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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Subject:
</th>
<td>Re: [ufpj-activist] "Brennan’s defense of CIA torture",
Barry Grey, World [SJ]</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:31:40 -0500</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Sjonastriski@aol.com">Sjonastriski@aol.com</a> (Relayed)
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:strict-dmarc@mayfirst.org"><strict-dmarc@mayfirst.org></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:jpstolten@frontier.com"><jpstolten@frontier.com></a>,
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org"><ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org></a>,
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:members@lists.cc-ds.org"><members@lists.cc-ds.org></a></td>
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<div>Brennan's defense of torture, "yes, it does [or at least
might] work," is exactly why " 'Torture Doesn't' Work'
Doesn't Work," as spelled out in my column below (<span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Georgia",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB"><font size="3"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/torture-doesn-t-work-but-it-does-serve-itself"><font
size="2">http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/torture-doesn-t-work-but-it-does-serve-itself</font></a>)</font></span><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Open Sans",serif; COLOR:
#444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language:
EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div>With every good wish, and a Happy New Year to all, Steve
Jonas</div>
<div> </div>
<div>PS: For those of you who might have received this
previously, my apologies.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
15pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 8.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Open
Sans",serif; COLOR: #999999; mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">Tuesday, 16
December 2014 08:43 </span><span style="FONT-SIZE:
10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Open Sans",serif; COLOR:
#444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
110%; mso-outline-level: 2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt;
FONT-FAMILY: "Georgia",serif; COLOR: #444444;
LINE-HEIGHT: 110%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times
New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">Why <font
color="#000000"><font face="Arial">"</font></font>Torture
Doesn<font color="#000000"><font face="Arial">'</font></font>t
Work<font color="#000000"><font face="Arial">"</font></font>
Doesn<font color="#000000"><font face="Arial">'</font></font>t
Work (but it is Unconstitutional) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium
none; BACKGROUND: #f7fafe; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none;
PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 6pt;
BORDER-LEFT: #cccccc 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in;
mso-element: para-border-div; mso-border-left-alt: solid
#CCCCCC .75pt">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="BORDER-TOP: medium none;
BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BACKGROUND: #f7fafe;
BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in;
PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;
BORDER-LEFT: medium none; LINE-HEIGHT: 15pt;
PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-left-alt: solid #CCCCCC
.75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 6.0pt"><font size="3"><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Georgia",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">URL:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/torture-doesn-t-work-but-it-does-serve-itself">http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/torture-doesn-t-work-but-it-does-serve-itself</a></span><span
style="FONT-FAMILY: "Open Sans",serif;
COLOR: #444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times
New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
15pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><b><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Open
Sans",serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">STEVEN JONAS MD, MPH FOR BUZZFLASH AT
TRUTHOUT</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">As the world that is interested in such
matters knows, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has
finally released the (redacted) 524-page Executive Summary
of its </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/world/senate-intelligence-committee-cia-torture-report.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">6000-page report on
torture and the CIA</span></a><span style="FONT-SIZE:
10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR:
#444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">, headed "Panel
Faults C.I.A. Over Brutality and Deceit in Terrorism
Interrogations." One cannot be sure why the Chair, Sen.
Diane Feinstein of California, decided to release it over
the mounting objections of both the White House and the
CIA as well as most Republicans (apparently in favor of
the use of torture, from the sound of it/them). But she
may have been informed that one Senator or another,
especially the outgoing Senator from Colorado, Mark Udall,
would do it himself if she didn't. (It is rumored that
Sen. Udall may still put the whole report into the
Congressional Record. If he does, I would strongly suggest
that he never again fly in a small aircraft.) At any rate,
even just the Executive Summary presents a huge amount of
horrifying detail. (I need not detail it here; it and a
huge amount of commentary has already appeared in The
Times and many other news sources, </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/12/11/cia-torture-report/#.VIosOLKoIww.wordpress"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">print, electronic and
other</span></a><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
FONT-FAMILY: "Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR:
#444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">It happens that a good deal of the
information contained in it has been known, in relative
bits and pieces, for quite some time. What the Senate
Committee has done is assemble a huge amount of material
in one place, and then put their imprimatur on the
information, which it has been collecting in sometimes
gruesome detail over the past six years. Of course the
Republicans have reacted in horror, not at the details of
the torture itself and the catalog of CIA cover-ups,
incompetence, disorganization, amateurism, and
what-have-you, but at the fact that they have all been
made public. Of course, Sen. Feinstein and her Democratic
colleagues knew full well that if they didn't release the
document now, it would never see the light of day, at
least for the next two years of a Republican Senate
majority. Further, even if the Democrats were to retake
the Senate in 2016, by that time it would be a) old news
