I try to confine my blog to issues relating to Guantanamo because I simply do not have time for the other issues-important as they are. But today I make an exception and I do it not only because of its importance but also because it ties in with Gitmo- ties in with the article immediately preceeding this one on this here blog- is another example of the general state of my pathetic country at this time --and finally, because I was a philosophy major before I turned to the noble pursuit of the law.
So read this....it is important and well written.
If you have not seen this piece by Jason Leopold and Jeff Kaye.....read it now.
Based on the handwritten notes by a man that has often been described as the architect of the psychological torture inflicted on the men at Guantanamo-and who knows where else....Bruce Jessen.
"But the handwritten notes obtained exclusively by Truthout drafted two decades ago by Dr. John Bruce Jessen, the psychologist who was under contract to the CIA and credited as being one of the architects of the government's top-secret torture program, tell a dramatically different story about the reasons detainees were brutalized and it was not just about obtaining intelligence. Rather, as Jessen's notes explain, torture was used to "exploit" detainees, that is, to break them down physically and mentally, in order to get them to "collaborate" with government authorities. Jessen's notes emphasize how a "detainer" uses the stresses of detention to produce the appearance of compliance in a prisoner. "
And boy I would love to see that other report mentioned in the article "prisoner handling recommendations."
This article goes a long way in explaining what many of us have witnessed in the men we are representing at Guantanamo and it is one more distressing piece of the war crimes being carried out by my country.
Donald Rumsfeld just published his memoirs, and he's receiving conservative accoladesfor "defending the constitution".
Rummy gave Guantánamo his seal of approval as "one of the finest prison systems in the world", though it's far more likely he'll be doing time in, say, Europe.
The former defence secretary and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz have meanwhile succeeded in getting the civil suit against them by José Padilla thrown out.
Padilla is the American citizen seized in a civilian courtroom in New York, taken to a military brig in South Carolina, and subjected to years of pointless punishment and cruelty.
Scotusblog has the new ruling. It's a shocking decision in which an Obama appointee in South Carolina dismissed a torture suit, because it's inconvenient for important people.
It was the reverse of the decision in California in Padilla's lawsuit against John Yoo. Glenn Greenwald and Emptywheel comment.
conviction and life sentence in search of supporting war crimes offenses.
allegiance to the United States because he “aided the enemy” is illegal bootstrapping.
to uphold Mr. Bahlul’s conviction.
most Americans take for granted in order to deny them equal protection of the law.
United States, must be closed now.
Last week the New York Times provided an editorial a right without a remedy asking the supreme court to accept cert in the case commonly known as Kiyemba (link to Petitioner's reply brief). The long and the short of the issue is that the supreme court held in 2008 that habeas corpus can be utilized by the men at Guantanamo to challenge their detention. It seemed a great (if late) victory for the many men who had already been held at Guantanamo for more than six years. But the DC Circuit court- which happens to be the only appellate court to hear Guantanamo habeas cases continues to refuse to give life to any of the Supreme Court decisions regarding Guantanamo. In the Kiyemba case the DC Circuit held that yes, the men can file habeas cases-but winning those cases does not mean the men necessarily will be released. In particular, one judge on the court, Judge Randolph -who somehow, even though he is on senior status-seems to be the writer of a great many of the guantanamo decsions from that court- is particularly hostile to the notion that the Supreme Court has the final say in these matters.
In recently declassified memos Rumsfeld made clear that he knew the men detained at Guantanamo were not the worst of the worst... In fact he complained that most of the men should not have been brought to Guantanamo.