GITMO OUTTA HERE

Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay

There are several dimensions to the debate over the U.S. prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that the media have largely missed and, thus, of which the American people are almost completely unaware. For that matter, few within the government who were not directly involved are aware either.

The first of these is the utter incompetence of the battlefield vetting in Afghanistan during the early stages of the U.S. operations there.

The second dimension that is largely unreported is that several in the U.S. leadership became aware of this lack of proper vetting very early on and, thus, of the reality that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had little intelligence value, and should be immediately released.

The third basically unknown dimension is how hard Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage labored to ameliorate the GITMO situation from almost day one. Ambassador Pierre Prosper, the U.S. envoy for war crimes issues, was under a barrage of questions and directions almost daily from Powell or Armitage to repatriate every detainee who could be repatriated. Standing resolutely in Ambassador Prosper's path was Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld who would have none of it. Rumsfeld was staunchly backed by the Vice President of the United States, Richard Cheney. Moreover, the fact that among the detainees was a 13 year-old boy and a man over 90, did not seem to faze either man.

by Lawrence Wilkerson

HEART OF DARKNESS

White House denies prior knowledge of Abu Ghraib abuse

The top military investigator of the Abu Ghraib scandal, retired Army Major General Antonio Taguba says he described to former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld what he termed the "torture" of "a naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum," the magazine reported.

The ex-general, who retired in January, spoke of other, undisclosed material on the Abu Ghraib abuse, including descriptions of the sexual humiliation of a father with his son, who were both detainees.

He also told the magazine he saw "a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomising a female detainee," adding the video was never made public or mentioned in any court or in public.

Maj Gen Taguba says all high-level officials had avoided scrutiny while the jail keepers at Abu Ghraib were tried in courts-martial.

"From what I knew, troops just don't take it upon themselves to initiate what they did without any form of knowledge of the higher-ups," Maj Gen Taguba told the New Yorker, adding his orders were to investigate the military police only and not their superiors.

"These (military police) troops were not that creative," he said. "Somebody was giving them guidance, but I was legally prevented from further investigation into higher authority."

CLOAK AND DAGGER

Is it a bird, is it a plane

The US administration released video footage of 'a Boeing 757' hitting the Pentagon.
Looks like another case of the Emperor's new clothes.

FLASHBACK: Rumsfeld referrs to a 'missile' striking the Pentagon

Here we're talking about plastic knives and using an American Airlines flight filed with our citizens, and the missile to damage this building and similar (inaudible) that damaged the World Trade Center. The only way to deal with this problem is by taking the battle to the terrorists, wherever they are, and dealing with them.

Also, last week, the Pentagon staged a mock anthrax attack

The drill, Gallant Fox '06, was designed to test the response efforts for both federal and Arlington County responders. During the exercise, crews acted as though there was an anthrax attack inside the Pentagon.
The mock anthrax attack lasted less than one hour, with Red Cross members and other volunteers posing as victims. They acted out the signs and symptoms of anthrax exposure.
When exposed to anthrax, victims are forced to strip off their clothes and take showers to wash off the biological agent.

Last year there was a big false alarm.

Oh, and 'The DaVinci Code' was released too.

[Five years on, concurrent with the release of the Pentagon 'footage', this Flash video was shown at this year's Cannes film festival.]

FIRST CASUALTY

CIA veteran probes Rumsfeld

To prepare for my presentations, I took along a briefcase full of notes and clippings, one of which was a New York Times article datelined Atlanta, Sept. 27, 2002, quoting Rumsfeld's assertion that there was "bulletproof" evidence of ties between al-Qaida and the government of Saddam Hussein.

This was the kind of unfounded allegation that, at the time, deceived 69 percent of Americans into believing that the Iraqi leader played a role in the tragedy of 9/11. Rumsfeld's "bulletproof" rhetoric also came in the wake of an intensive but quixotic search by my former colleagues at the CIA for any reliable evidence of such ties.

