A new executive order requires America to blindly trust that Bush will treat suspects with an ounce of respect for law and common sense.Has George Bush Secretly Revived CIA Torture Program?By Cliff Montgomery – July 25th, 2007George W. Bush quietly resurrected the CIA’s controversial interrogation program of suspected terrorists on Friday via executive order. The order will again allow harsh treatment of suspects, with only a vaguely worded prohibition serving to ensure that “cruel and unusual punishment” will not again be used by American interrogators to trash the U.S. Constitution, international law, Natural Law, and the Geneva Conventions.The order does specifically bar such practices as rape or sexual abuse; this apparently is an effort to lessen international outrage over some of the CIA’s most questionable activities. But perhaps tellingly, the executive order is silent on exactly what practices CIA interrogators may perform during its “interrogations”.The order is the Bush Administration’s first public effort to revamp the Agency’s five-year-old suspect detention program, which was placed on hold after a Supreme Court ruling last year proclaimed the program illegal.Officials would not discuss with reporters any specific interrogation techniques which the Agency may employ under Bush’s new order. Its previous methods are thought to have included disorientation and sleep deprivation, exposing prisoners to extreme cold or heat for prolonged periods, unnaturally stressful positions and–most disgustingly–the fascist-tinged simulated drowning exercise known as waterboarding.The Bush Administration pretends that its torture operation is an incredibly successful tool in its “war on terror”–but it claims the same thing of its invasion of Iraq. The matter is not what career politicians and well-paid spin doctors want us to believe, but instead what is actually true. And here, this administration is on much shakier ground.As a de-classified August 25th, 2006 evaluation written by the Pentagon’s office of the Inspector General makes clear, torture is a weakness, not a strength:”According to [U.S. Army Field Manual 34-52 (FM 34-52), entitled “Intelligence Interrogation”], prohibited techniques are not needed to gain the cooperation of detainees; [in fact] their use leads to unreliable information that may damage subsequent collection efforts. Not only does a detainee under duress provide information simply to stop the pain, but future interrogations will require more coercive, perhaps more dangerous, techniques.”Bush’s executive order only ensures that CIA suspects “receive the basic necessities of life, including adequate food and water, shelter from the elements, necessary clothing, protection from extremes of heat and cold, and essential medical care.”A top intelligence official would not discuss with the Associated Press (AP) whether waterboarding is an allowed action by CIA interrogators under Bush’s new order, or under similar legal documents created by the Justice Department.A second top administration official did admit to AP that sleep is not one of the basic necessities proclaimed in Bush’s executive order.But we have no idea what the Injustice Department is doing in our name. Its documents remain classified, apparently to protect Americans from running our country as we see fit.Both officials spoke to AP under condition of anonymity.Human rights groups were having none of the Bush Administration’s loopholes and false reasoning, however.Tom Malinowski, Human Rights Watch Washington director, told AP that the vague veneer of law found in the executive order was incidental. The issue can be resolved only in maintaining proper oversight of the still-classified procedural file on interrogation given to CIA officers.Malinowski therefore points out that the executive order requires America to blindly trust that the Bush Administration will treat suspects with an ounce of respect for law and common sense. And that’s a tall order.”Given the experience of the last few years, they have to be naive if they think that is going to reassure too many people,” said Malinowski.The five-page order claimed a respect for protections recognized under both American and international law. It added that confinement or interrogation conditions cannot include:
- Torture or other violent acts comparable to murder, mutilation, torture or inhuman treatment in their cruelty;
- Acts of personal abuse clearly done to degrade a suspect in a manner so heinous that any sane person would “deem the acts to be beyond the bounds of human decency.” This includes sexual degradation.
- Acts meant to belittle a suspect’s religion.
Bush’s order forbids suspects from contacting either family members or the International Committee of the Red Cross.The Supreme Court last year ruled that the Bush Administration must adhere to the Geneva Conventions like every other group in the civilized world. This destroyed the very basis for the CIA’s interrogation program.Last fall, Congress called on Bush to publish an executive order that would fulfill his part of the Military Commissions Act. The bill banned acts of rape, torture and various other war crimes which clearly violate the Geneva Conventions.It’s thought that 97 terror suspects have so far been detained by the CIA at secret locations around the globe, which many have taken to calling “black sites.”Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
