Senate Intelligence Committee Report

[EddardStark]

This is scary.Fox News is an affront to journalism. Can't believe our broadcasting authorities don't demand it comes with a warning about objectivity.

[EddardStark]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/10/brazil-president-weeps-report-military-dictatorship-abuses

[Maq]

This is scary.Fox News is an affront to journalism. Can't believe our broadcasting authorities don't demand it comes with a warning about objectivity.

Yeah, unbelievable!

From 4:12 onwards especially! "We are awesome, they're trying to show that we're NOT awesome"

"our enemies are raping people" ......... so are Americans! What do you think forced rectal feeding is!

[thplinth]

taking folk with learning disability and torturing them to get other folk to talk.

They anally raped two prisoners , and the CIA described it in official documents as "rectal exams conducted with excessive force"

Forced rectal feeding without any medical need, these khunts are just sadists it's fecked up.

And this is the stuff they were forced to release otherwise the whole thing would be 'redacted' i.e not released after all. You can imagine the sickening depravity of what they are still hiding back.

Mind the video of torture that shocked Donal Rumsfeld a few years back? That was of little boys getting sodomized in front of their own mothers in order to get them to provide information on members of their family. Apparently what was particularly disturbing watching the video was the 'shrieks' from the little boys as they were getting raped. The abuse only came to light when the women begged their relatives to kill them after what had been done to them. The fact it was all videoed and then no doubt passed around pretty much sums them up for me.

Edited December 11, 2014 by thplinth

[phart]

Yeah, unbelievable!

From 4:12 onwards especially! "We are awesome, they're trying to show that we're NOT awesome"

"our enemies are raping people" ......... so are Americans! What do you think forced rectal feeding is!

"And the reason they want to have this discussion is not to show how awesome we are. This administration wants to have this discussion to show us how we’re not awesome.”

Erudite political commentary from someone who is paid to read out loud.

[phart]

And this is the stuff they were forced to release otherwise the whole thing would be 'redacted' i.e not released after all. You can imagine the sickening depravity of what they are still hiding back.

Mind the video of torture that shocked Donal Rumsfeld a few years back? That was of little boys getting sodomized in front of their own mothers in order to get them to provide information on members of their family. Apparently what was particularly disturbing watching the video was the 'shrieks' from the little boys as they were getting raped. The abuse only came to light when the women begged their relatives to kill them after what had been done to them. The fact it was all videoed and then no doubt passed around pretty much sums them up for me.

the abu ghraib photos released (a lot weren't) showed girls of very questionable age being forced to reveal their breasts and vagina for photo's. Plus allegations of rape as well. According to Seymour Hersch.

but of course parts of the CIA wouldn't do 9/11.

[thplinth]

but of course parts of the CIA wouldn't do 9/11.

Nor facilitate a coup by arranging for the President's brains to be blown out the back of his head while his wife sat next to him.

[thplinth]

As for the UK, well I guess if you are prepared to pimp out orphans in your care to depraved sexual sadists for your own gain you lost your soul a long time ago.

[thplinth]

But remember folks Putin is evil and a danger to us all.

[phart]

the yanks used to send detainees to Syria to get interrogated by Assad regime, nothing wrong with it back then.

[phart]

Seems the UK wanted all their involvement redacted.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/10/british-mps-demand-inquiry-cia-abductions

[Khana Lagur]

There is nothing about America's methodologies that should surprise anyone. Hypocrisy is in its DNA.

[phart]

Hopefully Jack Straw will be indicted

here he is in Parliament

"Unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that the officials are lying, that I am lying, that behind this there is some kind of secret state which is in league with some dark forces in the United States, and also let me say, we believe that Secretary Rice is lying, there simply is no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition full stop, because we have not been, and so what on earth a judicial inquiry would start to do I have no idea. I do not think it would be justified."

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmfaff/uc768-i/uc76802.htm

So seems we do need to believe in conspiracy theories Jack you lying cant.

in googling the exact quote, i found Craig Murray blog talking about it as well

My RT interview today giving eyewitness evidence that Jack Straw is lying about his personal complicity in torture. Straw has been allowed to lie repeatedly about his on UK media for the past 24 hours, as have other British establishment figures. Despite the fact that it is infamous that I was sacked by Straw for blowing the whistle on CIA torture, and the undeniable documentary evidence of this, not one UK media outlet has allowed me to contradict Straw. I have contacted every major British news outlet and been blanked by every one.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/jack-straw-the-guilty-man-lies/

Edited December 11, 2014 by phart

[phart]

Here's Straws take on the matter

Q: In that case how can you square what you told the foreign affairs committee with what these documents appear to show?

A: What I was being asked by the FAC is whether we had, the UK had, been involved in the unlawful rendition of suspects in circumstances where the UK could have controlled that. For example, either through the UK homeland or through UK bases, like Diego Garcia. Officials at my request had during 2005 gone on the most extraordinarily thorough examination of all the records that they could find to pin down whether there had been any unlawful rendition in which we had participated. And I gave the results of that, as I recall, at the end of 2005. And the answer was there had been two cases pre-9/11, when I was home secretary – and I'm sorry I can't remember the details – and there were two cases when I was foreign secretary where I had refused the request. That might suggest that we took our responsibilities, that I took them, seriously. And then later on when David [Miliband] gave a statement [when Miliband was foreign secretary] it turned out that there had indeed been one rendition through Diego Garcia about which the Americans had not informed us at the time, because permission would have been refused. But that's it.

