CIA Torture Techniques

According to ABC news, "harsh interrogation techniques authorized by top officials of the CIA have led to questionable confessions and the death of a detainee since the techniques were first authorized in mid-March 2002." This torture appears to be occurring in the black ops camps described yesterday by former CIA Director, Admiral Stansfield Turner.

The CIA sources described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" instituted in mid-March 2002 and used, they said, on a dozen top al Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe. According to the sources, only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use the techniques:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear. [the bitch slap is a technique frequently used by pimps against their employees.]

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

There is something about this list that makes one wonder where are the next six techniques--the really grisly ones. None of the six recommended techniques include the sort of sexual humiliation and naked pigpiles we saw conducted by army amateurs at the Iraq Prisoner of War camps, Abu Ghraib and Bucca.
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Sixty Years Ago Today, The Nuremberg Trials Began

Sixty years ago today, 24 Nazi officials went on trial for their lives in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II. An international tribunal from the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and England conducted the trial.



It was the first trial of its kind in history, and the defendants faced charges ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes of war, to crimes against humanity. Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, the British member, presided over the 216 court sessions.

On October 1946, 12 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death. Three were acquitted, and seven received prison terms. Goering, who was called the "leading war aggressor and creator of the oppressive program against the Jews," cheated the hangman by taking his own life the night before his scheduled execution. Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann was condemned to death in absentia, although he was actually most likely dead by then.

Trials of less well-known war criminals continued into the 1950s. 5,025 other defendants were convicted, 806 were executed.

Nuremberg has always been a litmus test of my resolve against capital punishment. I may not believe in an eye for an eye, but the people put to death here come pretty close to making a compelling case. . .
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A Warning About The House Of Representatives

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In light of the bizarre performance of the House of Representatives the day before yesterday, I propose that we place these posters around the halls of congress, in particular in the public spectator galleries.
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Another Index To Original Poems Appearing In All This Is That

Poems published in All This Is That from November 15, 2004 - November 15, 2005

The Variations
You Rehearse Dying
Sonnet For Hari
Defensive Daydreaming
The Dream
Dogpaddling
The Prostethic Head & The Absence Of Blood
Tetuan - "No Paranoia, My Friend"
The Grey Visitors & Painting: The Grey Ambassador
The Bad Movie
The Bucket
The Man In The Mirror
Liftoff
Optimism
Perspective
A Flight Of Swallows
Audioblog - Poem: The Prevaricator
Weather Report
Your Wooden Leg
The Revelations Sermon At The First Church Of The Mojo Apocalypse
Dosvidaniya, Ivan Ivanovitch
The Late Excavation (Text And Audio)
Jack Kerouac, Meet John Barleycorn
The Gideon Bible In My Nightstand
At The Acropolis
When Aliens Land, Or, The Return Of The King
The sous-chef is a sociopath]
James Wright
Falling
[Life Is Not A Hardy Novel]
Seven
Coyote Comes Home Like A Salmon
Shorts For Jerry Melin ca. about 1988
Bird Poem: Monism
The Golden Rule Poem: The Countdown
When Aliens Land, Or, The Return Of The King
At Hillcrest Cemetary in Kent, Washington I walk by The Grave of Sam The Grasseater
Notes On Flying
Daybreak
Explosions
Not Past Tense Yet
the glass is not half-full
It's Getting Crowded Here
Li Po In Disgrace
The Clock
Love Song
Bad Timing
The Killer
The Absence of Footprints
Growing Up
Gone Fishing
The M.D.s
Acrylic
The Marriage
Driving Home To Seattle, We Watch Deer Drinking from the Skookumchuck River
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Washington State Republican Chairman Chris Vance's Meteoric Rise From Dogcatcher To Vote Thief

"A major embarrassment for the G.O.P." - Gary Chittim, King 5 News

"We stand by our research” - State Republican Chair Chris Vance

"The only thing Chris Vance and the Republican Party succeeded in doing this election was to use a mean-spirited last-minute voter registration trick which backfired horribly to mint thousands of new Democrats. " - Swifter on http://Soundpolitics.com

"Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesman for King County Executive Ron Sims, said the fiasco showed an embarrassing degree of amateurishness on the part of the Republicans. 'This is an unfortunate example of what happens when what is a serious issue, people’s right to vote, is hijacked for partisan advantage,' Kaushik said." - http://thestranger.com

Chris Vance, Chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, and the architect behind recent scandal to disenfranchise narly 2,000 Seattle-area voters (see the recent post in All This Is That) worked earlier in his career as the Dogcatcher of Kent, Wash. Yes, before he attempted to throw out the voting rights of 82-year old widowed veterans, he was ordering around stray hounds and beagles that had the bad luck to wind up in "his" dog pound. From the sounds of it, he was a martinet Dogcatcher and never missed a chance to wield his authority to browbeat and cudgel hapless pet owners.

A trustworthy source has just revealed to All This Is That that:

"Vance served at the Animal Control Shelter here in Kent. I recall well how "Yappy" he was, even then, Huffing and Puffing and Blathering away as he chastised and disciplined Pet Owners while exercising his mighty powers.

"There is a certain Poetic Justice to watch him now as he continues to Yap and Rant and sink the Repub's political fortunes. I have searched the Web and King County Data but can not find that info. The reason that I would like to have it is that I have found the Wikipedia Bio on Vance. You probably know that Wikipedia is one more new Web search engine on the net----and one of its hallmarks is that it allows the reader to amend the text and add additional data on the subject."

My source will be amending Vance's Wikipedia entry as soon as he locates the details behind Vance's tenure. Chris, your biography is about to be greatly enhanced.
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Congress Implodes Over Jack Murtha's Iraq Pullout Proposal; Fortunately, They Still Found Time To Vote Themselves A $3,100 Raise

With the White House coming apart at the seams, I always thought "well, that's why we have a congress." And then you see the Republican-dominated House acting like chimps on a feces-flinging rampage.

Democrats erupted in fury when House GOP leaders maneuvered the house into a politically-charged vote on Congressman Jack Murtha's call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. This was swiftly voted down after much malignant speechifying. The house voted 403-3 against the measure (with 22 non-votes).

While Murtha proposed a redeployment timetable "as soon as practical," the GOP twisted this into an immediate withdrawal and then forced the pointless vote. There was much mudslinging, yelling, and hand-wringing throughout the night.

Congress was able to get through one important piece of business: They gave themselves a $3,100 pay raise Friday, and then shelved work on bills to curb spending on social programs. Oh, and they also cut the food stamp budget by $700 million.

Don't worry folks. . .they'll be back in two weeks, after a relaxing Thangsgiving break. They will then work a couple of weeks before taking time off for Christmas.
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Another Banner For All This Is That

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Ex Spook Director: Cheney is "Vice President For Torture"

In an interview on England's ITV news yesterday, former CIA Director Stansfield Turner said the U.S. vice president was damaging America by overseeing policies tha encourage torture of possible terrorist suspects. The former head spook (under President Carter) went on to call Cheney the "vice president for torture."

Stansfield said that torture is condoned and even approved by the Bush government. The American Senate says torture should be banned - whatever the justification. But President Bush has threatened to veto their ruling.

Replying to claims that the US does not use torture, Admiral Turner, who ran the CIA from 1977 to 1981, said: "I do not believe him".

Admiral Turner claims secret CIA prisons used for torture are known as 'black sites.'

Terrorists are picked up in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan and flown in CIA-controlled private aircraft to countries where there are secret interrogation centres, operating outside any country's jurisdiction. The Mihail-Kogalniceanu military airbase in Romania is believed to be a torture center.

Senator John McCain is having fits about all of this, of course. McCain was tortured by the North Vietnamese in Vietnam while he was a prisoner of war.