A fresh reminder of the Bush administration's Iraq deceptions surfaced Thursday morning, when the Spanish newspaper El Pais published an interview with Paul Pillar, the senior U.S. intelligence specialist on the Middle East and terrorism until he retired late last year. Pillar branded administration attempts to prove a link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein "an organized campaign of manipulation... I suppose by some definitions that could be called a lie."

Excerpt of transcript of Rumsfeld answering McGovern's questions.
...
RUMSFELD: Zar..., Zarqawi was in Baghdad during the prewar period. That is a fact.
McGovern: Zarqawi? He was in the north of Iraq in a place where Saddam Hussein had no rule. That's where he was.
RUMSFELD: He was also… (crosstalk) He was also in Baghdad.
McGovern: Yes, when he needed to go to the hospital. Come on, these people aren’t idiots. They know the story.
...

Full transcript here. Note "non secretor" should be "non sequitur".

[Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour. A 27-year veteran of CIA's analyst ranks, he now serves on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.]

LAUGH IT UP

President Bush Discusses Global War on Terror

Q Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to have you here. I'm a first-year student in South Asia studies. My question is in regards to private military contractors. Uniform Code of Military Justice does not apply to these contractors in Iraq. I asked your Secretary of Defense a couple months ago what law governs their actions.

THE PRESIDENT: I was going to ask him. Go ahead. (Laughter.) Help. (Laughter.)

Q I was hoping your answer might be a little more specific. (Laughter.) Mr. Rumsfeld answered that Iraq has its own domestic laws which he assumed applied to those private military contractors. However, Iraq is clearly not currently capable of enforcing its laws, much less against -- over our American military contractors. I would submit to you that in this case, this is one case that privatization is not a solution. And, Mr. President, how do you propose to bring private military contractors under a system of law?

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate that very much. I wasn't kidding -- (laughter.) I was going to -- I pick up the phone and say, Mr. Secretary, I've got an interesting question. (Laughter.) This is what delegation -- I don't mean to be dodging the question, although it's kind of convenient in this case, but never -- (laughter.) I really will -- I'm going to call the Secretary and say you brought up a very valid question, and what are we doing about it? That's how I work. I'm -- thanks. (Laughter.)

OUR NOBLE LEADERS

Donald Rumsfeld, left, and President George W. Bush

Bush's wisdom: 'God told me to say dumb stuff"

"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense."
George W. Bush, Washington, D.C. April 18, 2006 (Watch video clip.) +more

The analogy between Iraq and Vietnam has proved to be most compelling to the generals who planned and conducted the invasion of Iraq. They kept to themselves their profound disquiet about the rapid rejection of the original plan for invasion that had taken 10 years to develop, the inadequate downsized force, the absence of preparation for the occupation, and the disastrous decision to disband the Iraqi military.

[Clinging to Rumsfeld as generals lead an unprecedented revolt, Bush reveals his weakness and his disdain for the lessons of history.]

SWEET NOTHINGS

Legislative Process To Ban Aspartame

Fifteen New Mexico state senators sponsored a bill to rid New Mexico of what some have called "Rumsfeld's Disease.
A senate bill to rid New Mexico of what has been called “Rumsfeld’s Disease” has been introduced supporting legislation to ban the deadly artificial sweetener, aspartame.
Linked to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his efforts in the 1970s for putting the sweetener on the market, New Mexico is the first state to consider banning the artificial additive linked to numerous ill-health affects, including cancer.

[A recent report from a highly respected international medical team has now linked the toxins in aspartame to lymphomas and leukemia. The report by Morando Soffritti "Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukemias in rats" is in the European Journal of Oncology for July, 2005. Dr. Sofritti is a member of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences Cancer Research Centre in Bologna, Italy.]

BIG BROTHER

Rumsfeld Spies on Quakers and Grannies

The Pentagon has a file on an anti-war group that was gathering at the Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Florida, to plan a counter-recruiting effort at local high schools.
That group of Quakers constitutes a “threat,” according to a 400-page Pentagon document.

