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I have been in office for just nine months, though some days it seems a lot longer. I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world. These expectations are not about me. Rather, they are rooted – I believe – in a discontent with a status quo that has allowed us to be increasingly defined by our differences, and outpaced by our problems. But they are also rooted in hope – the hope that real change is possible, and the hope that America will be a leader in bringing about such change.
I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. Part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction.
Like all of you, my responsibility is to act in the interest of my nation and my people, and I will never apologize for defending those interests...
Oh boo hoo! He was "just a child"? Yeah, a child who intended to kill American Troops with cowardly terrorists acts of violence.
Mohammed Jawad was just a child when he was taken to Guantanamo Bay and now, just days after his release, he has announced that he plans to file a suit against the U.S. Government. Jawad's lawyers say that he had undergone years of torture during his time as a prisoner even though there was no sufficient evidence to prove that he was, in fact, guilty. So what is next for this young man and his lawyers? RT's Dina Gusovsky speaks to one of Jawad's military defense lawyers, Captain Chris Kannady.
Last evening our night watchman Cajun Boy reported that Chicago radio talker Erich "Mancow" Muller may have faked his waterboarding for publicity. We talked to both Muller and his waterboarder this morning, and the whole thing is a farce. Muller wasn't waterboarded.
"We went into this thinking it was going to be a joke," Muller said very quickly when we called him. "But it was not a joke—it was horrible. 'Hoax' is probably not the right word, but we did think it was going to be a joke."
According to e-mails from Muller's publicist obtained by Cajun Boy, on the day before the heavily promoted stunt was supposed to happen, Muller was frantically looking for anybody to perform the waterboarding:
It is going to have to look "real" but of course would be simulated with Mancow acting like he is drowning. It will be a hoax but have to look real. Would be great if they could dress in fatigues and bring whatever is needed. We will supply the water.
"It was a marine who did it," Muller said. "I don't know his training. Is he a professional interrogator? I don't think so. But he knew what to do. If I wanted to fake it, it would have lasted for six minutes—I lasted six seconds. I'm on the air, bud, I'm on the air." Then he hung up.
So we called Klay South, the marine Mancow found at the last minute to perform the waterboarding. He says he had no idea what he was doing! To wit:
I know nothing about waterboarding. I had never done it before, I have no formal training in it, and I've never had it done to me. The only thing I knew was what I saw on the internet. I went to waterboarding.org and looked it up. I just did what I was told—poured the water on his face and that was it. I'm probably the last person they should have had do it. I didn't know what I was doing.
That settles it for us! South is the founder of Veterans of Valor, a nonprofit that helps out wounded vets, and he said he agreed to the gig just to gain a donation and publicity for the organization, a noble enough reason.
According to South's main resource, waterboarding.org, waterboarders should "restrain the interrogation subject on a board" and "incline the board about 15-20 degrees so that the feet are above the head." South says Muller's feet were bound, but his arms were not. And although his feet were elevated, he was laying on a flat surface.
We asked South if it seemed like Muller was faking it: "I don't know. I couldn't tell you if he was in distress or not."
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter tells Geraldo Rivera that if the Democrats had to put together a truth commission for the Nancy Pelosi waterboarding case, they would choose Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.
Sweet! Put all the Leftist Liberal Nazis on the witness stand. Try them all for what they knew and when they knew it. Treason is a Capitol Crime!
President Obama met with White House counsel Greg Craig and other members of the White House counsel team last week and told them that he had second thoughts about the decision to hand over photographs of detainee abuse to the ACLU, per a judge's order, and had changed his mind.
The president "believes their release would endanger our troops," a White House official says, adding that the president "believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court."
At the end of that meeting, the president directed Craig to object to the immediate release of the photos on those grounds. In an Oval Office meeting with Iraq Commander General Ray Odierno, the president told him of his decision to argue against the release of the photographs.
The move is a complete 180. In a letter from the Justice Department to a federal judge on April 23, the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would turn over 44 photographs showing detainee abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq during the Bush administration.
