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Intelligence Veterans Back Torture Probe
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
SUBJECT: Accountability for Torture
We write you, Mr. President, as former intelligence professionals to voice strong support for Attorney General Eric Holder's authorization of a wider investigation into CIA interrogation. We respectfully disagree with the direct appeal to you by seven former CIA directors to quash that wider investigation.
The signatories of this Memorandum are former intelligence officers and analysts who have worked with CIA directors going back as far as Allen Dulles. Our cumulative experience totals more than 200 years.
We are encouraged by your own support for Attorney General Holder's decision to have federal prosecutor John Durham investigate possible criminal activity by individuals engaging in torture and other violations of international agreements on the treatment of detainees.
From our own experience in intelligence, both as field operators and as senior analysts, we know that personal accountability is vital to maintaining an effective intelligence service that reflects our best traditions and the rule of law.
Among the former CIA directors who, by letter of September 18, asked you to "reverse" the attorney general's decision are some who were cognizant of and involved in decisions that led to the abuses in question. We find that troubling.
Clearly, the role of CIA directors in issuing orders that led to inappropriate behavior, and their failure to hold officers accountable, helped create the environment in which abuses occurred - the ones detailed in the Special Review of the CIA Inspector General, for example.
No analytical leap is required to conclude that those particular CIA directors might have understandable interest in blocking investigation of their own complicity. They include, first and foremost, George Tenet - many of whose misdeeds are already a matter of public record. To mention just a few:
-Tenet was the chief enabler of torture. He also oversaw widespread kidnapping ("extraordinary rendition"), which in some cases led to torture.
-Our sources tell us that Tenet knew about the overstepping of the guidelines approved by the lawyers and that he knew the people doing it. Rather than restrain them, he pushed them still harder, in an attempt to please his masters.
We strongly believe that investigations of possible wrongdoing cannot, in all fairness, be limited to the proverbial "bad apples at the bottom of the barrel." Rather, in our view, such investigations must be allowed to go wherever the evidence leads.
The inquiry last year by the Senate Armed Services Committee provides a good model for doing precisely that. The main conclusion of the committee's "Inquiry Into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody," approved last fall without dissent, was captured in its first subhead: "Presidential Order Opens the Door to Considering Aggressive Techniques."
The Hollywood version of the CIA portrays amoral spies willing to do anything without regard to ethics or human rights. Our own long experience persuades us that the intelligence community has an abundance of men and women of outstanding character, who are committed to the rule of law, and whose primary desire is to serve the nation and protect the American people.
However much former CIA directors and other people at risk might wish to derail an investigation into possible war crimes, we believe the moral standing of our nation requires that we apply the same standards to offenses by U.S. officials as we would to accusations of war crimes by those in other countries.
For all these reasons, we strongly endorse efforts by the Department of Justice to investigate allegations of torture and human rights abuses by any Americans - CIA officers and contractors included.
Please regard this Memorandum as follow up to the more extensive comments on torture in the VIPS review prepared for you in late April. A copy of that Memorandum was eventually posted at Consortiumnews.com (see http://tinyurl.com/cvvr2x).
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Steering Group
Ray Close, National Clandestine Service (CIA), Princeton, NJPhil Giraldi, National Clandestine Service (CIA), Purcellville, VA
Melvin A. Goodman, US Army, CIA, Dept. of State, Dept. of Defense, Bethesda, MD
Larry Johnson, CIA & Department of State, Bethesda, MD
Pat Lang, US Army (Special Forces), DIA, Alexandria, VA
David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council, Linden, VA
Tom Maertens, Department of State, Mankato, MN
Ray McGovern, US Army, CIA, Arlington, VA
Sam Provance, US Army (Abu Ghraib), Greenville, SC
Coleen Rowley, FBI, Apple Valley, MN
Greg Thielmann, Dept. of State, Sen. Intelligence Committee Staff, Arlington, VA
Ann Wright, US Army, Department of State, Honolulu, HI
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14 Comments so far
Show AllI have a strong respect for this group, as their writings have consistently acknowledged the realpolitik need for an objective, non-political, & professional intelligence apparatus (which is absolutely necessary in modern statecraft), while calling for the rightful investigation and prosecution of those within its' midst that would lead it down a road of no good.
The willful amateurization of intelligence under Dubya, Cheney, & Co. was amongst the more dangerous things that occurred during the Bush error. Clearing the Augean Stables that it has become is a necessary exercise that is better done sooner than later.
Any call for an 'investigation' of Intelligence Professionals by Intelligence Professionals' without an acknowledgement of prosecutions that should follow any revelations of criminal acts is 'smoke in the wind'.
Any call for any prosecutions in any other venue than the International Court of Justice is a mockery of 'justice' and typical of the American concept of 'jurisprudence'.
All of these crimes which are already 'public knowledge', were conspired to within US Territory to be committed upon foreign soil, against foreign nations and foreign nationals.