I wonder what former CIA Director/ex-President George H.W. Bush can tell us about this?
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Betty Brummet Goes To War With The Republican Party For Her Right To Vote

Last week, Betty E. Brummet received a letter informing her the Republican Party had challenged her voter registration. A challenge was filed by Lori D. Sotelo. . .apparently a Republican hack or wardheeler. The letter told Betty that if she did not defend herself against this challenge, her vote in the November 8th election would be thrown out, and she would be unable to vote in the future.

Betty is 82 years old, and has lived at the same address in Kent, Washington since 1953. She has been a faithful and diligent voter for 60 years. The Republicans strongarmed elections officials into telling her they would no longer allow her to vote!

Betty Brummet (my mother) worked a rivetgun at Boeing in the early years of World War II. She WAS Rosie The Riveter (a well-known and powerful patriotic icon). Riveting was not enough for the war effort for Betty. She enlisted in the Marine Corps and served for the duration of the war. She was widowed very early in life, went it alone, and raised three (quite outstanding) children on her own.

Her reward from the G.O.P. for her military service, and for being a taxpayer funding many of their dingbat initiatives and unilateral adventures over the years, was complete and total disenfranchisement. In their anger over losing the governor's house, and the recent string of Republican political disasters--up to, and including, the disintegration of The White House itself--the Republicans decided to go on a voter jihad, and challenged nearly 2,000 voter's registrations, including hundreds of completely legitimate voters.

The Republicans wrongly guessed that at least some of the people they challenged would throw in the towel. They picked the wrong woman this time. She knew what had happened in Florida in 2000!

Betty rolled into action, writing letters and calling friends in the community. She even enlisted the noted Seattle attorney Keelin Curran into her cause. They began a campaign to get back her vote, contacting: Norm Maleng, and the King County Assistant Prosecutor that had been assigned the voter challenge case; The Seattle Times; Attorneys for the Republican Party; Chris Vance, the jackbooted Republican thug who masterminded this sloppy effort; and The American Civil Liberties Union.

Ms. Curran and Betty Brummet heard today from the Republicans that, well, maybe they were a bit hasty and would be dropping this particular challenge. According to a reporter from The Seattle Times, "There's a business called Stronghold Self Storage" with an address somewhat similar to Betty's. He went on to say "I suspect [Betty] got caught in the same kind of address snafu I described in my story this morning. The Republicans thought they were challenging the registrations of voters who had registered illegally at private mailbox businesses and self-storage businesses, but, as Chris Vance said yesterday, they didn't check the cities or geographic designations of the addresses they challenged. "

Betty Brummet is about to get her vote back. They're going to have a hearing and make it official on Monday. And The G.O.P. are about to settle back into the hole from which they crawled. As it turns out, hundreds of their challenges are every bit as bogus as the one against Betty Brummet. They should be ashamed.
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All This Is That: Another Poster

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One Year Of Blogging::::All This Is That Turns One Year Old Today

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Bush Family Is Split

From The Drudge Report today. It sounds like Nixon's last year in the White House!

Tue Nov 15 2005 11:23:51 ET - Drudgereport.com. President Bush feels betrayed by several of his most senior aides and advisors and has severely restricted access to the Oval Office, INSIGHT magazine claims in a new report.

The president’s reclusiveness in the face of relentless public scrutiny of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and White House leaks regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame has become so extreme that Mr. Bush has also reduced contact with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, administration sources said on the condition of anonymity.

“The atmosphere in the Oval Office has become unbearable,” a source said. “Even the family is split.”

INSIGHT:
Sources close to the White House say that Mr. Bush has become isolated and feels betrayed by key officials in the wake of plunging domestic support, the continued insurgency in Iraq and the CIA-leak investigation that has resulted in the indictment and resignation of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.

The sources said Mr. Bush maintains daily contact with only four people: first lady Laura Bush, his mother, Barbara Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes. The sources also say that Mr. Bush has stopped talking with his father, except on family occasions.
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