and b) the CIA and its allies within and outside of
government would have had many more opportunities to a)
cover their tracks and b) further justify their actions
with the repetitive aid of Fox"News.".<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">One should note that Democrats hardly have
entirely clean hands in this matter. After all, the Obama
White House didn't want even the heavily redacted
Executive Summary published. Further, right at the start
of its Administration, the Obama White House and its
"Justice" Department made clear that they would not be
going after any of the torturers or, much more
importantly, the torture-enablers starting with Cheney,
based on what was even then already widely known about the
program. Not only has it done nothing to prosecute the
perpetrators, it has even allowed the promotion of many of
them. Furthermore, we have the odd occurrence that Obama's
current CIA director, John Brennan, who knew about the
program when he was Obama's counter-terrorism advisor in
2009, and is a member of a Democratic Administration, </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/us/politics/cia-director-brennan-torture-report.html"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">criticized the Report</span></a><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB"> not only as inaccurate, but also "flawed,"
"partisan" (sic), and "frustrating."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">Be that as it may, the most important point
to come away with in examining the Report is the major
conclusion that the Senate Intelligence Committee came to
about the CIA's torture program: that is was bad because
it doesn't work. And they produced huge mountains of
evidence to support that claim. Of course its supporters
and instigators continue to bray that it does. </span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/world/senate-intelligence-committee-cia-torture-report.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">Consider</span></a><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">: "Many Republicans have said that the report
is an attempt to smear both the C.I.A. and the Bush White
House, and that the report cherry-picked information to
support a claim that the C.I.A.'s detention program
yielded no valuable information. Former C.I.A. officials
have already begun a vigorous public campaign to dispute
the report's findings."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">And of course the torturer-in-chief, Dick
Cheney, </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/12/torture-report-dick-cheney-110306.html#.VIjZosmmX9I"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">is going bananas</span></a><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB"> over the report's release. Andy Borowitz
tells us (WARNING: satire) that Cheney has even called for
an </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/cheney-calls-international-ban-torture-reports"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">international ban</span></a><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB"> on the issuance of reports on the use of
torture. And so, we know that the CIA has done some very
bad things (bad, that is, if you think that torture is
bad), fully justified by the Bush Administration. In fact,
even though the Committee said that it wasn't, the program
</span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/12/09/3601048/why-bush-administration-officials-are-really-freaking-out-about-the-cia-report/"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">was fully authorized</span></a><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB"> by the Bush Administration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">But the Senate Committee's whole premise is
that: the program was bad because it didn't work. Which
raises the question: would they have concluded that
torture was OK if it had produced useful intelligence?
Uh-oh and Oh my. If Cheney et al were/are right about the
utility of torture, at least as practiced by the CIA, then
the Committee's whole argument against it collapses in a
heap. Indeed by focusing primarily on "torture doesn't
work" for its primary criticism of the program, the Senate
Intelligence Committee has let the Republicans and the
Right-wing generally off the hook. For they can simply
come back, as they are, as noted, doing vociferously,
saying "yes it does."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">The argument should have been on "it's
wrong," and more importantly, that it violates both
domestic and international law, and, most importantly,
violates the U.S. Constitution. For example, the use of
torture </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/EnsuringLawfulInterrogations"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">violates the clear
prohibition of its use</span></a><span style="FONT-SIZE:
10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR:
#444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"> in various Federal
statutes. But furthermore, and to me most importantly, it
violates the provisions banning the use of torture found
in the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention Against
Torture. The United States is a party to both the Geneva
Conventions and the UN Convention Against Torture, both
signed and ratified international treaties. Before
considering the Constitutional question, let us consider
just what is "torture?"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">The authors of the Geneva Conventions just
assumed that everyone "knows" what torture is so they
didn't bother to define it any detail. The UN Convention
defines it in general terms as "Any act by which severe
pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is
intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as
obtaining from him or a third person information or a
confession . . ." By exclusion, the U.S. Army Field Manual
is </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/EnsuringLawfulInterrogations"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">rather explicit</span></a><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB"> about it. The Bush Administration's quack
law firm, </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/the-last-word-on-torture-it-starts-with-enemies-but-ends-up-being-used-domestically/10799-the-last-word-on-torture-it-starts-with-enemies-but-ends-up-being-used-domestically"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">Bybee and Yoo</span></a><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">, tried to define their way out of the
quagmire, but no one outside of themselves and the US
Right would agree that what was done to numbers of
prisoners of the US was not torture. And the Senate
Committee has certainly concluded that it was and uses the
term "torture" over-and-over again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">But then comes the truly inconvenient truth
that the use of torture by US authorities is simply
unconstitutional. Under article VI of the U.S.