The jurisdiction is 'international' as a result of this and any 'investigations' and subsequent 'prosecutions' should be conducted in an international forum such as the ICJ.
Without this demand, these signatures above are simply a continuation of the mockery the USA has represented from its beginning.
"If the USA were another nation the USA would invade the USA to keep the world safe' and they would be justified."
the only problem is that they should have started speaking
out in 2004-2005. that being said it probably would not have made it through the news blackout. i have seen ray mcgovern
speak and he was truly inspirational. they need to do more public forums and inform the public about whats going on.
i'm not picking here its that the need exists.
guys thanks for speaking out. amerika needs more people
like you so it can return to america in the worlds eyes!
[the only problem is that they should have started speaking
out in 2004-2005.]
They did. When their talking was mentioned by the corporate media, they were accused of being 'soft on terrorism'...
These people have written letter after letter, even going so far as to ask the President BEFORE the iraq war to be careful of false intelligence. Ann Wright resigned over the Iraq war I believe.
As the poster below says. These people did. And they have worked tirelessly to bring that agency of brutality and foolishness, the CIA, into the light of accountability as well as the crazies who have put America into such a deep dark hole.
This memorandum is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. Support for the Holder's special prosecutor endorses a proposal to limit investigation to little fish. Nothing is said here about the real authors of the torture policy, up to and including Mr. Bush. The statement, "[We] strongly endorse efforts by the Department of Justice to investigate allegations of torture and human rights abuses by any Americans - CIA officers and contractors included" suggests stopping with CIA officers and contractors. Were the authors afraid to say that others should be included beyond CIA officers and contractors?
NativeSon says prosecutions for violations of the bans on torture should take place in the International Court of Justice. I haven't seen any description of the applicable laws that would support the notion that prosecution could only occur in that venue. My repeated questioning concerning why, with thousands of state and federal prosecutors, grand juries, and law enforcement agencies, we have to rely upon Holder (who clearly has no idea of aggressively pursuing the criminal acts), remains unanswered, except by NativeSon's claim. Can't we do better than that? Isn't there a Jim Garrison somewhere who will step forward and at least attempt to enforce the law?
'manning 120'
If I may offer another point, and answer your proposition.
The Reagan appointed Fed. Judge, Lawrence Silberman*, overturned Oliver North's more serious crimes, (research this--but it included crimes against humanity in Nicaragua and El Salvador) and now "Ollie" has regular book signings and his own TV show making him a 'millionaire'---Gerald Ford, Pardoned Richard Nixon.
The USA has never honored any of the treaties they signed with the Native Tribes, nor the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, or with Vietnam, or----(I could go on and on)
If all of the members of the criminal 'cabal' that the Bush administration almost went to a 'public level' with (with Cheney interviews of how effective the torture programs were in 'defending America) were convicted of all of their crimes, they would most likely be pardoned or commuted or both by the next sympathetic President or Federal Appeals Judge or Supreme Court; and have THEIR own book signing and TV shows as 'American Heroes'---
None of these people had the least compunction about committing very serious 'international crimes' (see the Nuremberg Tribunals I&II) in the first place since they were of the criminal mind to begin with. But the 'deterrent' that keeps most people from committing crimes, that of imminent punishment, was not a deterrent here either. Yet, the USA stood in judgement of others just 60 years ago for the same crimes; kidnapping, torture, false imprisonment ---death ---no one knows exactly how many people have died in the custody of the USA during this reign of terror; by the USA.
Imagine yourself a member of another 'civilized society' and you read the synopsis
of the history of the worlds concept of 'crimes against humanity' and then juxtapose that to the conduct of the Bush administration, and the CIA under its control. If you would not want these people tried in any other venue than the ICJ then you would invite the same behavior elsewhere; and assure the world that the USA would repeat the same crimes later, often.
Then consider how much longer would you be willing to 'give the Americans a chance to 'do the right thing'?
Then keep in mind, that 'my people' have been waiting for the USA to 'do the right thing since 1868 (141 years) after they signed treaties with US at 'their request'. They did not 'defeat' us, we did not 'surrender'----- THE USA DID, to Us.
And still we wait for them to 'do the right thing.'
I hope this may help you find some sources of reference.
* Research Silberman and you will find an 'activist Judge'---who is a major player in the latest series of crimes against humanity committed by the USA. The man is so corrupt he can't go anywhere that he does not draw flies and if there long enough 'vultures begin to circle'---they can smell 'rotten flesh' from three miles away--you know?
NativeSon
NativeSon (September 28th, 2009 1:58 pm) -- I'm afraid I had trouble understanding your comment.
We probably agree that IF -- and that's a gigantic IF -- anyone above the level of sergeant got prosecuted for torturing or giving orders to torture, the criminal punishment would be very light. Maybe it would discourage, somewhat, future transgressions of the same nature, and rehabilitate the U.S.'s tattered reputation to some degree.
