Friday, January 16, 2009

Why is everyone admitting to torture these last days of the administration?

Everyone else is speculating so I will throw in my own two cents.
Bush has said that he does not need to pardon the people engaged in "enhanced techniques" etc, in our war on the noun, because "we do not engage in torture." Wouldn't that be funny if he actually believes that and really has not believed that a pardon was necessary! Cheney and friends of course know better and perhaps they felt they had to publicly acknowledge their role so that Bush would feel obligated to grant the pardon.
An Interesting aside to this is that Mukasey announced now (click on title to read) that by AG nominee Holder declaring "water boarding to be torture" many of the Bush war criminals are now at risk... so even though chief of the GTMO prosecutions "convening authority" Susan Crawford this week called the torture of one of the gitmo detainees by its real name "torture" these war criminals can now hide behind the fact that Holder has said water boarding is torture. Icing on the cake for them and now Bush will most likely be pressured to give the pardons (if he was not convinced that it was necessary)... And most likely he will use Holder as his excuse for entering the pardons (and conveniently ignoring Crawford's own statements?) ("My fellow American's we do not torture... but now this new upstart AG is suggesting that what we did was in fact torture... I just can't let our good people who were protecting us all be prosecuted for doing what we all know was right and necessary"... and blah blah blah....question is will he admit that he ordered the torture and then pardon himself....?
Just another theory to float out there on a cold and snowy Saturday morning.

Update from "100 days to close Guantanamo"

If you are in the Washington DC area please stop by and add some words of encouragement to the people fasting and protesting Guantanamo.

Here are some updates from Washington, DC & the Fast for Justice:
There are currently over 110 people fasting around the country, and 70 men in Guantanamo on Hunger Strike.

Thursday brought them into Day 5 of the fast. The daily vigil began at DuPont Circle, and made its way to the Russell Senate Building, where five members of Witness Against Torture had arrived early in the morning to get seats for the hearings of Eric Holder for Attorney General. The five orange jump-suited folks sat in the hearings, carrying the message that “waterboarding is a crime” & “torture is a crime.” You can see photos from Thursday’s presence in DC.

On Wednesday, after their daily vigil in DC, Witness Against Torture participated in "The First 100 Days: Bringing Human Rights Home" press conference and panel discussion at the National Press Club, put together by the Center for Constitutional Rights.

You can see the joint statement released by the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Constitution Project, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, the National Lawyers Guild, the Partnership for Civil Justice, the Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition, the US Human Rights Network, and Witness Against Torture here:
and video from the press conference.


Attached is a letter similar to the one that all of the fasters have been sending to their congressional representatives. Please take a minute to send it along to your representatives on their behalf. And be in touch with them or just stop by if you want to join them in DC anytime over the next 100 Days!