‘Torture-Tainted Evidence’ Mars US Legal Image: Rights Group
The use of torture to extract evidence from detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has tarnished the US legal system’s image and alienated allies in the war on terror, a rights group said Monday.
“The use of evidence tainted by torture and other inhuman treatment is pervasive and systematic in the cases of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, and has already infected legal judgments made there,” Human Rights First said in a report titled “Tortured Justice.”
By hearing testimony extracted under torture when trying Guantanamo detainees, the United States is “tainting the legitimacy of the proceedings, both at home and in the eyes of the international community; alienating US allies and empowering terrorists,” it said.
A Pentagon spokesman defended the legal process set up to try “war on terror” detainees.
The Human Rights First report “makes ill-founded assumptions about the evidence upon which our military prosecutors will rely,” said Commander Jeffrey Gordon.
“In fact, military prosecutors are building cases based on solid evidence that will withstand the scrutiny under both the law and in the eyes of the public,” he said.
The report was released two days after President George W. Bush vetoed legislation on intelligence funding because it called for interrogation methods to be limited to techniques outlined in a US military manual.
That would have excluded waterboarding, a method of simulated drowning widely seen as a form of torture.
In vetoing the bill on Saturday, Bush called hardcore interrogation methods “one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror,” and praised them for preventing another attack on the United States, such as those on September 11, 2001.
But according to scientific studies and former interrogators cited in Monday’s report, torture and other forms of cruelty do not produce useful evidence.
“There is no scientific record that establishes that torture and coercion are going to produce accurate or reliable information,” said Avi Cover, co-author of the report.
“Tortured Justice” quoted former FBI interrogator Jack Cloonan as saying the abusive interrogations conducted at the US detention facility at Guantanamo were “a complete and unmitigated failure.”
Better results were obtained by providing suspects with legal representation and giving them a fair hearing.
“A tremendous amount of information came our way as a result of treating people humanely,” Cloonan was quoted as saying.
The military commissions at Guantanamo were created by an act of Congress in 2006, which also allowed coerced evidence to be used against some suspects.
“This system flies in the face of law that has been in place for more than 200 years in this country and taints the legitimacy of the proceedings at home and internationally,” said HRF’s Debra Colson, one of the lead authors of the report.
Allowing evidence obtained by torture would be “inconsistent with the justice system of a civilized society”, said Cover.
The report cites the cases of six Guantanamo detainees who were allegedly abused by US government interrogators, but also covers interrogations that took place at secret rendition prisons operated by the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq, “all over,” said Cover.
“The techniques go well beyond waterboarding. Stress and duress techniques were quite common and alleged by many people. Beatings, isolation, sensory deprivation were alleged by many,” he said.
“These tactics were part of the catalogue of interrogation techniques used by communist countries during the Cold War that were studied and many times adopted by the CIA,” Cover said.
“While it was found often that they produced statements, they have no real record of producing reliable information.”
Torture and other inhuman treatment are banned under US criminal, military and international law, the report said.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that due process prohibits the government’s use of involuntary statements extracted through psychological pressure, physical intimidation, torture or other mistreatment,” it said.
“As the military commission proceedings gather momentum in 2008, the American public and the international community will be watching,” it added.
© 2008 Agence France Presse
Lawyers should resolve to put the lawyers who perpetrated this atrocity on trial for violating the code of professional responsibility. There is no more grievous offense than subversion of the rule of law.
The fact that our criminal misleadership is not in prison for violation US and international law and for crimes against humanity tortures the rule of law as well as logic.
The US has NO credibility and only the threat of force left in international relations and the threat of force is, by definition, terrorism.
Screw image; it’s the substance that really stinks.
“By hearing testimony extracted under torture when trying Guantanamo detainees, the United States is “tainting the legitimacy of the proceedings, both at home and in the eyes of the international community; alienating US allies and empowering terrorists,” it said.”
This is the dictionary definition of - understatement.
Who will ever believe anything Americans say again? Trust is such a brittle thing.
Not accurate in many ways. Contrary to what American propogandists in the press have often said, there has never been much respect for the so called legal system in the U.S. Writers seem to be totally ignorant of the condemnation of the U.S. treatment of blacks in the south and the rest of the U.S. The claim that the U.S. has been a “nation of laws” is total nonsense, and the result of the failure to recount the real history of this country in texts and “media”. What the U.S. is now doing does lay bare the incompetency of Bush in making explicit what has always been done in secret. The U.S. is undlubtedly the greatest terrorist nation the world has ever known. And it will get worse if the war criminal and war monger becomes president. He is truly the most dangerous man on the planet.
““In fact, military prosecutors are building cases based on solid evidence that will withstand the scrutiny under both the law and in the eyes of the public,” he (Commander Jeffrey Gordon) said.”
‘Solid evidence’ that will never be scrutinized by either the law or the public because the government will claim it endangers national security.
Waterboarding is not simulated drowning. It is real drowning, but controlled drowning. It’s one of the worst tortures, and usually breaks its victims within minutes. Then they tell you anything you want to hear to stop you from continuing to drown them to death.