PRIME TARGET

Red carpet for warmonger

US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of the main architects of the war on Iraq, is coming to Adelaide. With the blood of as many as 100,000 Iraqi civilians on his hands, this supposed champion of democracy will be meeting with similar Australian champions behind massive police protection.

Adelaide to be locked down for Rumsfeld visit

Sections of Adelaide will be virtually locked down as part of a massive security operation to protect U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later this month.
The two-day visit will result in areas around the Hyatt Hotel and the Town Hall declared no-go zones amid fears of ugly anti-Iraq war protests. It is likely sections of North Tce and King William St will be fenced off to keep the thousands of expected protesters away from both sites.
Although there is no intelligence to suggest a threat, SA police are well aware Mr Rumsfeld is one of the world's top terrorist targets.

[Mr Rumsfeld, deputy U.S. Secretary of State Bob Zoellick and a senior U.S. army general are visiting Adelaide for Ausmin - the Australia-United States Ministerial Meeting - on November 17 and 18.]

DOUBLE PLUS UNGOOD

Another soldier's blog shut down

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia

... it breaks my heart to say that this will be my last post on this blog. I wish I could just stop there, but I can not. The following also needs to be said:
For the record, I am officially a supporter of the administration and of her policies. I am a proponent for the war against terror and I believe in the mission in Iraq. I understand my role in that mission, and I accept it. I understand that I signed the contract which makes stop loss legal, and I retract any statements I made in the past that contradict this one.
Furthermore, I have the utmost confidence in the leadership of my chain of command, including (but not limited to) the president George Bush and the honorable secretary of defense Rumsfeld.
If I have ever written anything on this site or on others that lead the reader to believe otherwise, please consider this a full and complete retraction.

[On this day, may you not be napalmed by an invading Army. May you not be tortured for a parking violation. Today, may your hometown not be bombed. When you sit down to eat tonight, may armed men not barge into your house and search your wife’s underwear drawer. May you not be zip-tied, marched outside, beaten and shot in the face.]

PROPAGANDA CENTRAL

Clearing the way for a police state

The recent rash of terror warnings shows just how shoddy mainstream journalism has really become. Every major news network in the country ran the very same story of the “alleged” communication between Osama bin Laden and terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi without producing a scintilla of corroborating evidence. They simply flooded the newswires, airwaves and TVs with unsubstantiated, Pentagon-inspired gibberish and left out any supporting facts. The clear intention was to give a boost to Bush’s flagging polling numbers, but the effort fell flat and the media’s credibility took another well-deserved hit.
... we’re getting a daily dosage of uncorroborated theory, innuendo and conjecture masquerading as news. Promoting the war has become a full time job for America’s media and they’re getting more desperate every day. While Bush’s numbers dither towards the abyss, the press keeps dredging up the overused images of fear and intimidation hoping for some relief. Fortunately, the strategy is failing, which suggests that more aggressive measures may be in the offing. If the media can’t manage public perceptions then Rumsfeld’s “private contractors” will probably lend a hand.

FEAR MONGERS

Officials warn of more terror attacks

Speaking with one voice, President Bush's top intelligence and military officials said Wednesday that terrorists are regrouping for possible new strikes against the United States.
They said the best defense was for Congress to approve the president's military and anti-terror budget. But some in Congress, including prominent Republicans, were questioning some of that spending.
Offering few specifics on terror threats, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a House hearing that the government could reasonably predict attacks would come from terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and other means.
Meanwhile, new CIA Director Porter Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee the Iraq war was giving terrorists experience and contacts for future attacks, and FBI Director Robert Mueller expressed worry that a sleeper operative in the U.S. may have been in place for years, awaiting orders for an attack.

GUILTY SECRETS

Rumsfeld cancels trip fearing war crime suit

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute him for war crimes, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) has learned.
Rumsfeld has informed the German government via the US embassy that he will not take part in the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst Teltschik told DPA on Thursday.
The New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights filed a complaint in December with the Federal German Prosecutor's Office against Rumsfeld accusing him of war crimes and torture in connection with detainee abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Rumsfeld made it known immediately after the complaint was filed that he would not attend the Munich conference unless Germany quashed the legal action.

