MetaFilter posts tagged with torture

I Deny That I Am In Denial

fourcheesemac — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:07:34 -0800

Questions for John Yoo. Q. Do you regret writing the so-called torture memos, which claimed that President Bush was legally entitled to ignore laws prohibiting torture? A. No, I had to write them. It was my job. As a lawyer, I had a client. The client needed a legal question answered. NY Times, via Andrew Sullivan Also: Q. Were you close to George Bush? A. No, I’ve never met him. I don’t know Cheney either. I have not gone hunting with him, which is probably a good thing for me. and Q. Are you saying the citizens of Berkeley are Communists, reminiscent of those on the dark side of the Iron Curtain? A. There are probably more Communists in Berkeley than any other town in America, but I think of them more as lovers of Birkenstocks than Marx.

Detainee 063

chunking express — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:23:43 -0800

Detainee 063. This is the interrogation log of Mohammed al-Qahtani. It is being published in real time: each entry will appear exactly seven years after it was first recorded. The interrogation took place at Guantanamo Bay.

Back to Stasiland

up in the old hotel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:44:19 -0800

In 1965, Carl-Wolfgang Holzapfel was arrested by East German border guards and spent nine months in solitary confinement in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, the notorious prison run by the Stasi [previously]. Starting today, Holzapfel is back behind bars in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen to remind people how they felt before the Wall came down 20 years ago. You can ask him about his campaign and watch him live here.

A Truly Shocking Gitmo Story

shetterly — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:11:56 -0800

A Truly Shocking Gitmo Story: "the U.S. government tortured an innocent man to extract false confessions and then threatened him until he obligingly repeated those lies as though they were the truth." His lawyer notes, "The Obama Department of Justice, with Attorney General Holder piously proclaiming that this Administration repudiates torture, and follows the rule of law, in fact is following the Bush playbook to the letter." Unbelievable Evidence, but Good Enough for Seven Years in Prison notes, "Al Rabiah's treatment is reminiscent of what happened to Mohammed Jawad, the Afghan who was captured as a young teenager and held for almost seven years before he was released last month. Both detainees were locked up based mainly on coerced confessions that appear to have been false, and it looks like both might have remained imprisoned but for the intervention of the federal courts. " Also: Judge's Order to Release Kuwaiti Detainee Puts Obama in a Bind.

Torture Produces False Memories and Bad Intel

homunculus — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:52:46 -0800

Torturing the brain (PDF). Extreme pain and stress can actually impair a person's ability to tell the truth. [Via]

I mean, really! Who throws a shoe?

orville sash — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:28:33 -0800

"After six years of humiliation, of indignity, of killing and violations of sanctity, and desecration of houses of worship, the killer comes, boasting, bragging about victory and democracy. He came to say goodbye to his victims and wanted flowers in response.

"Put simply, that was my flower to the occupier, and to all who are in league with him, whether by spreading lies or taking action, before the occupation or after."

Muntadhar al Zaidi, the journalist sentenced to three years of prison for assaulting a foreign leader after throwing his shoes at President Bush, has been released from prison after serving only nine months. On top of being severely beaten at the time of his arrest, al Zaidi has claimed that his 9 months in prison were marked by beatings, whippings and electric shocks.

Dear President Bush,

empath — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:07:14 -0800

Demanding that you alone be held accountable and no one else be scapegoated would itself be an act of honor. It would draw a line between the past and the future in the same way that Lincoln’s defense of his brief suspensions of habeas corpus conceded Congress’s sole right to remove this core constitutional provision, but defended his action as a necessary emergency measure because a mass rebellion “had subverted the whole of the laws.” You do not deserve to go down in history as the president who brought torture into the American system and refused to take responsibility for it..

An Open Letter to George W Bush

Borderline Human Experimentation

scrutiny — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:06:33 -0800

PHR (Physicians for Human Rights) have released a new report (pdf) that details the extent to which doctors were involved in monitoring and recording data on detainees subjected to waterboarding and other techniques [via] From the article:

A team of PHR doctors authored the white paper, which details how the CIA relied on medical expertise to rationalize and carry out abusive and unlawful interrogations. It also refers to aggregate collection of data on detainees’ reaction to interrogation methods. Physicians for Human Rights is concerned that this data collection and analysis may amount to human experimentation and calls for more investigation on this point. If confirmed, the development of a research protocol to assess and refine the use of the waterboard or other techniques would likely constitute a new, previously unknown category of ethical violations committed by CIA physicians and psychologists.

Mercy and the Minotaur.

geos — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:22:44 -0800

"The subjects vary... but there is an ideological approach in America that is distinguished by one common characteristic: words and deeds utterly lacking in the quality of mercy," by Charles Stross. Or, in other words, is using a minotaur to gore detainees a form of torture?