The Department of Defense announced last month that at least 44 photos depicting treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan will be released in compliance with a court ruling on an ACLU law suit.
The Department of Defense -- on the heels of the firestorm over the release of Bush-era memos on CIA interrogation techniques -- said Thursday it plans to make public at least 44 photos depicting potentially abusive treatment of detainees at prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The decision to release the photos was announced Thursday in a letter filed in a federal court in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2004.
It sets a May 28 deadline for the Department of Defense to produce 21 images that the court in 2006 ordered the government to release and 23 additional related images, as well as "a substantial number of other images" in the Army's possession.
The images were part of the military's investigation of potential abuse of detainees by U.S. personnel at facilities other than Iraq Abu Ghraib, though the photos apparently aren't as shocking as those that set off a prisoner abuse scandal in 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Even so, Defense officials say they worry that the new release of photos could set off a backlash in the Middle East against the United States, the Times reports.
The Bush administration had refused to disclose the images after the ACLU's request made in 2003, claiming that the public disclosure of such evidence would generate outrage and would violate U.S. obligations towards detainees under the Geneva Conventions.
The decision to release images comes on the same day that congressional aides said President Obama resisted pressure from Democrats to investigate Bush-era interrogation techniques, though Obama also has been under fire since last week from Republicans and former Bush advisers for releasing memos from 2002 and 2005 justifying the interrogation techniques used by the CIA.
The ACLU says making public additional images of detainee treatment is critical for helping the public understand the scope and scale of prisoner abuse as well as for holding senior officials accountable for authorizing or permitting such abuse.
"These photographs provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel was not aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib," said Amrit Singh, staff attorney with the ACLU.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sharp partisan dispute is shaping up for Wednesday's Senate hearing, called by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, on the U.S. treatment of terrorist suspects in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The Rhode Island Democrat has billed the session as the first public hearing on the issue since the Obama administration's release of the Bush Justice Department's legal memoranda authorizing interrogation techniques that critics have labeled torture.
Whitehouse has made no secret of his conclusions on the issue, titling the hearing: ``What Went Wrong? Torture and the Office of Legal Counsel in the Bush Adminstration.''
"The reason I have been speaking," Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on CBS News' Face The Nation, is because "the issues that are at stake here are so important."
Cheney said that he fundamentally disagrees with many of the decisions of the Obama administration, including dismantling policies put into place by the Bush-Cheney administration which he credits with keeping the nation safe for nearly eight years following 9/11.
"Now we have an administration that has come to power that has been critical of the programs," he said, citing calls by many to investigate and possibly disbar or prosecute the Bush administration lawyers who gave legal approval for the use of interrogation techniques like waterboarding, recognized to be torture.
He said that the Obama administration's actions to reverse some of these Bush policies is "deeply disturbing."
Cheney said that by getting rid of the enhanced interrogation techniques and the Bush adminstration's surveillance program, "you reduce the intelligence flow to the intelligence community upon which we based those policies that were so successful."
Schieffer asked if Cheney feels that the Obama administration has made the United States more susceptible to terrorist attacks.
"That's my belief, Bob," he said.
Cheney has rebuffed charges that waterboarding does not work in getting good intelligence, and accusations that torture inflicted by U.S. interrogators was counter-productive. He has called for the release of classified documents which would, he says, prove that information obtained following the application of waterboarding prevented terror attacks.
He also suggested that the Obama administration was selectively releasing memos from the Bush White House: "They don't have any qualms at all about putting things out that can be used to be critical of the Bush administration policies, but when you've got memos out there that show precisely how much was achieved and how lives were saved as a result of these policies, they won't release those. At least, they haven't yet."
"Give us the memos, release them to the press, let everyone take a look and see," he said.
He claimed the CIA memos discuss how specific terror attacks were planned and stopped.
Cheney said that techniques such as waterboarding were successful in producing security results, citing Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, whom he said did not cooperate until after he had been waterboarded. "Once we went through that process, he produced vast quantities of invaluable information about al Qaeda."