Constitution, as treaties signed and ratified by the U.S.
government, both Conventions are part of "the supreme law
of the land and [further] the judges of every state shall
be bound by them." This, and its illegality under various
U.S. statutes and Codes, are the only arguments that one
can make against the use of torture by US agencies that
can withstand the "but it works" argument, even if the
latter were true. Thus, torture both doesn't work and is
unconstitutional as well as illegal. The CIA surely knew
the first (they haven't been able to come up with even one
provable example of its effectiveness. Further, it should
be noted that the Clinton Administration thwarted two
attempted terrorist attacks that would have produce much
larger death tolls even than 9/11, the 1998 "25 airliners"
plot and the "Millennium Bomb Plot" against Los Angeles
International Airport, apparently without using one
torturous twitch.) They may or may not have known the
second that is unless they got all the way to the
Constitution's Article VI, or read the Army Field Manual,
if they ever bothered to start to read them at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">So why did the CIA develop the program and
why did they continue to use and surely attempt to perfect
it. Well, </span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/the-last-word-on-torture-it-starts-with-enemies-but-ends-up-being-used-domestically/10799-the-last-word-on-torture-it-starts-with-enemies-but-ends-up-being-used-domestically"
target="_blank"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB">as I have said
elsewhere</span></a><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
FONT-FAMILY: "Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR:
#444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New
Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">, first and
foremost it is a major instrument of terror that can be
used against a government's own population: it is a really
good repressor of dissent. A principal tool of Gestapo
control in Nazi Germany was to pick up someone who had
been making mildly anti-Hitler remarks, give them a good
session or two of torture downtown, and then send them
back to the neighborhood. You can bet the neighbors got
the message.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">Second, it is indeed very useful in
extracting information from politically active civilian
regime opponents who have no military training or training
in resisting torture, such as the civilian opponents of
the Pinochet Regime in Chile and the civilian targets of
the Argentine "Dirty War." Third, it is a very good tool
for extra-judicial punishment, just as long as the regime
using it makes sure that its details leak out, in a
totally deniable way of course, to its own citizens.
Fourth, it is a very useful tool for civilian repression
in military-occupied territories. Just ask the Japanese
Kempeitai that operated in Korea and Occupied China.
Fifth, it is very helpful when a regime is out to change
the culture of its country, and to wipe out historical
memory of anything that went before it came to power. Once
they had restored corporate-clerical control of the
country, doing so was perhaps the next principal long-term
goal of the Spanish Francoists. Torture was one of their
stocks-in-trade to achieve that goal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">Sixth, it is really good at extracting false
confessions, then to be used in show trials, such as those
of the Soviet Union of the late 1930s that killed off so
many of the good Communists who were already challenging
Stalinism as the way not to try to build socialism.
Seventh, in countries that use it but try to re-define
their way out of it convincing no-one but themselves
(guess who?), it helps to establish a record of
lawlessness, of total disregard for the rule of law, as
long as the government says things like, "We are doing
what we are doing to keep our people safe and fight
terror." This was likely a major objective of BushCheney,
et al: to change the culture here. "Torture [except of
course we don't call it torture, just 'enhanced
interrogation'] is that is as long as we are doing the
Deciding as to who gets it." No rule of law, no adherence
to international treaties or our Constitution of which
they are a part, just as long as they say there's a good
reason for it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">Finally, to have torture as a useful
instrument of national policy, there has to be a cadre of
torturers, another reason for the BushCheney torture
program. Until they came to power, Americans didn't do
such things, officially at least. So there weren't very
many, if any, trained torturers amongst our armed and
intelligence forces. But now they are, or at least were.
And you can bet your sweet pitootie, once you learn how to
be a torturer, you don't forget what you learned. So,
don't tell me torture isn't useful. It's just not useful
for what the torturers tell us it's useful for. And
whatever that may be, in the US its use is
unconstitutional.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:
"Verdana",sans-serif; COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB">Indeed, "it doesn't work" just doesn't work
in the battle to ban the use of torture by the US
government, which, as it happens, may well be renewed if
the next President is a Republican.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
15pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><span
style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Open
Sans",serif; COLOR: #444444; mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT:
normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto"><i><span style="COLOR: #444444;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"
lang="EN-GB"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Steven Jonas,
MD, MPH is a Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine
at Stony Brook University (NY) and
author/co-author/editor/co-editor of over 30 books. In
addition to being a columnist for BuzzFlash@Truthout
he is the Editorial Director of and a Contributing
Author to </font></span></i><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thepoliticaljunkies.org/" target="_blank"><i><span
style="TEXT-DECORATION: none; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB"><font
face="Calibri" size="3">The Political Junkies for
Progressive Democracy</font></span></i></a><i><span
style="COLOR: #444444; mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><font
face="Calibri" size="3">, and a Senior Editor,
Politics, for </font></span></i><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.greanvillepost.com/" target="_blank"><i><span
style="TEXT-DECORATION: none; COLOR: #385ba4;
mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;
text-underline: none" lang="EN-GB"><font
face="Calibri" size="3">The Greanville Post</font></span></i></a><i><span
style="COLOR: #444444; mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><font
face="Calibri" size="3">. Dr. Jonas' latest book is </font></span></i><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.puntopress.com/jonas-the-15-solution-hits-main-distribution/"
target="_blank"><i><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none;
COLOR: #385ba4; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times
New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;
mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; text-underline: none"
lang="EN-GB"><font face="Calibri" size="3">The 15%
Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took
Control of the U.S., 1981-2022: A futuristic Novel</font></span></i></a><i><span
style="COLOR: #444444; mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><font
size="3"><font face="Calibri">, Brewster, NY, Trepper
& Katz Impact Books, Punto Press Publishing,
2013, and available on Amazon.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></i></p>
<br>
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