That's a very different thing from saying – in advance of what we knew of what subsequently transpired at Guantánamo Bay – that the Americans had to do something with these suspects, which they did, and just acknowledging that that might be the least worst alternative in a situation of great difficulty for everybody. That was the background to that. That's not endorsing unlawful rendition.

It's now shown that Wick aberdeen and Prestwick were used for over a dozen flights.

Edited December 11, 2014 by phart

[Maq]

Craig Murray (ex British ambassador, now running for MP for the SNP in May's elections) on Jack Straw:

http://rt.com/op-edge/213311-uzbekistan-torture-uk-poland/

Whilst the BBC etc continue to ignore Blair and Straw's involvement

[Orraloon]

now running for MP for the SNP in May's elections

Is he? Which constituency?

[Orraloon]

Is he? Which constituency?

OK found it. Ardrie ans Shotts.

[Orraloon]

I see he has been nominated but not selected yet. Good timing though.

[MacWalka]

I think most of suspected that the USA carried out torture but I am honestly shocked at the acts perpetrated. The Abu Ghraib photos were one story, waterboarding, rendition flights, non-suspects being detained others. But what gets me with this report is the depravity of the acts carried out. It is utterly utterly disgusting. That's even before we think about how fecked up folk will be after the psychological torture carried out.

OK found it. Ardrie ans Shotts.

Delighted to find that out, I'd love for him to be my MP.

I was swithering whether to help with canvassing or not but if that's the candidate then it's a yes from me.

[kps022000]

In terms of covering their own backs, how complicit are our leaders in this. Is it a case of wilful deceit by our leaders who knew something was happening but not aware of the true extent of the violations or did they have full disclosure and it was with their approval.

I want to believe the former but can't see past the latter.

[Melrose]

And this is the stuff they were forced to release otherwise the whole thing would be 'redacted' i.e not released after all. You can imagine the sickening depravity of what they are still hiding back.

Mind the video of torture that shocked Donal Rumsfeld a few years back? That was of little boys getting sodomized in front of their own mothers in order to get them to provide information on members of their family. Apparently what was particularly disturbing watching the video was the 'shrieks' from the little boys as they were getting raped. The abuse only came to light when the women begged their relatives to kill them after what had been done to them. The fact it was all videoed and then no doubt passed around pretty much sums them up for me.

Can you provide the source for this? Raping children in front of their mothers?

I really don't want to believe that can be true.

[phart]

Can you provide the source for this? Raping children in front of their mothers?

I really don't want to believe that can be true.

http://www.salon.com/2004/07/15/hersh_7/

Seymour hersch

Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters. He has also won two National Magazine Awards and is a five-time Polk winner and recipient of the 2004 George Orwell Award.^[5]

He first gained worldwide recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. His 2004 reports on the US military's mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison gained much attention.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/22/iraq.usa1

Edited December 11, 2014 by phart

[Melrose]

Phart,

Thank you for that information. Not 100% conclusive but enough I think.

It is absolutely sickening.

I watched a documentary some years ago which included a part about how the CIA trained Egypt's secret police, the Mukhabarat, in torture techniques. Apologies because I'm hazy on the detail but my recollection was it was to help them deal with the Muslim Brotherhood. Anyway, the striking 'fact' I recall was that one of the MB leaders they tortured became the mentor of Bin Laden. There you go, electrocute a man's testicles and the convoluted result years later is the destruction of the Twin Towers. There is some kind of karma going on there.

The Americans may eventually make this cause & effect connection and start acting accordingly but I suspect not while Fox News is maintaining it's current editorial policies and not while that is where most Americans get their world view from.

You can't help thinking what it must be like to be under the power of these people, the pain & humiliation. And then you have to stop. Because it's just too sickening.

[thplinth]

This was in the Guardian in 2005...

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/02/terrorism.humanrights1

'One of them made cuts in my penis. I was in agony'

Benyam Mohammed travelled from London to Afghanistan in July 2001, but after September 11 he fled to Pakistan. He was arrested at Karachi airport on April 10 2002, and describes being flown by a US government plane to a prison in Morocco. These are extracts from his diary.

They cut off my clothes with some kind of doctor's scalpel. I was naked. I tried to put on a brave face. But maybe I was going to be raped. Maybe they'd electrocute me. Maybe castrate me.

They took the scalpel to my right chest. It was only a small cut. Maybe an inch. At first I just screamed ... I was just shocked, I wasn't expecting ... Then they cut my left chest. This time I didn't want to scream because I knew it was coming.

One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make cuts. He did it once, and they stood still for maybe a minute, watching my reaction. I was in agony. They must have done this 20 to 30 times, in maybe two hours. There was blood all over. "I told you I was going to teach you who's the man," [one] eventually said.

They cut all over my private parts. One of them said it would be better just to cut it off, as I would only breed terrorists. I asked for a doctor.

