Torture: Not Enough Accountability, But.............

Disbar the Judge and the Lawyers

12/29/2014 - Dick Cheney and other CIA personnel have a very good defense to any prosecution; they rely on the legal opinions, now called "torture memos," of attorney general Alberto Gonzales and those under him, John Yoo and Jay Bybee.

Even if we will not prosecute Cheney and the CIA, we should disbar and suspend Alberto Gonzales, who is in private practice, Jay Bybee who is now a federal appeals court judge and John Yoo who is a law professor at UC Berkeley.

The torture memos dated August 1, 2002 and thereafter, described ten techniques which the interrogators wanted to use: attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, insects placed in confinement box, and waterboarding. The memo claimed these enhanced interrogation techniques were all constitutionally protected even though the cases did not say that and even though the United Nations had determined most were torture. The memos were written to "legalize" actions that occurred previously and were to be continued in the future.

Doing so would hopefully stop politically motivated opinions from appearing again from the Department of Justice or future Attorney Generals on behalf of the CIA, NSA or other governmental agencies as a basis for other illegal American acts.

Bush, Cheney and Gonzales did not rely on vague or carefully couched memos. Gonzales -- acting at the direction of Cheney and with the acquiescence (if not direction) of Bush, was direct. Gonzales countermanded the direct orders of the FBI operatives in the field, as well as George Tenet. He did not write nuanced legal memorandums to get past the Geneva Conventions or the War Torture Act. He simply ignored it.

{Note: the American people, through their elected and appointed representative leaders at the time and since, led in the writing and implementation of those International Laws and integrated same into Domestic Law!! Condemning those, and still do, undemocratic dictatorships, who practiced as their Countries and State policies!!}

When a highly respected former Bureau agent, Ali Soufan, said stop using brutal interrogation techniques against Abu Zubaydah in 2002, because it is both torture and was counterproductive, Gonzales directed James Mitchell, to continue. This was before the torture memos were circulated.

Zubaydah was water boarded 83 times. read more>>>

* * * CIA Torture: Read the Senate Intelligence Committee report * * *

In a Democracy: 'Citizens must know what is done in their name'

Human rights groups call for special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture

22 December 2014 - The ACLU and Human Rights Watch say the offences amount to ‘a vast criminal conspiracy’ and are ‘shocking and corrosive’ to US democracy and credibility read more>>>

* * * Seeds of ISIL Planted By Bush/Cheney and Conservative Congresses * * *

* * * The British Iraq War Inquiry * * * Released will carry private communications between GWBush and TBlair, like this already released: TB said there was a danger the Tories would see this as their chance to get rid of him … Bush said they would make it clear to the Tories that if they moved to get rid of TB "we will get rid of them".

* * * Iraq War Promoted Terrorism Rather Than Reducing It * * * 24 April 2014 - Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War promoted terrorism rather than reducing it and was a “strategic failure”, according to a major new report which estimated the cost of all UK conflicts since the end of the Cold War.
The Royal United Services Institute said the UK could face a bill of nearly £65bn, once the cost of long-term care for injured veterans was factored in, with most of the money was spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The study, called Wars in Peace, said both conflicts were largely “strategic failures” for the UK, The Guardian reported."

Facts: Matthew Hoh {former Marine and foreign service officer in Afghanistan}: "We spend a trillion dollars a year on national security in this country."
"And when you add up to the Department of Defense, Department of State, CIA, Veterans Affairs, interest on debt, the number that strikes me the most about how much we're committed financially to these wars and to our current policies is we have spent $250 billion already just on interest payments on the debt we've incurred for the Iraq and Afghan wars." 26 September 2014

Bob Herbert "Losing Our Way" : "And then the staggering costs of these wars, which are borne by the taxpayers. I mean, one of the things that was insane was that, as we're at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration cut taxes. This has never been done in American history. The idea of cutting taxes while you're going to war is just crazy. I mean, it's madness." Bill 'Moyers and Company': Restoring an America That Has Lost its Way 10 Oct. 2014

$14 Million An Hour: War Costs Top $1.6 Trillion Since 9/11, Say Congressional Researchers

December 22 2014 - American taxpayers have shelled out roughly $1.6 trillion on war spending since 9/11, according to a new report from Congress’ nonpartisan research arm. That’s roughly $337 million a day -- or nearly a quarter million dollars a minute -- every single day for 13 years. read more>>>

Chris Hayes MSNBC: "If you can run a deficit to go to war, you can run a deficit to take care of the people who fought it" In response to Republican opposition to expanding Veterans' benefits on fiscal grounds

Neither of these recent wars have yet been paid for, let alone the results from, including the long ignored or outright denied existence of, till this Administrations Cabinet and Gen Shinseki, only Government branch consistent for the past six years, issues! As well as under deficits most of the, grossly under funded, VA budget is still borrowed thus added, problem creating, costs that shouldn't exist!