Torture; to investigate or not to investigate.

adamvasco — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:29:18 -0800

Scott Horton discusses the latest reports about the pending appointment of a torture special prosecutor with Keith Olbermann. Last week, British judges revealed that the British Secret Services fed questions to the CIA in the full knowledge that the Agency was systematically using torture in interrogations; a clear violation of international law. Meanwhile BBC Newsweek airs "Confessions of an Uzbek KGB officer". Shortly after 11.00 mins in the video Yakobov refuses to comment more on Secret Rendition claiming his life could be in endangered. In a Sept. interview Yakubov's most interesting evidence is that he accompanied a CIA man to an interrogation, and that the CIA man was actually in the room during the torture of a detainee.
bradblog attempts to unravel the web of deceipt.

The Lobotomy King

Burhanistan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:04:00 -0800

The Lobotomist (PBS American Experience) - During his illustrious career as a self-styled neurosurgeon, Walter Freeman performed nearly 3500 lobotomies. [Inspired by this thread] "My Lobotomy" - a story of one lobotomy recipient's journey to discover the story of his own procedure. (previously) Review of "The Lobotomist" (link includes the first chapter of the book) in The Guardian.

Holding the Cards

l33tpolicywonk — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:13:54 -0800

Newsweek has "four knowledgable sources" who claim attorney general Eric Holder is considering appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Bush administration interrogation practices. (h/t Glenn Greenwald).

Or have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?

The Whelk — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:09:04 -0800

“Josephine had practically every desirable personal characteristic, except wisdom and mercy.” Gee, that sounds like she actually isn’t a nice person at all! Gary Brecher (previously) reviews Banquo’s Ghosts, a political-minded spy thriller from National Review editor Richard Lowry and novelist Keith Korman. Lowry describes it as an "episode of “24″ written by Proust. " Bonus Conservative Potboiler Review: Matt Taibbi on William F. Buckley's Tucker's Last Stand.

A School for Torture

saulgoodman — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:19:30 -0800

An amendment to the Defense Authorization Act currently under consideration in congress would force the notorious School of the Americas (currently known as "WHINSEC") to "release to the public the names, ranks, countries of origin, courses taken and dates of attendance of all the students and instructors at the institute." Originally established in Panama in 1946, and now located at Fort Benning, Georgia, the school has variously been dubbed "School of Assassins" and "The Ultimate Union Buster" by human rights watchers and labor organizations. According to the advocacy group School of Americas Watch (SOA Watch), the training center "has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics." Putting it more pointedly, SOA Watch asserts: "Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, 'disappeared,' massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins." The school remains in operation today, under a new name, despite the lobbying efforts of organizations like SOA Watch to close the program, on the basis of human rights abuses stemming from the school's role in the so-called Argentinian Dirty War and other internal Latin American conflicts. In the US, the School of the Americas/WHINSEC has more recently come under renewed scrutiny for its possible role in shaping interrogation policies that led to the torture of prisoners held at Abu Ghraib. In 1996, the US Defense Department acknowledged that between 1982 and 1991, the School taught torture techniques and other tactics such as blackmail, beatings and executions determined to be inconsistent with US and international standards of human rights, making the school's training manuals from that period available to the public for the first time. [Related Previously: 1, 2]

Life in a North Korean Concentration Camp

thisperon — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:03:41 -0800

North Korea's concentration camps reportedly contain over half a million citizens, and is possibly one of the worst cases of systematic human rights abuses occurring in the world today. Ahn Myong Chol, an ex-prison guard, describes the conditions of the inmates of Camp 22, in objective and chilling detail. On medical experiments being performed on prisoners: "....the glass chamber has 3 main subdivisions: one is for blood experiments, another is for poison gas, and the third is for suffocation gas. 3 or 4 people, normally a family, are experimented on. The scientists sit around the edge and watch from above...". Chol's description of camp life, the psychology of being a prison guard and his victims: "If I was in a bad mood, I would find an excuse (to torture.) It's just like pigs or dogs. You could beat them everyday without caring if they lived or died. Everyday. For around 3 years I enjoyed torturing people." Shin Dong Hyuk, a young man who was actually born into a prison camp, is the only known survivor to escape Camp 14. Now in South Korea, he tells the stunning story of what is was like to be born in a prison camp, and the stark contrast of life outside of it. "Mothers get beaten during their work so they come home and beat their kids to relieve stress. We only called our parents mom and dad. There is no caring relationship between the parents and their children like in South Korea. I had never felt it even once."

Leon Panetta and the C.I.A.

homunculus — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:20:09 -0800

The Secret History: Can Leon Panetta move the C.I.A. forward without confronting its past?

