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Torture

Book: "A Policy of Deliberate Cruelty"

Anti-torture activists protest the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Mayer, a reporter for The New Yorker magazine, shows in detail how high-level officials of the Bush administration, particularly in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, took advantage of the fear and paranoia that gripped the country after the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001 to launch \"an ideological trench war\" and \"a policy of deliberate cruelty that would've been unthinkable on Sept. 10\". (AFP/Getty Images/Max Whittaker)

TAMPA, Florida - Perhaps the most thorough and informative book about the George W. Bush administration's approval of the use of torture and "extraordinary renditions" of alleged terrorists to third countries has continued to stay on bestseller lists.

Posted in Torture

US Deserter Feared Torture Orders

Peter Jemley fled the U.S. military after concluding his training was leading him to a possible torture role. Sept. 3, 2008. (ASHLEY HUTCHESON/TORONTO STAR)

Peter Jemley is unique among the growing ranks of war resisters who have sought refuge in Canada.

For one thing, he's old by military standards. The only reason the army considered the 38-year-old recruit three years ago was because the age cap had been raised to fill the U.S. military's growing void.

The Tacoma, Wash., father of two young children also bucks the soldier stereotype. Jemley is a college history major, both quiet and fervently independent. If describing a bad situation he's likely to say it "sucked," then apologize for his profanity.

Posted in Torture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2008
1:14 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)

US: Rice Should Press Algeria on Fate of Returned Guantanamo Detainees

WASHINGTON - September 5 - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should press the Algerian government on the well-being and status of Guantanamo detainees returned to Algeria when she travels to Algiers on September 6, Human Rights Watch said today. Four Guantanamo detainees from Algeria have been returned in the last two months, and Rice is expected to discuss future Guantanamo returns during her visit.

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Posted in Human Rights, Torture

Revelations of an Abu Ghraib Interrogator

SAN FRANCISCO - Few people have thought as much about the morality of the U.S. occupation of Iraq than Joshua Casteel, a former U.S. Army interrogator who served at Abu Ghraib prison in the wake of the detainee abuse scandal there.

Once a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and raised in an evangelical Christian home, Casteel became a conscientious objector while he was stationed at the prison.

Posted in Torture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2, 2008
12:01 PM

CONTACT: Center for Constitutional Rights
press@ccrjustice.org

Government Conclusions on Guantanamo Deaths Do Not Absolve Government of Responsibility

Release of Findings Long Overdue, Two of the Three Men Who Died Were Facing Imminent Release

NEW YORK - September 2 - Late last week, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) released more than 3,000 pages of documents concerning its investigation into the deaths of three detainees at Guantanamo Bay on June 10, 2006. The NCIS report concludes that the detainees - Saudis Yasser al-Zahrani and Mani al-Utaybi, and Yemeni Ali Abdullah Ahmed Naser al-Sulami - died as the result of suicide. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) just obtained a full copy of the report and will be working in the coming days to present an analysis of the government's findings.

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Posted in Human Rights, Torture

Extraordinary Rendition, Extraordinary Mistake

Mamdouh Habib, an Australian citizen, was living in Sydney with his wife and four children when he took a trip alone to Pakistan to find a home for his family. When Habib boarded a bus for the Islamabad airport to return home, Pakistani police seized him and took him to a police station, where he was subjected to various crude torture techniques, including electric shocks and beating. At one point, he was forced to hang by the arms above a drum-like mechanism that administered an electric shock when touched.

Posted in Human Rights, War/Empire, Torture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2008
3:12 PM

CONTACT: ACLU
James Freedland, (212) 519-7829 or 549-2666;
media@aclu.org

Guantánamo Military Lawyers Request Extension in 9/11 Cases to Prepare Adequate Defense

ACLU Says Unreasonable Deadlines Reflect Unfair Process

GUANTANAMO BAY - August 25 - Military defense lawyers representing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other detainees charged with 9/11 terrorism-related crimes filed a motion with the Guantánamo military commissions seeking more time to provide an adequate defense in a system that is unfair and biased in favor of the prosecution. The motion asks that the current due date for the filing of legal motions, August 29, be extended to November 25 so that proper investigation, research and communication with clients can be achieved.
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Posted in civil liberties, Human Rights, Torture

British Security Services Colluded in Unlawful Detention of Terror Suspect, Court Rules

Binyam Mohamed, a UK resident held in Guantánamo Bay. (Photograph: PA)

British security services colluded in the unlawful detention and facilitated the interrogation of a UK resident detained in Pakistan six years ago, the high court ruled today.

Two judges ordered the foreign secretary to hand over to Binyam Mohamed's legal team secret information that could support his case that he was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco before being sent to Guantánamo Bay.

Posted in Torture

America in the World: Silenced by Bush

 "The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity."

--André Gide

One of the legacies of Bush's tragically flawed foreign policy is that it has managed to silence Americans who believe that the United States -- for all its faults -- should condemn aggression in other parts of the world.

Posted in civil liberties, Human Rights, North America, Torture
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