Asked about the hypocrisy of America employing certain interrogation techniques — the suggestion that we have stooped to becoming like our enemies — Cheney said he had no regrets about the Bush administration authorizing their use. "I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. I'm convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives."
"What do you say to those, Mr. Vice President, who say that when we employ these kinds of tactics, which are after all the tactics that the other side uses, that when we adopt their methods, that we're weakening security, not enhancing security, because it sort of makes a mockery of what we tell the rest of the world?" asked Schieffer.
"Well, then you'd have to say that, in effect, we're prepared to sacrifice American lives rather than run an intelligent interrogation program that would provide us the information we need to protect America."
Cheney still bristled at the suggestion that what President Bush authorized constituted torture, saying they weren't in the "torture business.
"I think it's very, very important that we have a clear understanding that what happened here was an honorable approach to defending the nation, that there was nothing devious or deceitful or dishonest or illegal about what was done," he said.
Obama quoted Winston Churchill and his WWII strategy last week in defense of his policy to eliminate enhanced interrogation tactics. Obama claimed that Churchill was anti-torture.
O'Reilly did some research and uncovered some facts about Churchill's policy. "Enough with the platitudes, Mr, President," says O'Reilly "it is not against American values to protect ourselves!"
He wanted to use poison gas on Germans, but was stopped by his advisers.
The Royal Air Force routinely bombed non-military targets.
The British operated interrogation centers where Germans were beaten, sleep deprived and threatened with death.
Alas, when did the Left and especially President Obama care anything about the facts.
Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on "On the Record" last night.
In January, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)called Gitmo a "well run jail".
He contradicts what he said earlier in the day, that he wants to be "the President's Partner" over prosecuting GITMO detainees.
Mr. Obama had this to say about using the Army Field Manual from The Associated Press.
"We believe that the Army Field Manual reflects the best judgment of our military, that we can abide by a rule that says we don't torture, but that we can still effectively obtain the intelligence that we need," Obama said. He said his action reflects an understanding that "we are willing to observe core standards of conduct, not just when it's easy, but also when it's hard."
By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in order to improve the effectiveness of human intelligence gathering, to promote the safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals in United States custody and of United States personnel who are detained in armed conflicts, to ensure compliance with the treaty obligations of the United States, including the Geneva Conventions, and to take care that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed, I hereby order as follows:
Section 1. Revocation. Executive Order 13440 of July 20, 2007, is revoked. All executive directives, orders, and regulations inconsistent with this order, including but not limited to those issued to or by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 11, 2001, to January 20, 2009, concerning detention or the interrogation of detained individuals, are revoked to the extent of their inconsistency with this order. Heads of departments and agencies shall take all necessary steps to ensure that all directives, orders, and regulations of their respective departments or agencies are consistent with this order. Upon request, the Attorney General shall provide guidance about which directives, orders, and regulations are inconsistent with this order.
Executive Order 13440 was signed by President Bush July 20th, 2007. It stated that that members of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces are unlawful enemy combatants who are not entitled to the protections that the Third Geneva Convention provides to prisoners of war.
The Third Geneva Convention provides protection for prisoners of war assuming they meet the following criteria
4.1.2 Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, provided that they fulfill all of the following conditions
that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance (there are limited exceptions to this among countries who observe the 1977 Protocol I);
that of carrying arms openly;
that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
President Bush was correct. Members of terrorist organizations DO NOT meet the above criteria and therefore President Obama is incorrect in his belief that the Geneva Conventions and The Army Field Manual apply to enemy combatants.
Further, terrorists are not covered by The Fourth Geneva Convention which applies to treatment of civilians.
Essentially, no court, domestic or international has yet to provide a definitive ruling defining any "intermediary" between a formal army, militia or organized force (which GCIII protects) and non-combatant civilians (protected by GCIV).