The assumption that everything is in Obama's/Holder's hands is so well cemented into the American psyche that I sometimes think the great lesson in all this will end up being that laws like those forbidding torture are nothing but window dressing because they can't be enforced.
I wonder if the Bush administration would have ended the enhanced interrogation program, before al Qaeda was vanquished, if they had known that even a Democratic president would order, in effect, that all the criminals go free except (maybe) for a few lower-level thugs who couldn't resist the temptation to torture in even more horrible ways than Bush authorized.
Whereas there are a hand full of honorable past and present C.I.A. men and women there are more than a hand full of rogue C.I.A. former and present people that is still under the control of George Bush Sr. that will do anything he ask. You know like kill the Kennedys etc. These honorable officers has to be careful, because those that are on the end of thay dummy string will do as they are told. Right or wrong. It will never be straightened out until ole George Bush is gone from this earth.
It's good to see a few good men in action. Whether it is futile or not depends upon Obama's and Holder's integrity, and of course Durham.
I wish them the best of luck.
The US is the only place to try them for treason. Prosecution would be unsuccessful, unless the juries and legal staff were purged of war criminals, which is unlikely. Few want to admit that over 100 million in the USA conspired to commit war crimes.
Those culpable should be tried in the countries where the crimes took place, like Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan, and others.
In June of 2002, George W. and Ariel Sharon, I believe, dissed ... withdrew, renounced the U.S.A. and Israel's signatures of December 21, 2000, and recognition of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court that allowed for individual prosecutions for Crimes Against Humanity. The body of law of the Rome Statute was years in the making and is recognized by the United Nations. George W. did his best to get smaller countries to renounce the Court and the Statute which gives the International Criminal Court wide latitude on types of crimes and prosecutions of them. The timing was so convenient. Almost immediately after 9-11 the false arrests and incarcerations without trial began, and torture along with them. Despite the pressure by George W., some of it very direct, no other countries denounced their signatures.
There are approximately upwards of 80 resolutions against Israel filed at the UN for its murderous behavior against Palestinians and other serious violations. As a member of the Security Council, of course the United States did not vote to nail Israel to its Wailing Wall, but gave it a pass. Obama's latest lukewarm admonitions to Israel about building further settlements ... even as it continues to steal more Palestinian land and evict Palestinians from their homes and keep on with the building of settlements ... are like so many of his words ... Gone with the Wind.
Israel has gotten a pass from Obama on the treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza. And Netanyahu is as shameless in his denial of wrong-doing on Israel's part in response to Judge Goldstone's [a Jew from Africa] findings as always.
Our President is not a moral or particularly brave man. Get used to it. He's a player with those who are destroying this country economically, judicially, legislatively. And I don't believe anymore that he didn't know what he was walking into when he decided to run for president.
All respect for the group of Intelligence Veterans who have been speaking out and acting courageously right from the get-go, including about 9-11, and obviously have not quit as they continue to do so.
If all the nasty secrets of the last few decades came out, including the plans for 9-11 and the demise of the United States as a major economic power, the country would spasm from north to south, east to west, BUT with cleansing could come healing. This nation can never heal with, in the words of John Dean to Nixon: "Mr. President, there is a cancer growing on the Presidency."
There are huge, malignant tumors growing in our government and our financial sector beginning with the Federal Reserve and these tumors have metastasized throughout Wall Street and beyond to financial institutions in other countries that have affected every one of us.
Without surgery and the chemo-therapy of TRUTH we will not survive as a Nation except as a caricature of what it was and what it might have been. It can't. Not anymore, and likely every other country on earth knows it.
So again, my gratitude to those who step forward and continue to do so, and the more TRUTH each of us knows is our opportunity to inform, as best we can, our fellow citizens that our Nation is in the fight of its life and for its life, and it needs us ... NOW.
peace, cm
The efforts of these Intelligence Veterans is appreciated.
The rest of us could help them
by doing weekly protests and vigils to keep Torture Prosecution in front of the voters. If we can get indictments for torture it will lead to investigations for other Bush/Cheney crimes. Torture is the admitted and obvious low hanging fruit.
Get out in the streets in front of your Congressional Representative's office and raise hell.
Start your own "prosecution" protest group.
KEEP ASKING ALL POLITICIANS AT ALL PUBLIC EVENTS
"WHY DO YOU SUPPORT TORTURE?"
If they aren't actively calling for enforcement of our Federal Torture Laws, They DO Support Torture and a dual standard of Justice.
SIGN THE PETITIONS
Demanding
prosecution for all those leaders
in Bush's Administration that Conspired to Torture at ANGRYVOTERS.ORG
http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG
Only Prosecution Stops Torture,
Abuse of Power, our Constitution, & Rule Of Law
At last...True Intelligence.