You can bet that the military/industrial complex is developing new torture methods. Lots of profits to be made there !
“Torture evidence” has marred the US image abroad? You mean the entire White House don’t you? Not one thing-for nearly 8 years now-has been a plus for this White House. The bush administration has done more damage to the United States than any outside force ever could. It will take years-literally years to undo this degree of damage. Nothing out there has damaged the United States as much as this administration. Nothing.
Y’all seem to forget something; many (most?) Americans raised on a steady diet of “24″ and misinformation believe that torture is good for national security. I guess dip-lom-a-cy is too complex a concept for knuckle-dragging neanderthals.
Maybe the torture isn’t used to get info or for prosecution evidence.
It’s hard to sell wars aimed at getting control of the fossil fuel riches of Middle East and Central Asia.
But, easier to sell a war against sub human savages.
So, foster the threat to civilization by a bunch of crazed fanatics.
To foster the fears, use unusual methods- renditions, tortures, security alerts, more butt covering laws for the secret police,and such.
This all scares the bejabbers out of enough people that the wars for the fossil fuel control can be carried out without too much criticism.
I don’t think (m)any of the people scooped up and thrown into these secret police dungeons have been tried in an open court…or in any court. So getting info or getting evidence for court proceedings is not why they have been kidnapped.
Seig Heil !!!!!!
I rise to wholeheartedly second stepfour’s proposal: first thing out of the chute, let’s disbar all the lawyers.
The Human Rights First report (and the above article) should mention however that it’s not just judicial proceedings that get tainted when we admit the fruits of a torture interrogation as evidence of what supposedly transpired. The 911 Commission based a great deal of its narrative description of the attacks on the World Trade Center upon the statements taken from Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) after a spirited round of waterboarding.
Bullshit in, bullshit out.
Bill from Saginaw
The US have never been the “Good Guys”. Read history. I am so ashamed to be a US citizen that if I were younger, I’d leave this place.
“By hearing testimony extracted under torture…the United States is tainting the legitimcy of the proceedings both at home and in the eyes of the international community; alienating US allies and empowering terrorists.”
As usual this is a watered-down report, because the perpetrator is the US. For me, the report seems to have been written by an American who is concerned about the reputation of the US (”alienating US allies”). What would have been the content and language of the report, if the perpetrator were either Iran, or Syria, or any other Muslim country, or a “Third World country”? I wonder how this group is called a “Human Rights” Group, if their perception is not RIGHT.
“Empowering terrorists”? Who are the terrorists? Aren’t the American christian soldiers who are killing innocent children, women, and men in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, terrorists? Isn’t the US government which is supplying weapons to Sudan (through Kuwait and Saudi Arabia), Congo, Israel (to kill Palestinians and Lebanese) a terrorist government? Now the same government is creating MAYHEM in Pakistan. FIRST KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE US. IT IS FOUNDED ON VIOLENCE AND THE INNOCENT BLOOD. GUANTANAMO BAY IS NOT AN ABHERRATION.
First let the perception of this Human Right’s Group be RIGHT? Then only it will have better judgment of rights of ALL HUMAN BEINGS IN ALL THE COUNTRIES.
American lawyers, learn from the Pakistan Lawyers, who opposed their dictator. Whereas you are supporting a dictator and his inhuman government, and distorting injustice as justice.
American citizens, do not continue to sit in your cozy places and pass the buck onto your president, pentagon, and the government. Learn from Pakistan citizens, who risked their lives in coming out into the streets and opposing their dictator.
Let’s stop pretending that the US has been debased under Bush. The US has been a criminal state for at least 200 years. The people gleefullly joined the Spanish American War. We were all for World wars I and II once manipulated. We supported the troops when they attacked Vietnam which had done nothing to the US. The indians didn’t ask to be killed and the Mexicans didn’t ask get to get robbed and neither did the Hawaiians. The US is a thief and has been for a very long time. Almost every president, and all presidents since the second world war were war criminals and violators of the Nurenmberg laws which are US LAW! Eisenhower and Carter, perhaps the nicest of the bunch committed crimes as well. The US reserves the right to break any and all laws it has agreed to. Like the repeated violation of treaties with the natives, the US violates whatever commitment it has made if it suits it. The US is a danger to all humanity and has already caused death,destruction, and poverty all over the world. Change in America can only come when Americans truly realize what their country has been doing. I am very happy to see so many posters who realize this.
Presidents are above the law, no matter what the constitution says. The worst that has happened to a President is having to resign(Nixon), unless you count assasinations. At least two of those, McKinley’s and Lincoln’s were justified since they were big time criminals. The should have been executed, by law.
I guess if the Evangelicals have no problem with their right wingnut adherents waterboarding, it’s got to be ok with Jesus Christ……….”PRAISE THE LORD AND WATERBOARD!” lol
Couple of weeks ago I was at the dentist. I had a beautiful tooth with a gold crown, but it gone now — it was infected and decayed right down to bone. I suppose it was an American tooth: that’s what this country is like. We always had a few ‘cavities’ and some decay, but now completely rotted. The country I lived in as a youth is gone.
