Human Rights -- Torture Turf Wars

May 22, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, and Benjamin Armbruster

HUMAN RIGHTS

Torture Turf Wars

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General released a report, three-and-a-half years in the making, that offers "the clearest and most definitive account to date of the key tactics used by the government against suspected terrorists." These methods include "use of strobe lights in conjunction with loud rock music, twisting of thumbs backward, and exposure of detainees to extreme temperatures, threatening dogs, pornography and sexual taunting." On the same day, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, German resident Murat Kurnaz, told Congress he was tortured while held by the U.S. military. Kurnaz said he underwent "water treatment," similar to the more notorious practice of waterboarding. "There was a bucket of water. And they stick my head in it and at the same time, punch me into my stomach," he said. Though the CIA has admitted waterboarding three detainees, it is unclear how many more suffered "water treatment." Yet Washington insiders seem ready to ignore this latest piece of evidence about the Bush torture policy. "Barely half a dozen lawmakers came to listen to the former detainee, and most were unable to remember his name, with one even calling him 'Mr. Karzai.," AFP reported. Following a pattern of ignoring new accounts of torture, the White House press corps did not ask Press Secretary Dana Perino about the DOJ report or Kurnaz's testimony until the last question of Tuesday's briefing. She replied that she had not seen it yet; no one followed up to ask her about it the next day.

TRENCH WARFARE: The DOJ report details the "trench warfare" between the FBI and the military over harsh interrogations, which FBI agents objected to, going "so far as to collect allegations of abuse in what they labeled a 'war crimes file.'" "The report says that the F.B.I. agents took their concerns to higher-ups, but that their concerns often fell on deaf ears: officials at senior levels at the F.B.I., the Justice Department, the Defense Department and the National Security Council were all made aware of the F.B.I. agents’ complaints, but little appears to have been done as a result." "Beyond any doubt, what they are doing (and I don't know the extent of it) would be unlawful were these enemy prisoners of war," wrote Spike Bowman, then head of national security law unit at FBI, in an e-mail to top FBI officials in July 2003. The DOJ report concludes that "the FBI should be credited for its conduct and professionalism" in interrogations, but it also finds that "the DOD [Department of Defense] made the decisions regarding which interrogation techniques could be used" -- regardless of FBI complaints. Indeed, though the FBI decided not to participate in any abusive interrogations in 2003, "the bureau appears to have done nothing to end the abuse. It certainly never told Congress or the American people."

A CASE STUDY -- ABU ZUBAYDAH: The report's account of the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, an al Qaeda suspect, provides a window into the fight between the CIA and the FBI and demonstrates the White House's approval of torture. In 2002, the FBI used "relationship-building techniques with Zubaydah and succeeded in getting Zubaydah to admit his identity." Later, he "identified a photograph of Khalid Sheik Muhammad," the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, to his FBI interrogator. Soon, however, the CIA stepped in, arguing it "needed to diminish his capacity to resist." The CIA's specific methods are redacted from the DOJ report, but the FBI agent "raised objections to the techniques to the CIA and told the CIA it was 'borderline torture'" (a former CIA official testified last December that the CIA had waterboarded Zubaydah). When a more senior-level FBI official raised these objections with Michael Chertoff, then Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, and other DOJ officials, he learned that the CIA had obtained "a legal opinion from DOJ that certain techniques could legally be used, including [redacted]." Chertoff "made it clear that the CIA had requested the legal opinion from Attorney General Ashcroft." Thus the account of Zubaydah's interrogation both proves the effectiveness of the safe and legal rapport-building method of interrogation and, more importantly, indicates that the CIA's "borderline torture" techniques were explicitly condoned by a DOJ legal opinion.

WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS DISMISS FBI COMPLAINTS: Indeed, the Bush administration seems to have ignored FBI complaints completely. "The report said several senior Justice Department Criminal Division officials raised concerns with the National Security Council in 2003 about the military's treatment of detainees but saw no changes as a result." As was recently revealed, this same council -- which included Vice President Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, and John Ashcroft -- specifically choreographed abusive interrogations that included slapping, pushing, sleep deprivation, and waterboarding. The DOJ report "reveals that top government officials in the Defense Department, CIA and even as high as the White House turned a blind eye to torture and abuse and failed to act aggressively to end it," said Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. Despite administration efforts to dismiss the report as "nothing new," the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin emphasized the importance of these revelations: "[K]nowing that the nation's top law-enforcement officials put senior White House aides on notice that the interrogation tactics they had approved were potentially illegal adds a key element to the portrait of complicity in what could someday be prosecuted as violations of U.S. torture statutes or even war crimes."

ENVIRONMENT -- REPORT: INTERIOR DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS POLITICIZED ENDANGERED SPECIES DECISIONS: In May 2007, Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department, abruptly resigned just one week before Congress was to examine her political interference in endangered species decisions. MacDonald had a long history of rejecting scientists' recommendations to politicize the Interior Department. Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the politicization of the Interior Department stretches MacDonald. Robin Nazzaro, a GAO investigator, told the House that four other officials "may have put political pressure on lower-ranking employees who were deciding endangered species cases." Last November, the Fish and Wildlife Service "reversed seven rulings that denied endangered species increased protection, after an investigation found the actions were tainted by political pressure from" MacDonald. But Nazzaro said that that investigation had been too narrow, as it focused only on MacDonald. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) said that after MacDonald's resignation, the agency "merely swept it under a rug." He called the Service's review "a boondoggle" that was "fixing nothing." "It was too narrow, too fast, and too sloppy," said Rahall.

