thenatureofmind

Rumsfeld working on US Army torture manual

From the article:

Sen. Richard Durbin (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., pressed Rumsfeld on whether there will be one uniform standard for interrogations, which he said was the intent of McCain's legislation. And he asked whether the manual would allow anything that "would be considered unlawful if it were employed against American service members?"

Rumsfeld ducked the question as he normally does:

Rumsfeld did not say whether there would be one uniform standard.
But he said the manual, which will guide troops on the handling of detainees, "will comply with U.S. law."

I don't think John McCain really believed him... McCain's reply:

Told of that remark, McCain said: "Good. Glad to hear that. That means that we've had a successful discussion."

But guess what? They want to keep those parts of the manual dealing with prisoner interrogation secret. Can you guess why?

Defense officials had also been debating whether to keep certain specific interrogation techniques secret, by including them in a classified section of the manual. Several members of Congress privately cautioned the Pentagon that keeping parts secret could raise suspicions that the United States was violating international and U.S. laws.

Rumsfeld Reveals Split Over Interrogations

The UN calls on the US to close Guantanamo

The ethical issue of using medical personnel to force feed prisoners at Guantanamo is tantamount to torture. The hypocrisy of the US administration which claims to be fighting terrorism, while continuing to torture prisoners and defending it's right to do so by citing bogus legal loopholes leaves the US standing before the world like the emperor without clothing. American do not seem to question why they are the target of terrorism, while other countries like Mexico or France are untouched. Americans need to come to the realization that they are paying for the US's actions around the globe with their tax dollars. The actions of the US government are what is driving world terrorism and it is directed at the source.

At Guantanamo, treatment may be a nice word for torture

The Denial Continues....

"This committee should not lose sight of the fact that these incidents are not systemic," he told the committee of 10 experts as it began a two-day examination of U.S. compliance with the Convention Against Torture.

Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch this week again accused the United States of mistreating detainees through cruel interrogation methods including "water-boarding" -- a form of mock drowning.

"One of the most disturbing comments was the U.S. claim that its obligation not to send somebody where they could be tortured does not apply if an individual is picked up outside U.S. territory," Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch told Reuters after Friday's three-hour session.

When god is on your side in the war on terrorism, even lying is permitted....

US defends treatment of terror suspects to UN body