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
Tue Mar 11, 5:48 PM ET
AMERICAN POT CALLS FOREIGN KETTLES BLACK
WASHINGTON - The United States branded China an authoritarian human rights abuser Tuesday, citing alleged torture. The report gave a chilling account of alleged torture in China, including the use of electric shocks, beatings, shackles, and other forms of abuse.
( CAN YOU SAY GUANATANAMO? ABU GRAIB?, SECRET CIA BLACK SITE? WATERBOARDING?)
Forced relocations went up last year, the report said. It noted claims that people were forced from their homes to make way for Olympic projects in Beijing.
(CAN YOU SAY KATRINA? CAN YOU SAY IMMINENT DOMAIN?)
In Russia, centralization of power in the executive branch,)CAN YOU SAY UNITARY EXECUTIVE? a compliant State Duma, (CAN YOU SAY CONGRESS?) corruption (CAN YOU SAY GOVERNMENT?)and selectivity in enforcement of the law,(CAN YOU SAY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT?) continued to erode the government’s accountability to its citizens,” the report said.
IT WOULD BE FUNNY IF IT WERE NOT SO SAD….
When tasers were first introduced, the police officers had to experience the effects of being on the receiving end before they could carry and use one.
Perhaps, the President, VP, and all other promoters of this despicable system of procedures should be interrogated under the same techniques regarding their crimes or alleged crimes. The general consensus is that they are guilty. Let’s see just what they’ll admit to with electrodes attached to their testicles, a rag stuffed down their throats then saturated with water until their lungs start filling, after being sleep deprived for three weeks, lying naked and cold on a concrete floor and after having to attempt to sodomize each other. I’m sure I’ve left a bunch of juicy techniques out, but you get the picture.
What’s fair for one terrorist should be fair for another. What these guys are doing is jeopardising and compromising any of our soldiers that may be captured in the future and diminishing our status in the world. It can’t be reassuring to the grunts on the ground that they represent the beacon of righteousness that ignores the Geneva Convention, the UN Charter and any other treaty or agreement they see fit to, and as a result they most likely would be subjected to the same or worse treatment if captured.
I wholeheartedly agree with you Lizard…I pray for the day that the USA finally falls…it has been the black heart of evil in the world ever since the first Boston “terrorists” dumped tea in the harbour.
The black heart of evil??? I think you’re a wee bit off. As much as I really hate to disagree with a fellow canuck, again. The usa isn’t the nation that came up with the idea of imperialism, certainly the Persians were just as nasty. The usa isn’t the nation that came up with the idea of ‘rule of law’ nor is it the only nation to ignore that concept when it suits their national purpose. The usa wasn’t the first nor will it be the last state that exports, sponsors, encourages or uses terrorism. The usa isn’t the first, nor is it the only, nation that practiced or practices torture. Really, anything nasty or good has been done before by just about every people on this rock. Do you really mean to say that the usa has a special claim to humanity’s ‘heart of darkness’? That the rest of us are frickin lily white near angelic beings that never have wronged our fellows?
Be careful of what you pray for - Lizard and Canuckchuck - you may get it. Goddess have mercy on all of us if you do.
Back to the article, the ‘image’ of us justice has been tainted long before the use of torture became ‘legal’ in the usa. The greatest arguement in favour of a higher being is that it’ll be spanking all of us for the crap we pull/ed on earth after we pass on, cause most of us wont see ‘justice’ in their lifetimes, no matter which country - or era of history - you live in.
Thanks to Madam Pelosi impeachment is off the table. Thanks to the Dems no one has been held accountable.
Dems are complicit in every respect for everything that has been going on.
Therefore I am not going to vote for either of the two parties. DON’T VOTE FOR EITHER OF THE TOO EVILS.
lizard March 11th, 2008 6:50 pm
>>Presidents are above the law, no matter what the constitution says. The worst that has happened to a President is having to resign(Nixon), unless you count assasinations<<
Seems everything goes except infidelity. Remember Bill Clinton? The NY governor is about to learn that.
lizard et al,
It’s time to grow up.
It has been human history that certain groups attack, take resources, take land, rape and kill, exterminate other groups.
Americans are merely human. They just happen to have the greatest number and deadliest weapons with which they can inflict their desires, which they do. And they work hard to ensure that no other country can obtain these deadly weapons.
What’s changed in current history is that people have mobility and access to information. This has reduced the tendency for groups to form around religion, ethnicity, race or nationality (although they still exist in smaller groups). A multi-cultural, multi-racial society like the U.S. doesn’t form a group around the traditional factors; they do and have formed around economic class.
It is the American wealthy that want resources to increase their wealth - be it, energy, labor, access to any country’s markets. They and their appointed leaders use nationalism to convince their citizens to follow them and use the failed rationale of conservative economics (free trade, level playing field, competitive markets, competitive labor wages, etc. etc.) as beneficial to all Americans.