New Torture Report Blames Obama and the Media for Not Confronting the Truth

I first saw this report last night on "The Daily Show" and thought to myself; "it's about f#ing time" that somebody addressed the fact that torture was utilized by the previous administration and no one has been held accountable in any way.

www.thedailyshow.com...

While I don't place as much blame on Obama and our current administration as the title may imply, I do agree that he hasn't done enough and I've written him several times on this very subject.

However, I do put a lot of the blame on our current Congress, as it was they who blocked President Obama's attempts to close GITMO early on. I believe that, had GITMO been closed and the detainees tried in american courts, the undeniable truth would have come out and justice would demand that those responsible for implementing torture policies be held accountable.

Here's the source article, (as well as a few excerpts) from which I derived the title for this thread;

www.huffingtonpost.com...

By this point, there really should be no doubt in anyone's mind that torture was widely used during the last administration -- and that nothing like that should ever happen again.

The new, comprehensive report out today from an august, bipartisan commission goes a long way toward making that abundantly, authoritatively clear, laying the blame fully at the feet of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and other top officials.

There's also a matter of law. That U.S. officials involved with detention in the CIA's black sites committed war crimes and violated interntional law, which the report concludes to be self-evident, isn't something Obama is allowed to ignore.

It actually violates the U.S.' legal obligations under the international Convention Against Torture, which requires each country to "[c]riminalize all acts of torture, attempts to commit torture, or complicity or participation in torture," and "proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction."

The report notes the "crucial support" to the torture regime provided by people in the medical and legal fields, which it says raises "profound ethical questions for both professions."

And weighing into territory recently plowed during the debate over the movie Zero Dark Thirty and its depiction of torture as providing useful information, the report notes that there is no evidence to support that view, and points out that the people saying torture worked have "inherent credibility issues," one of which is that they are the ones "who actually who authorized and implemented the very practices that they now assert to have been valuable tools in fighting terrorism."

Here's some other articles covering the release of this report;

www.nytimes.com...

rt.com...

The actual report in it's entirety can be read here; detaineetaskforce.org...#/18/

The absolute disregard for international law, not to mention basic human rights, by the Bush administration is just disgusting and IMO, equate to "crimes against humanity."

As far as I'm concerned, until such time as we hold those responsible for these atrocities accountable in a court of law, the terms "under God" and/or "justice for all" have no business being included in our pledge of allegiance.

reply to post by Flatfish


I have no doubt torture has always been a part of the USA government and all the others also. it became blatant and more open under Bush and is still going strong under Obama. if anything at all were done it would be just to keep it more secret.

reply to post by Flatfish


Here's the segment on it from PBS Newshour,

After a two-year investigation, bipartisan legal research and advocacy group the Constitution Project released a report confirming that the United States engaged in torture after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Jeffrey Brown talks to two of the report authors, former congressman James Jones and retired Army Brig. Gen. David Irvine.

Report Finds 'Indisputable' Proof That U.S. Tortured Detainees After 9/11

(can't find it on youtube so can't embed)

And nothing will be done as long as the same people are running the show. There will be no arrests, no investigations of any kind and no trials. These people will simply walk free.

reply to post by BritofTexas


Thanks for the PBS version. Not surprisingly, they all depict the same illegal behavior on the part of the Bush administration and our failure as a nation to hold those responsible, accountable for their actions.

Maybe now that it's "indisputable," something can be done about it. Then again, maybe not.

The one thing I do know, is that they won't do anything unless we make them do it. I think I once heard a politician say that.

Wait a minute.

Does anyone still question if the United States government tortured anyone or not? I thought that discussion was over.

The government and media changed the nomenclature to "Enhanced Interrogation" and water-boarding has been admitted, call it what you want, it's torture. Please don't forget Hannity offered to be water-boarded for charity and claims it is not torture. The majority of the media supported torture by denigrating those against it and changing the conversation to one that tried to legitimize the practice.

Citizens of other nations experienced extraordinary rendition, released and told publicly that they experienced torture and initiated law suits for their experience. They were taken to those places that don't exist by squads that don't exist and then tortured in ways we don't engage in.

In summary I am surprised this is still news in the media, I thought the conversation was over.

Edit: And I agree, no one will ever be held responsible or prosecuted.

Originally posted by sdocpublishing
Wait a minute.

Does anyone still question if the United States government tortured anyone or not? I thought that discussion was over.

The government and media changed the nomenclature to "Enhanced Interrogation" and water-boarding has been admitted, call it what you want, it's torture. Please don't forget Hannity offered to be water-boarded for charity and claims it is not torture. The majority of the media supported torture by denigrating those against it and changing the conversation to one that tried to legitimize the practice.

Citizens of other nations experienced extraordinary rendition, released and told publicly that they experienced torture and initiated law suits for their experience. They were taken to those places that don't exist by squads that don't exist and then tortured in ways we don't engage in.

