name deleted), who was wearing the military uniform putting his penis into the little kid's ass. "I couldn't see the face of the kid because his face wasn't in front of the door. And the female soldier was taking pictures? "In the cell on the north side and I was right across from it on the other side. They put the sheets again on the doors. Grainer and his helper cuffed one prisoner in Room No. 1 and he was an Iraqi citizen. They tied him to the bed and they were inserting the phosphoric light in his ass and he was yelling for God's help. This one prisoner used to get punished a lot because I heard him screaming and they prohibited us from standing near the door when they do that. "That was Ramadan, around 12 midnight when I saw them doing that to the prisoner and the female soldier taking pictures. I saw them more than once standing on the water bucket that was upside down and they were totally naked. And carrying chairs over their heads standing under the fan of the hallway behind the wooden partition and also in the shower." The translated version of this text was signed by Mr. Johnson, Translator Category II, Titan Corp. and then assigned to the Prisoner Interview/Interrogation Team of the 1oth Military Police Battalion of the 3rd Military Police Group. The authenticity of the text was verified by Mr. Abdelilah Alazadi, Translator Category II of the Titan Corp. Regarding the prosecution of lower level military for torture and abuse, the ACLU recently criticized the Justice Department's double standard used for torture and abuse crimes. Legislative Counsel of the ACLU, Christopher E. Anders, said while lower ranks of the military are being convicted for crimes, upper level officers, Pentagon officials and CIA agents working along side the soldiers are being held to a much lower standard. "Justice should be blind, but it is now clear that enlisted men and women in a soldier's uniform are being convicted while CIA agents and civilian contractors who allegedly participated in the same crimes remain free," said Anders. "The military has already investigated and prosecuted many of its rank and file members and yet it seems that the Justice Department is incapable, or unwilling, to do the same for CIA agents. CIA agents should not be getting a free pass from the Justice Department. "What is particularly troubling is that all but one of twenty referrals of alleged torture by civilians were sent to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Paul McNulty. McNulty's team has yet to indict any civilians. In its now typical system of rewarding top torture officials, the White House has nominated McNulty to be Deputy Attorney General, the number two position at the Justice Department. If confirmed, McNulty will oversee all law enforcement at the Justice Department, directly supervising the FBI director, the head of the Criminal Division and all U.S. Attorneys." 2:36:21 PM    comment []

Brownback clarifies gay 'fruits' comment. Brownback clarifies gay 'fruits' comment [The Raw Story | A rational voice - Alternative news] 2:20:50 PM    comment []

Army Forces 50,000 Soldiers into Extended Duty By Will Dunham Reuters Sunday 29 January 2006 The U.S. Army has forced about 50,000 soldiers to continue serving after their voluntary stints ended under a policy called "stop-loss," but while some dispute its fairness, court challenges have fallen flat. The policy applies to soldiers in units due to deploy for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Army said stop-loss is vital to maintain units that are cohesive and ready to fight. But some experts said it shows how badly the Army is stretched and could further complicate efforts to attract new recruits. "As the war in Iraq drags on, the Army is accumulating a collection of problems that cumulatively could call into question the viability of an all-volunteer force," said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank. "When a service has to repeatedly resort to compelling the retention of people who want to leave, you're edging away from the whole notion of volunteerism." When soldiers enlist, they sign a contract to serve for a certain number of years, and know precisely when their service obligation ends so they can return to civilian life. But stop-loss allows the Army, mindful of having fully manned units, to keep soldiers on the verge of leaving the military. Under the policy, soldiers who normally would leave when their commitments expire must remain in the Army, starting 90 days before their unit is scheduled to depart, through the end of their deployment and up to another 90 days after returning to their home base. With yearlong tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, some soldiers can be forced to stay in the Army an extra 18 months. Hardship for Some Soldiers Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman, said that "there is no plan to discontinue stop-loss." "We understand that this is causing hardship for some individual soldiers, and we take individual situations into consideration," Hilferty said. Hilferty said there are about 12,500 soldiers in the regular Army, as well as the part-time National Guard and Reserve, currently serving involuntarily under the policy, and that about 50,000 have had their service extended since the program began in 2002. An initial limited use of stop-loss was expanded in subsequent years to affect many more. "While the policies relative to the stop-loss seem harsh, in terms of suspending scheduled separation dates (for leaving the Army), they are not absolute," Hilferty said. "And we take individual situations into consideration for compelling and compassionate reasons." Hilferty noted the Army has given "exceptions" to 210 enlisted soldiers "due to personal hardship reasons" since October 2004, allowing them to leave as scheduled. "The nation is at war and we are stop-lossing units deploying to a combat theater to ensure they mobilize, train, deploy, fight, redeploy and demobilize as a team," he said. No Luck in Court A few soldiers have gone to court to challenge stop-loss. One such case fizzled last week, when U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington dismissed a suit filed in 2004 by two Army National Guard soldiers. The suit claimed the Army fraudulently induced soldiers to enlist without specifying that their service might be involuntarily extended. Courts also have backed the policy's legality in Oregon and California cases. Jules Lobel, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who represented the National Guard soldiers, said a successful challenge to stop-loss was still possible. "I think the whole stop-loss program is a misrepresentation to people of how long they're going to actually serve. I think it's caused tremendous morale problems, tremendous psychological damage to people," Lobel said. "When you sign up for the military, you're saying, 'I'll give you, say, six years and then after six years I get my life back.' And they're saying, 'No, really, we can extend you indefinitely."' Congressional critics have assailed stop-loss, and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry called it "a back-door draft." The United States abolished the draft in 1973, but the all-volunteer military never before has been tested by a protracted war. A report commissioned by the Pentagon called stop-loss a "short-term fix" enabling the Army to meet ongoing troop deployment requirements, but said such policies "risk breaking the force as recruitment and retention problems mount." It was written by Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer. Thompson added, "The persistent use of stop-loss underscores the fact that the war-fighting burden is being carried by a handful of soldiers while the vast majority of citizens incur no sacrifice at all." 1:44:46 PM    comment []