Article 51.3 of the Commentary states this: IV Geneva Convention also covers this interpretation: "Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.". In the words of the International Committee of the Red Cross. or ICRC "If civilians directly engage in hostilities, they are considered "unlawful" or "unprivileged" combatants or belligerents (the treaties of humanitarian law do not expressly contain these terms). They may be prosecuted under the domestic law of the detaining state for such action. Both lawful and unlawful combatants may be interned in wartime, may be interrogated and may be prosecuted for war crimes.
So it appears there is a distinct lack of a true definition of how a terrorist, or "enemy combatant" in the international community. If anything, IV Geneva Convention affirms interrogation tactics used on the Guantanamo detainees.
The War of Terror is a unique circumstance in world history. If President Bush misjudged anything, he did so to in order to protect America and American citizens.
Obama is erring on the side of protecting the terrorists and worried about his and the United States' "Image" around the world. Pretty narcissistic, don't you think?
Mr. Obama is worried about being popular more than doing what it right.
We are sorry Mr. Obama, but America and Americans are more important than how we look to outsiders.
"The time has come to set aside childish things", Mr. Obama. You want to hang out with the popular kids in the world, putting the so-called "world opinion" above American safety? Now that is truly childish.
With all due respect, THAT is the fundamental difference between Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush.
Okay...what's the joke? Sen. Reid cannot be serious!?!
Nope. Not at all. Actually, he says he wants to wait until Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Feinstein and Attorney General Eric Holder have enough time to establish the facts of what actually went on.
Yup. Sounds like the banana republic witch hunt will continue. Damn fascist moonbats.
Eric Holder is a communist pig like his boss. How the hell can Holder justify assisting a rogue Spanish court?
It's his responsibility to protect the Constitution! It's one thing, albeit wrong, to prosecute Bush officials in America but having the Attorney General of The United States assisting a Foreign Court to prosecute Americans including a former President and Vice President?
The Pew Forum recently conducted a survey which shows that 54% people who attend religious services at least once a week support the use of enhanced interrogation (torture) compared to 42% of those who "seldom or never" attend church.
I'm going to take a leap here (and anger some Liberals) and conclude this: those with higher moral standards understand the need to protect the safety of America more than those with lower morality.
The religious attacks in the comments from the CNN "faithful" are priceless.
"The president changed his mind after saying over and over and over and over again, and his top aides said over and over again that he wasnt going to do this, I want to know who changed his mind, because thats probably the real President of the United States. Do you suspect as I do that somebody influenced him and got to him and said change your mind and he just did it?" Hannity asked Coulter.
"I would like to know who the real President is because I dont think it can actually be the teleprompter, but I think what pushed him into this was the entire mainstream media screaming that this is torture, torture, torture," Coulter replied.
Coulter used claims that insects were used in interrogations to make light of the fact that detainees were tortured. "I dont think anyone should be able to talk about what happened at Guantanamo without there being a little picture of a small caterpillar maybe on the side of the screen," suggested Coulter.
"That was one of the tortures. One was supposed to be afraid of insects . The CIA interrogators requested to put an adorable little caterpillar in his cell with him, she mocked. This is the sort of insane, wussie interrogation procedures they are engaging in."
Coulter says that interrogations were too mild since Obama banned harsh techniques. "We are being laughed at throughout the Arab world. I mean, if they are actually reading these memos, they cannot be very afraid of being captured because it is such wussie stuff that is going on or was being permitted at Guantanamo," said Coulter.
Hannity equated the release of the torture memos to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. "There was so much made over Valerie Plame and Valerie Plame putting her life and Joe Wilsons life [in danger]," he said. "The media is now going to release the names. Doesnt that put their lives in jeapordy?"
Coulter agreed and continued to make light of the interrogation techniques approved by President Bush. "They are using torture techniques, using implements that were manufactured by Fisher Price for things that people pay to have done to them at Six Flags," she said.
More than 100 anti-torture activists marched to the White House on Thursday to protest against US detention policy.
They also voiced anger against what they consider to be the governments refusal to punish those responsible for torture.
An anonymous source also told ConservativeXpress that these people have no jobs and may be on welfare. They also believe a land of "Happy Little Clouds and Rainbows" and perhaps "little green elfs."
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