In summary I am surprised this is still news in the media, I thought the conversation was over.

Edit: And I agree, no one will ever be held responsible or prosecuted.

edit on 19-4-2013 by sdocpublishing because: (no reason given)

edit on 19-4-2013 by sdocpublishing because: (no reason given)

It's news again because to reports by independent, non-partisan commissions on the subject were just released, and these reports confirm that torture was indeed done. Whereas most MSM "news" outlets have continued the charade of call it "enhanced interrogation techniques" and the current president is protecting the torturers, as is the congress, which has not investigated the issue thoroughly.

They actually found bush n Obama guilty. Not just Obama. Hopefully these criminals get locked up.

reply to post by Flatfish
I know that somehow we as a nation (US) are supposed to be above this sort of thing, but waterboarding is scarcely real torture. It's easy to fake distress in a situation where there is no physical damage.

If you want to know what real torture is like, talk to some of the Vietnam War Veterans (POW) that spent 7-8 years in captivity confined in a cage on the ground with biting insects, rats and other vermin crawling over you and beaten on a regular basis just for kicks.

Originally posted by sdocpublishing
Please don't forget Hannity offered to be water-boarded for charity and claims it is not torture. The majority of the media supported torture by denigrating those against it and changing the conversation to one that tried to legitimize the practice.

Yeah, I do remember Hannity's offer to get water-boarded. And what an expose' it was when he turned out to be a coward extraordinaire.

Seems like I remember Keith Olbermann offering Hannity $1,000 per second, for every second he is water-boarded, to be donated to the charity of Hannity's choice. Olbermann went on to say that he would double the amount if, after being water-boarded, Hannity would admit that it was indeed torture.



Anyone got video of Hannity being water-boarded?

Originally posted by sdocpublishing
Citizens of other nations experienced extraordinary rendition, released and told publicly that they experienced torture and initiated law suits for their experience. They were taken to those places that don't exist by squads that don't exist and then tortured in ways we don't engage in.

In summary I am surprised this is still news in the media, I thought the conversation was over.

Edit: And I agree, no one will ever be held responsible or prosecuted.

Actually I agree with your post but IMO, the conversation won't be over until those responsible for instituting torture are held accountable.

Hi Flatfish
Ive had this topic up for a couple days now
and
what amazes me is the lack of attention this topic is getting
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I am not nesessarily saying this is a duplicate thread either I just want this out front
when people talk of justice especially here, I'm wondering why that justice doesn't apply to the victims of these war crimes?

Originally posted by elfrog
I know that somehow we as a nation (US) are supposed to be above this sort of thing, but waterboarding is scarcely real torture. It's easy to fake distress in a situation where there is no physical damage.

No signs of physical damage = no torture committed? Now that's a big load of B.S. if I ever heard one. What moronic idiot did you get that bit of insight from? No wait, let me guess. Was it Dick Cheney?

Originally posted by elfrog
If you want to know what real torture is like, talk to some of the Vietnam War Veterans (POW) that spent 7-8 years in captivity confined in a cage on the ground with biting insects, rats and other vermin crawling over you and beaten on a regular basis just for kicks.

I'm not saying that what happen to our vets in Vietnam wasn't torture, because it was. On the other hand, torture can be committed in much less than 7 or 8 yrs. time and it doesn't necessarily have to include cages, biting insects, rats or regular beatings. Although, judging by the photos released from Abu Ghraib, I feel confident that we probably met most of the criteria you speak of.

Torture is torture and there are many ways to commit it. This new bi-partisan report just reinforces the fact that our previous administration directly approved and instituted the use of torture and this nation has failed to hold anyone accountable.

Originally posted by Danbones
Hi Flatfish
Ive had this topic up for a couple days now
and
what amazes me is the lack of attention this topic is getting
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I am not nesessarily saying this is a duplicate thread either I just want this out front
when people talk of justice especially here, I'm wondering why that justice doesn't apply to the victims of these war crimes?

Hey Danbones,

Sorry, I didn't see your thread when I posted this one.

When I wrote this thread, I viewed several articles covering the subject and chose the one from Huffingtonpost specifically for it's title. I was hoping to entice the Obama haters here on ATS to at least read the report and accept the fact that "torture" was committed and that we should hold those responsible, accountable.

Apparently, I didn't do an extensive enough search before I posted but I agree that this subject needs all the attention it can get. I don't understand why the MSM isn't covering this. Maybe it's because they are just as much to blame as the rest of us, via our complacency.

reply to post by Flatfish


hey no problem
as I said: I think this topic should stay front page
I plan to support this thread because you have brought some very good references to the table

especially the full doc


got some reading to do

eta re Viet Nam
I wonder:
The gulf of tonkin incident that was the justification for the war never happened
so ultimately who is responsible for the torture of the US troops there?

the people who voted for the cheep ammo that jammed up the ars just to turn a profit
are they not war criminals too