THE GOOD GUYS

Red Cross accuses Bush administration of torture

The Red Cross has accused President George Bush's administration of overseeing the intentional physical and psychological torture of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

Rumsfeld sued for war crimes over Abu Ghraib

American human rights lawyers began an attempt in Germany to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes yesterday. A case against the US Defence Secretary could embarrass Gerhard Schröder's coalition government.
Peter Weiss and Michael Ratner of the Centre for Constitutional Rights said they had submitted evidence to Germany's federal state prosecutor in connection with torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
He said: "Torture at Abu Ghraib has not been properly addressed by the US courts. The point is to make sure that people who torture have nowhere to hide." His action aims to use a 2002 law which lets prosecutors bring charges against those suspected of war crimes irrespective of nationality or where the crimes were committed.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

US military bows to the rule of law

Even the US military appears ready to accept the formerly inviolable principle that a democratic state that cannot sustain charges against individuals must release them. The deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay has said most of the remaining 550 detainees (more than 150 have been freed) will be released or transferred to their own countries because "most of these guys weren't fighting" and "we don't have a level of evidence to feel that we can be confident to prosecute them". They are now said to be "of low intelligence value and low threat status".


[At first, all the detainees held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay were "the worst of the worst", US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, who deserved to be "dealt with as people who have engaged in mass murder".]

FEEL A DRAFT?

US runs low on soldiers

'If Bush gets in I think a draft is a distinct possibility,' says Eric Ellis, a Vietnam veteran. He isn't alone.
Officially, the draft is a non-starter. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ruled it out. The Selective Service Agency, the federal body that would run a draft, doesn't 'foresee anything on the horizon'. Neither Bush nor his presidential rival, Senator John Kerry, have mentioned it.
But this could change quickly. Should Washington give the go-ahead, America's 1980 draft boards, staffed by 11,000 volunteers, are 'ready to do business'.
Currently, there are two private members' bills in Congress, one in the House and one in the Senate, to re-enact the draft.
"Once the presidential election is done I think there will be strong pressure on Congress to look at the draft," says Professor Don Zillman, a expert on the subject at the University of Maine in Portland.
"I think at this stage it would be unpopular. But if we have another terrorist attack closer to home, all bets are off."

CHAINS OF COMMAND

Soldier's lawyers plan to summon top US officials

Attorneys representing Army Pfc. Lynndie England, charged in the torture-and-abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, said yesterday they plan to call Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as witnesses in her preliminary hearing this month.
During a news conference in Denver, the defense team said it had assembled a list of 136 people to summon when England, 21, appears June 22 before a military Article 32 hearing in Fort Bragg, N.C. The hearing, similar to a grand jury, will determine whether there is enough evidence to prosecute her. If she is tried and convicted on charges of abuse, conspiracy and discrediting the armed forces, England, who is five months pregnant, faces 15-1/2 years in prison.
Her lawyers acknowledge they can't force Cheney or Rumsfeld to show up, because there is no subpoena power for Article 32 hearings. The best they can hope for is the pair might be required, as public servants, to come if called.
Attorney Rose Mary Zapor said she believes the chain of command ordered England and at least six other prison guards at Abu Ghraib to 'soften up' Iraqi detainees before interrogation. One guard, Army Spc. Jeremy Sivits, pleaded guilty last month to abusing prisoners and was sentenced to one year in prison.
England is not in custody and is doing clerical work at Fort Bragg.

Excerpt from an interview aired on the Australian ABC Radio network Text in square brackets may contain transcript errors due to poor quality of recording.

ENGLAND: I was instructed by a person in a higher rank to stand there, hold this leash, they took the picture, [first aisle, and that's all I know].
INTERVIEWER: [You had an] intention of using that picture in some type of psychological operation [that they're inmates].