Doctor No 1 carried a briefcase. "You're all right, aren't you? But I'm going to say a prayer for you." Doctor No 2 gave me an Alka-Seltzer for the pain. I told him about my penis. "I need to see it. How did this happen?" I told him. He looked like it was just another patient. "Put this cream on it two times a day. Morning and night." He gave me some kind of antibiotic.

I was in Morocco for 18 months. Once they began this, they would do it to me about once a month. One time I asked a guard: "What's the point of this? I've got nothing I can say to them. I've told them everything I possibly could."

"As far as I know, it's just to degrade you. So when you leave here, you'll have these scars and you'll never forget. So you'll always fear doing anything but what the US wants."

Later, when a US airplane picked me up the following January, a female MP took pictures. She was one of the few Americans who ever showed me any sympathy. When she saw the injuries I had she gasped. They treated me and took more photos when I was in Kabul. Someone told me this was "to show Washington it's healing".

But in Morocco, there were even worse things. Too horrible to remember, let alone talk about. About once a week or even once every two weeks I would be taken for interrogation, where they would tell me what to say. They said if you say this story as we read it, you will just go to court as a witness and all this torture will stop. I eventually repeated what was read out to me.

When I got to Morocco they said some big people in al-Qaida were talking about me. They talked about Jose Padilla and they said I was going to testify against him and big people. They named Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, Abu Zubaidah and Ibn Sheikh al-Libi [all senior al-Qaida leaders who are now in US custody]. It was hard to pin down the exact story because what they wanted changed from Morocco to when later I was in the Dark Prison [a detention centre in Kabul with windowless cells and American staff], to Bagram and again in Guantánamo Bay.

They told me that I must plead guilty. I'd have to say I was an al-Qaida operations man, an ideas man. I kept insisting that I had only been in Afghanistan a short while. "We don't care," was all they'd say.

I was also questioned about my links with Britain. The interrogator told me: "We have photos of people given to us by MI5. Do you know these?" I realised that the British were sending questions to the Moroccans. I was at first surprised that the Brits were siding with the Americans.

On August 6, I thought I was going to be transferred out of there [the prison]. They came in and cuffed my hands behind my back.

But then three men came in with black masks. It seemed to go on for hours. I was in so much pain I'd fall to my knees. They'd pull me back up and hit me again. They'd kick me in my thighs as I got up. I vomited within the first few punches. I really didn't speak at all though. I didn't have the energy or will to say anything. I just wanted for it to end. After that, there was to be no more first-class treatment. No bathroom. No food for a while.

During September-October 2002, I was taken in a car to another place. The room was bigger, it had its own toilet, and a window which was opaque.

They gave me a toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste. I was allowed to recover from the scalpel for about two weeks, and the guards said nothing about it.

Then they cuffed me and put earphones on my head. They played hip-hop and rock music, very loud. I remember they played Meat Loaf and Aerosmith over and over. A couple of days later they did the same thing. Same music.

For 18 months, there was not one night when I could sleep well. Sometimes I would go 48 hours without sleep. At night, they would bang the metal doors, bang the flap on the door, or just come right in.

They continued with two or three interrogations a month. They weren't really interrogations, more like training me what to say. The interrogator told me what was going on. "We're going to change your brain," he said.

I suffered the razor treatment about once a month for the remaining time I was in Morocco, even after I'd agreed to confess to whatever they wanted to hear. It became like a routine. They'd come in, tie me up, spend maybe an hour doing it. They never spoke to me. Then they'd tip some kind of liquid on me - the burning was like grasping a hot coal. The cutting, that was one kind of pain. The burning, that was another.

In all the 18 months I was there, I never went outside. I never saw the sun, not even once. I never saw any human being except the guards and my tormentors, unless you count the pictures they showed me.

The whole thing is horrific. They are not finding terrorists through torture instead they are fabricating them.

[thplinth]

but of course parts of the CIA wouldn't do 9/11.

There is a second recent revelation about how the “Prague meeting” progressed from unsubstantiated report to justification for war. It comes from Jiri Ruzek, who headed the Czech counterintelligence service on and after 9/11. Mr. Ruzek published a memoir earlier this year, which we have had translated from Czech. It recounts the days after the terror attack, including how his nation’s intelligence services first reported a single-source rumor of a Prague meeting between Atta and al-Ani, how CIA officials under pressure from CIA headquarters in turn pressured him to substantiate the rumor, and how U.S. officials pressured the Czech government when Czech intelligence officials failed to produce the confirmation that the Bush administration sought.

Mr. Ruzek writes, “It was becoming more and more clear that we had not met expectations and did not provide the ‘right’ intelligence output.” Mr. Ruzek goes on: “The Americans showed me that anything can be violated, including the rules that they themselves taught us. Without any regard to us, they used our intelligence information for propaganda press leaks. They wanted to mine certainty from unconfirmed suspicion and use it as an excuse for military action. We were supposed to play the role of useful idiot thanks to whose initiative a war would be started.”

http://www.levin.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/levin-releases-new-information-from-cia-cable-debunking-atta-prague-meeting#sthash.LJC1zxhy.dpuf