ADMINISTRATION -- METHODIST MINISTERS LAUNCH PR CAMPAIGN TO STOP BUSH LIBRARY AT SMU: Earlier this month, at the United Methodist Church's (UMC) Quadrennial General Conference, the UMCs governing body voted overwhelmingly -- 844 to 20 -- to refer a petition to its South Central Jurisdiction urging it to reject President Bush's presidential library, which is housed at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The library has received significant criticism because of an attached institute -- independent of the university) that will sponsor programs designed to "promote the vision of the president" and "celebrate" Bush's presidency. The South Central Jurisdiction, which owns the university property where the library will be built, is set to vote on the petition this July. But some Methodist ministers are launching a public relations campaign ahead of the vote with the goal of "informing people about the partisan think tank" and Bush administration polices, such as the Iraq war and torture of military prisoners, "that some Methodists feel conflict with church teachings." Rev. Andrew Weaver of Brooklyn "organized a petition drive that has garnered about 12,000 signatures from those opposing the library at SMU" but said, "This is really about the partisan institute, which will do the most damage over time."

WOMEN'S RIGHTS -- BUSH APPOINTEE WHO CALLED CONTRACEPTIVES PART OF THE 'CULTURE OF DEATH' RESIGNS: Last October, President Bush appointed Susan Orr to oversee federal family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Orr, who previously directed HHS child welfare programs, was touted by the administration as "highly qualified." But after less than a year on the job, Orr has resigned, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association reported yesterday. The Progress Report also spoke to HHS spokeswoman Jennifer Koentop, who confirmed that Orr will be stepping down. From the beginning, Orr was controversial, with her strongest credentials seemingly being her support for failed abstinence-only policies. In a 2001, Orr embraced a Bush administration proposal to "stop requiring all health insurance plans for federal employees" to cover a broad range of birth control. In a 2000 Weekly Standard article, Orr railed against requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives. "It's not about choice," said Orr. "It's not about health care. It's about making everyone collaborators with the culture of death." More recently, Orr's former employer, FRC, has been pressuring the Bush administration to restrict federal funding for family planning centers. Conveniently, Orr oversaw this funding.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that "the military cannot automatically discharge people because they're gay." The court "did not strike down the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy" but reinstated a lawsuit from a "decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal."

When Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee today they will defend a pause in troop reductions in Iraq, saying that "the U.S. must be careful not to withdraw forces from Iraq too quickly because security gains could be lost." Petraeus has been nominated to be chief of U.S. Central Command, and Odierno has been nominated to replace Petraeus in Iraq.

Today, the New York Times's Helene Cooper writes that the "Bush administration’s own policies appear to be at odds" with the President's recent pronouncement that talking to enemies is "appeasement." Many State Department officials "concede that the United States does not hew to one policy on engaging its enemies. 'I'd rather be right than consistent,'" a senior Bush administration official said.

Career FBI agent Bassem Youssef told Congress yesterday that "counter-terrorism agents and managers at FBI headquarters often lack basic knowledge about Middle Eastern culture, language and terrorists' ideology." "The FBI counter-terrorism division is ill-equipped to handle the terrorist threat we are facing," Youssef told the House Judiciary Committee.

Mohammed Kamin, an Afghan detainee, "joined a growing detainee boycott of the war-crimes trials at the Guantanamo Bay." Kamin was "dragged from his cell to his first pretrial hearing at Guantanamo Wednesday, then refused to participate, telling the judge he felt 'helpless.'"

Department of Veterans Affairs officials yesterday said that they oppose much of Sen. Patty Murray's (D-WA) bill to "improve care for female veterans even as the number of women seeking VA medical services is expected to double within the next five years." Some of the objectionable provisions include special training on how to care for "female victims of military sexual trauma and post traumatic stress disorder."

The Energy Information Administration reports that "U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels increased by 1.6 percent in 2007. ... Factors that drove the emissions increase included...a higher carbon intensity of electricity supply." Climate Progress notes that CO2 emissions would have grown faster under Bush if not for "two economic slowdowns, 9/11...and a rapidly growing trade deficit with China."

And finally: At a hearing with EPA administrator Stephen Johnson this week, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) went over his allotted time while grilling Johnson. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) angrily accused Waxman of breaking the rules, but as chairman, Waxman "banged the gavel six times in Issa's face." Yesterday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called Waxman and complained about his "outrageous threats and intimidation." Waxman, however, is laughing about "Boehner's suggestion that he was a threatening force." "Just look at me," he said. “How can you not quake in my presence?"

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President Bush "signed into law an anti-discrimination measure that drew enormous support in Congress," forbidding "employers and insurance companies from denying employment, promotions or health coverage to people" on the basis of genetic testing.

ALASKA: "The State of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said Wednesday. "

LOUISIANA: "Despite more than $22 million in repairs, a levee that broke with catastrophic effect during Hurricane Katrina is leaking again because of the mushy ground on which New Orleans was built."

CALIFORNIA: San Francisco will "impose fees on businesses that pump some of the highest levels of carbon dioxide into the air each year."

THINK PROGRESS: Furman University faculty may protest President Bush's upcoming commencement speech.

ATTACKERMAN: The top commander at Guantanamo Bay claims Americans don't know the real Guantanamo Bay.

EDITOR & PUBLISHER: The New York Times is forced to issue multiple corrections for the latest columns by David Brooks and Bill Kristol.

THE BLOTTER: U.S. personnel at Guantanamo Bay did "dirty work" for Chinese interrogators.

"When you hear the name VFW [Veterans of Foreign Wars], you know a certain type of work is being done -- honorable, decent, and faithful to the nation's highest ideals."
-- President Bush, 8/22/05

VERSUS

"On Wednesday, Mr. Bush even found himself in opposition to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a group that has generally supported him. The group's national commander, George Lisicki, emerged from a meeting with the president expressing strong support for the [21st Century GI Bill]."
-- New York Times, 5/22/08

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