Catholic Workers and others have been marching through Cuba for the last four days on their way to the U.S. run detention center. They arrived outside it today and intend to try to visit the prisoners tomorrow. If (!) they are not allowed in, they'll fast and pray outside.

The marchers website is here. It was down a few minutes ago, but may be working when you read this. Some pictures of one of several support vigils in the U.S. today are here.

From the New York Times:

The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.

The officials said the captive, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, provided his most specific and elaborate accounts about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda only after he was secretly handed over to Egypt by the United States in January 2002, in a process known as rendition.

In other words: After the U.S. turned al-Libi over to Egypt for torture, al-Libi figured out what his tormentors wanted to hear and then lied to them in order to stop being tortured. This is why every military and intelligence expert worth his or her salt say that torture doesn't work.

Of course the Bushites don't care about getting good intel, they just want to manufacture sources who will parrot their propaganda and reinforce their case; if that means sending innocent people to other countries that will perform torture on the Bush Administration's behalf, they're okay with that.

[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally]

first we have condi doing some fast talking...

European foreign ministers said Thursday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had assured the NATO allies that the United States does not allow torture of terrorist suspects and respects principles of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war.

[...]

Rice "addressed the principles that guide United States policy with regards to respect for international law," Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht said.

Rice assured the U.S. allies "that at no time did the United States agree to inhumane acts or torture, that they have always respected the sovereignty of the states concerned and even if terrorists are not covered by the Geneva Conventions, they have still applied the principles governing those Geneva Conventions," de Gucht told Belgian RTBf radio network.

"Condosleeza" Rice said recently that the American government "does not permit, tolerate, or condone torture under any circumstances." Oh really? Then why is the Bush Administration treating John McCain's anti-torture legislation like Lynndie England treated  prisoners at Abu Ghraib?

Crossposted at Empire Burlesque

by Chris Floyd,

The only defense for the indefensible is to be offensive, it seems. The Bush Faction has obviously decided to stop refuting allegations about torture and just openly embrace the heinous practice instead. You've got Bush vowing to veto torture restrictions, you've got Cheney twisting arms on Capitol Hill to preserve the Faction's inalienable right to beat people to death -- and now you've got Condi Rice traipsing off to Europe to tell America's allies to stop all their whining about extraordinary rendition, secret prisons and the CIA kidnapping people in their countries.

In a remarkable display of brass, Rice tried to have it both ways, both denying that the U.S. tortures anyone then saying that American "interrogation techniques" have saved European lives by thwarting terrorist plots.

[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally]

in two news articles and one editorial, the nyt today looks at the rapid erosion of the precious little that's left of the bush administration's credibility...

quick, quick... we better DO something like REALLY FAST...

(abc news has the exclusive story...)

   Two CIA secret prisons were operating in Eastern Europe until last month when they were shut down following Human Rights Watch reports of their existence in Poland and Romania.

    Current and former CIA officers speaking to ABC News on the condition of confidentiality say the United States scrambled to get all the suspects off European soil before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived there today.

    The officers say 11 top al Qaeda suspects have now been moved to a new CIA facility in the North African desert.

    CIA officials asked ABC News not the name the specific countries where the prisons were located, citing security concerns.

so, if the sources are "current and former CIA officers," one would tend to believe them... ~shakes head, rolls eyes~ u.s. credibility in the world community just dropped another 15 points...

And, yes, I DO take it personally

Below is an expanded version of Floyd's column in the Nov. 18 edition of The Moscow Times.

Four years ago, George W. Bush quietly assumed dictatorial powers with a secret executive order granting himself the right to imprison anyone on earth indefinitely, without charges or trial or indictment or evidence, simply by declaring them an "enemy combatant," on his say-so alone. This week, the assemblage of bootlickers and bagmen that now befoul the U.S. Senate voted to codify the core of this global autocracy under the pretense of curtailing it.

One thing you gotta say for our chosen Iraqi lackeys: They sure are quick studies.

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN)-- Iraq's interior minister has defended a government facility found to be holding dozens of prisoners, including some showing signs of torture, saying it held "the most criminal terrorists."

...

"Nobody was beheaded or killed," a defiant Bayan Jabr told a news conference Thursday, saying the "cellar" was used to house "the most criminal terrorists."

I'm not saying Americans brought torture techniques to Iraq; God knows, Saddam had performed to perfection the native art of inflicting misery long before we ever set foot on ancient Mesopotamian sands. And it wasn't just Saddam, either. The Fertile Crescent, the cradle of "civilization," has produced some of the most ingenious torture techniques known to humankind and has been practicing them for thousands upon thousands of years.

"Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."--President Bush, remarks to 2003 Republican National Committee Presidential Gala. Oct. 8, 2003

"We acted, and there are no longer mass graves and torture rooms and rape rooms in Iraq."--Bush, remarks at Victory 2004 Reception, Florida Apr. 23, 2004

"Saddam Hussein now sits in a prison cell, and Iraqi men and women are no longer carried to torture chambers and rape rooms ..."--Bush, remarks on "Winston Churchill and the War on Terror." Feb. 4, 2004

"There are no more rape rooms and torture chambers in Iraq."--National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, CBS Early Show March 19, 2004

The issue has been fairly well covered, but I'd like to direct the reader to this great Salon-article by way of Der Spiegel (English version):

Inside the Pentagon, officials are arguing with Vice President Dick Cheney about a new set of US Defense Department guidelines (pdf-file) for interrogating suspected terrorists. The debate over an anti-torture bill is a sad moment for a country that once stood for human rights.
(snip)
How did we get to this point? Because the United States is bound by the Geneva Convention governing prisoners of war, and by the 1987 Convention Against Torture with its prohibitions against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, McCain's legislation should not even be necessary.
But after 9/11, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (at that time White House counsel to the president) and others gave their legal opinion that prohibitions on "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" didn't apply to noncitizens being held by the United States outside the United States. Then, because torture, even outside the United States, remains a crime, they redefined "torture" so narrowly that almost all violent and coercive methods of interrogation were excluded. Then, because of the U.S. criminal statute making violations of the Geneva Conventions a crime, they insisted that the conventions did not apply to anyone they termed a suspected al-Qaida member.
These opinions were an attempt to provide legal cover so that U.S. personnel and contractors could engage in coercive interrogations without fear of criminal prosecution.

Please go read the whole article.

This from ckr14 in Los Angeles:

On page 14 of toady's LA Times, top left column, there was an article titled:  ETHICS CLASS IS IN SESSION AGAIN AT WHITE HOUSE.  On the opposite page, same position, was one titled:  WHITE HOUSE WORKS TO DEFEAT A TORTURE BAN.

Um......

Um......indeed

The UN has long tried to gain access to Guantanamo and has finally received an invitation to go there - however, the 3 UN experts on torture and cruel treatment will not be allowed to meet with detainees!

"It makes no sense [to go]," Manfred Nowak, special investigator on torture and other cruel treatment, told a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York. "You cannot do a fact-finding mission without talking to the detainees."

You got that right, Mr. Nowak!