NASA's top climate scientist tells the New York Times that "the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming." He also talks to the Washington Post about a global warming "tipping point." [Cursor.org] 12:35:09 PM    comment []

Group sues for pre- Katrina FEMA docs. Group sues for pre- Katrina FEMA docs [The Raw Story | A rational voice - Alternative news] 12:08:31 PM    comment []

How the media missed Enron. How the media missed Enron [The Raw Story | A rational voice - Alternative news] 11:46:36 AM    comment []

Martin Garbus: Bush's Blatant Attempt to Obstruct and End the Abramoff Investigation. At some point, it all becomes unbelievable. President George W. Bush has not made many moves more unethical than offering Noel L. Hillman, the Abramoff prosecutor, a federal judgeship. Hillman has apparently been talking with Bush's representatives since last year, and on last Thursday, he publicly announced he was accepting the appointment. Let me make this perfectly clear. At the same time that Mr. Hillman was conducting a grand jury and submitting evidence aimed at Bush's allies and perhaps Bush himself, he was meeting with Bush, who was, in effect, offering him a bribe. Mr. Hillman, Bush is saying, leave the job, let me put someone else in your stead, someone I want. Forget, says Mr. Bush, that you have been in charge of the investigation for two years, that you have been involved on a day-to-day basis, and that your leaving seriously impedes the investigation. All this had been kept quiet until Thursday, January 26, 2006. Neither the Bush administration nor Mr. Hillman thought it appropriate to let anyone know what was going on until the deal was done. Secrecy, the modus operandi of this administration, kept the information from the public. President Richard Nixon was the last one who tried something like this, but he didn't get away with it. In 1971, he invited a California federal trial judge, Matthew Byrne, then sitting on the criminal prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg for his release of the Pentagon Papers, to Nixon's San Clemente home, to offer Byrne the job of heading the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Byrne accepted the invitation. A limousine sent by Nixon picked Byrne up after the court. The next morning, at 7am, John Ehrlichman sent a limousine to Byrne to get his answer. Neither Nixon nor Byrne nor Ehrlichman released information about any of the meetings. But secrecy, the modus operandi of that administration, did not work. That day, the story leaked. Leonard Weinglass, one of the attorneys for the defense, virtually cross-examined the judge in the courtroom. The judge confirmed the meetings and then turned down the job. Byrne then denied a recusal motion, continuing with the case. Byrne, then totally aware of his impropriety, ultimately dismissed the case, in part, because of the storm created by his secret Nixon meetings. Both Matthew Byrne and Noel Hillman have good reputations. Byrne recognized that he was offered a bribe and turned it down. I do not personally know Mr. Hillman. Thus far, his public actions seem to warrant only applause. But Hillman's boss is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Neither has said a word about the offer and its acceptance. The public is entitled to know more. But Bush is getting away with it. There's been very little press coverage. Alito, Hamas, Iraq, and Oprah Winfrey have buried the story. The Democrats should insist on the appointment of a special prosecutor to fill Mr. Hillman's position. Attorney General Gonzales should not be permitted to designate Hillman's successor. This, unlike the botched up Alito hearings, is a war we can win. We should not let Bush appoint his own person, someone like Harriet Miers, Samuel Alito, or the man Bush's father said was the best person qualified for a Supreme Court seat, Clarence Thomas. It is nearly impossible to have faith in any of America's governing personnel or institutions. This administration's total disregard for law and ethics continues to shock even though we thought we were by now unshockable. [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed] 7:57:03 AM    comment []

I RECEIVED THIS FROM A FRIEND. PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICIALS MENTIONED AND ANY OTHERS YOU CAN THINK OF TO SAVE STEVE KUBBY'S LIFE. I rarely ask people to contact public officials, but this is an urgent request. A few days ago, medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby was deported from Canada, where he had sought political asylum from trumped-up drug charges. He is now in jail in Placer County, California, without access to the only medicine that has helped him control the symptoms of a very rare and deadly form of adrenal cancer. According to U.S. and Canadian medical experts, Kubby needs marijuana to stay alive and stabilize his adrenal function. No other treatments have worked for him ... and he is, incidentally, the longest living survivor (by many years) of this fatal disease. When Kubby is deprived of cannabis, adrenaline overwhelms his system and his blood pressure spikes to dangerous levels, causing excruciating headaches. These adrenaline surges could cause a heart attack, blindness, kidney failure or a fatal seizure. Denied proper medical attention, Kubby is suffering in solitary confinement. He is being tortured by vindictive law enforcement authorities, who remain steadfastly opposed to Proposition 215, California[base ']s medical marijuana measure, which Kubby helped author. His life is hanging in the balance. Steve Kubby is a friend of mine. He desperately needs your help. Please contact these officials and ask that Steve be provided with immediate medical attention. Urge them to release Steve Kubby from prison. And remind them if Steve is harmed while in custody, they will be held accountable. Bradford R. Fenocchio Placer County District Attorney Phone: (530) 889-7000 Fax: (530) 889-7129 Email: bfenocch@placer.ca.gov Deputy DA Christopher Cattran may be contacted at the above phone number. Sheriff Edward N. Bonner (who has ultimate responsibility for the jail) Phone: 530-889-7800 Fax: 530-889-6883 Email: pcsoweb@placer.ca.gov Please call the jail nurse at 530-745-8500 and request that Steve be provided with immediate medical care. 7:37:17 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2006 Patricia Thurston.