Permanent Vacation for 17 Only $200M!

l33tpolicywonk — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:56:19 -0800

GITMO's 17 Uighurs - a dissident Chinese religious group - sent to Palau. Oppressed in China [previously and previously], the group were among several exonerated Guantanamo detainees [previously] who remained at the prison because no one would take them. Palau will receive $200 million in aid later this year, which the State Department argues is not quid pro quo. Austrialia, among 100 other nations, declined to house the Uighurs several times, initially proposing to send GITMO refugees to Nauru, an island left bankrupt from its participation in Russian banking, terrorism and other corruption. Citing the need to present a united front against China, the US has long argued several nations must simultaneously accept Uighur refugees. Instead, they head to a nation which acted as a US trust territory until 1994, and which the Secretary of State calls a staunch ally. Palauan President Johnson Toribiong on the agreement: "This is but a small thing we can do to thank our best friend and ally for all it has done for Palau."

Niagara County Judge: tasing a suspect into compliance with DNA test = okay

R_Nebblesworth — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:01:29 -0800

A new twist in the controversy over the (ab)use of tasers. A judge in Niagara County, NY has decided that tasing a suspect who refused to submit to DNA testing was a reasonable use of force. Ryan Smith, accused of robbery and kidnapping, already submitted one sample, which was contaminated when the government sent it to the wrong laboratory, and refused to give one a second time. The police asked a prosecutor what to do. His response: they could use force to get the sample, but as little as possible. So they tased Smith, who then submitted to the buccal swab. The police told Smith, who had a history of violence, that if he did not let them take a buccal swab he would be tased on "drive stun" mode (the government claimed he said he'd "have to be tased" for them to get it). He persisted in his refusal, so they let him have it for 2 seconds, rendering him unconscious (which the police dispute), after which he submitted. Smith's lawyer moved to suppress the DNA evidence. The police argued that they considered the alternatives of holding Smith down and prying his mouth open, but this would have been dangerous for all parties concerned and could have left Smith with lasting injuries. However, testimony showed that at the time Smith was tased he was handcuffed and sitting on the floor, surrounded by five police officers. The court thought that the order effectively acted as a search warrant. Reasonable force can be used to carry out search warrants, and the officers' actions were reasonable given Smith's violent history. Smith's attempt to suppress the DNA evidence as improperly obtained was therefore denied. Was this torture? Some (like Smith's lawyer) think so. Others find the 4th Amendment questions more interesting - for instance, if an order to submit to DNA testing is now a de facto search warrant in Niagara county. The results of the test link Smith to a robbery and a shooting.

Your face will not remain unrocked.

rifflesby — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:43:52 -0800

You may remember him from the old Portal of Evil and Fat Chicks in Party Hats days. Perhaps his article on homemade fireworks or his extensive collection of Hostess comic book ads taught you to laugh about love again. After a long absence from the internet, Seanbaby is back with, among other things, The Torture Debate As a Batman Comic. Previously on Metafilter (within the last two years): Frivolous lawsuits and a Nintendo cartridge that knows your future.

Not particularly sensational

Joe Beese — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:58:45 -0800

At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects [graphic images] including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts. Detail of the content emerged from Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted an inquiry into the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq. Responding to the report in The Telegraph, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "If I wanted to read a write-up of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League Cup, I'd might open up a British newspaper. If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not entirely sure it'd be the first pack of clips I'd pick up."

Stress Positions

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:16:51 -0800

Distinguished Professor of Law and the director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law, Jeffrey Addicott, tells The Jurist: "Even the worst of the CIA techniques that were authorized – waterboarding - would not constitute torture."

You Voted for Change?

adamvasco — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:01:09 -0800

Meet the IRF A Thug Squad is still Brutalizing Prisoners at Guantanamo.

Won't the Real Dick Cheney Please Stand Up?

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:03:38 -0800

Rachel Maddow recently interviewed former head of the Iraq Survey Group Charles Duelfer - who claims that Washington suggested using stronger interrogation techniques against an Iraqi official who was already cooperating - and former NBC News investigative producer Robert Windrem who says two sources confirmed to him that the suggestion from Washington was to use waterboarding, that the purpose was to find a link between Al-Qaida and Iraq, and that it came from the Vice President's office. The video in the second link begins with a timeline detailing Bush administration claims of an Al-Qaida/Iraq link and the use of torture. Her interview begins after about six minutes.

9/11 Commission ordered torture

Joe Beese — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:37:22 -0800

The 9/11 Commission suspected that critical information it used in its landmark report was the product of harsh interrogations of al-Qaida operatives - interrogations that many critics have labeled torture. Yet, commission staffers never questioned the agency about the interrogation techniques and in fact ordered a second round of interrogations specifically to ask additional questions of the same operative... More than one-quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Report refer to CIA interrogations of al Qaeda operatives subjected to the now-controversial interrogation techniques.

Obama administration's blackmail diplomacy over torture evidence

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:58:11 -0800

The Obama administration has repeatedly threatened to conceal future information of terrorist threats from the British government, unless the British government disobeys the High Court ruling requiring them to release information about the US government's acknowledged torture program. This may be a breach of the Convention Against Torture. Glenn Greenwald has new evidence. Previously.