PRESENTER: Private England was asked if she thought there was anything wrong with what she was doing.
ENG: Oh I mean they were for psyop reasons and the reason was ... I mean ... and so ... to us we were doing our job which meant we were doing what we were told and the outcome was what they wanted. They'd come back and they'd look at the pictures and they'd state, "that's a good tactic, keep it up, that's working, this is working. Keep doing it. Gettin' what we need".

PRES: She didn't name names, but said repeatedly that she was acting under orders.
ENG: We don't feel like we were doing thing that we weren't supposed to, because we were told to do ... we think everything was justified because we were instructed to do this and to do that.
INT: Did things happen in this prison to those Iraqi prisoners worse than [garbled] than being photographed.
ENG: Yes
INT: Can you tell me about that.
ENG: No.
PRES: There are still many questions about what that worse treatment may have involved.

NEWSPEAK

Iraq is sovereign ... except it can't make decisions on its own [I believe the expression should have been 'Let freedom RING'.]

White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice Monday informed President Bush in a handwritten note of the transfer of authority in Baghdad, prompting Bush to scribble back: 'Let freedom reign'.

'Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign. Letter was passed from (U.S. administrator Paul) Bremer at 10:26 a.m. Iraq time -- Condi,'

The note exchange took place during a meeting of NATO leaders in Istanbul. Ms Rice handed the note to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who passed it along to Bush.

Iraq Gov't must abide by US-made laws

The US led-coalition, facing a Wednesday deadline to hand back power, has put in place major legal revisions that would force Iraqis to get drivers' licenses, obey traffic laws, ban certain people from holding office and place American contractors above the law.
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish politician and member of the disbanded US-picked Governing Council, said he thinks the Americans began pushing the flurry of laws once it became clear the occupation would be cut short. Washington's earlier plans, he said, called for a longer occupation that would have allowed Iraq's constitution to be written under US watch.
But critics say the Coalition Provisional Authority's flurry of laws amounts to meddling in Iraq's basic institutions, something that international law places out of bounds for an occupying power.
Especially irksome for Iraqi leaders is the fact that the occupier's edicts remain in force after the occupation ends -- including laws that curtail the powers of the incoming government.

Prisoner 27075 learns limits of sovereignty

Iyad Akmush Kanum, 23, learnt the limits of sovereignty when US prosecutors refused to uphold an Iraqi judges' order acquitting him of attempted murder of coalition troops.
US prosecutors said that he was being returned to the controversial Abu Ghraib prison because under the Geneva Conventions they were not bound by Iraqi law.
Faisal Estrabadi, an Iraqi lawyer, said yesterday after the refusal to release Mr Kanum: "If the Iraqi courts have acquitted an individual he must be released. Anything else is a violation of sovereignty".

TORTURE RULES OK

Lawyers decided bans on torture didn't bind Bush

A team of administration lawyers concluded in a March 2003 legal memorandum that President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal antitorture law because he had the authority as commander in chief to approve any technique needed to protect the nation's security.
The memo, prepared for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, also said that any executive branch officials, including those in the military, could be immune from domestic and international prohibitions against torture for a variety of reasons.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

US plans to build military training facility in Australia

Australia and the US have moved closer to an agreement on basing a major US military training facility in northern Australia.
Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said he discussed the project with his US counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, during a security conference in Singapore over the weekend and an agreement could be signed as early as next month.
'It's to enhance mutual capability, ensure inter-operability and to assist a critically important ally,' Hill said on ABC Radio. Hill said an agreement in principle on setting up the training facility could be reached at annual bilateral defense talks to be held in Washington next month.

[[A major enhancement of the US military presence in Australia could upset neighbour states like Indonesia, which has in the past bristled at suggestions Australia serves as Washington's "deputy sheriff" in the region.
About half the world's oil supplies move through the Indonesia region on the way to markets in Japan, China and South Korea, making it a tempting target for Islamic militants seeking to destabilize the industrialized world.]]