By Cliff Montgomery – May 23rd, 2013
“A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we’re going to be successful. That’s the world these folks operate in, and so it’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective.”
The statement quoted above might seem to have fallen from the mouth of President Barack Obama today, as he spoke to reporters about his employment of unmanned drones for the purpose of killing individuals living overseas that he and his administration consider ‘dangerous’- all without the democratic procedures of legal oversight.
But the above statement is from September 16th, 2001 – the politician who said those words was none other than Vice President Dick Cheney. The Vice President was discussing the need for such procedures as ‘enhanced interrogation techniques,’ which likewise were executed without independent legal oversight.
The rationale of Obama and Cheney for their actions are startlingly similar: America is at war, we fight an enemy who possesses no moral scruples, the ordinary procedures of democracy and civil rights are too weak and unwieldy to combat such an immediate, horrid threat, our actions are just, because we save innocent lives.
Since both administrations employ the same rationale in their most peculiar war methods, it’s fair to deduce that the reality of the one will reveal the reality of the other.
Below, The American Spark offers quotes from a stunning report released earlier this year by The Open Society Justice Initiative, entitled Globalizing Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition. It may well be the most comprehensive study yet available on this pressing matter.
Readers may consider for themselves the justice of Obama and Cheney’s total war:
“Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) commenced a secret detention program under which suspected terrorists were held in CIA prisons, also known as ‘black sites,’ outside the United States, where they were subjected to ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ that involved torture and other abuse.
“At about the same time, the CIA gained expansive authority to engage in ‘extraordinary rendition,’ defined here as the transfer—without legal process—of a detainee to the custody of a foreign government for purposes of detention and interrogation.
“Both the secret detention program and the extraordinary rendition program were highly classified, conducted outside the United States, and designed to place detainee interrogations beyond the reach of the law. Torture was a hallmark of both.
“The two programs entailed the abduction and disappearance of detainees and their extra-legal transfer on secret flights to undisclosed locations around the world, followed by their incommunicado detention, interrogation, torture, and abuse.
“The administration of President George W. Bush embraced the ‘dark side,’ a new paradigm for countering terrorism with little regard for the constraints of domestic and international law.
“This report provides for the first time the number of known victims of secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations and the number of governments that were complicit.
“Based on credible public sources and information provided by reputable human rights organizations, this report is the most comprehensive catalogue of the treatment of 136 individuals reportedly subjected to these operations. There may be many more such individuals, but the total number will remain unknown until the United States and its partners make this information publicly available.
“By engaging in torture and other abuses associated with secret detention and extraordinary rendition, the U.S. government violated domestic and international law, thereby diminishing its moral standing and eroding support for its counter-terrorism efforts worldwide as these abuses came to light.
“By enlisting the participation of dozens of foreign governments in these violations, the United States further undermined long-standing human rights protections enshrined in international law—including, in particular, the norm against torture.
“Torture is not only illegal and immoral, but also ineffective for producing reliable intelligence. Indeed, numerous professional U.S. interrogators have confirmed that torture does not produce reliable intelligence, and that rapport-building techniques are far more effective at eliciting such intelligence.
“A telling example of the disastrous consequences of extraordinary rendition operations can be seen in the case of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, documented in this report. After being extraordinarily rendered by the United States to Egypt in 2002, al-Libi, under threat of torture at the hands of Egyptian officials, fabricated information relating to Iraq’s provision of chemical and biological weapons training to Al Qaeda. In 2003, then Secretary of State Colin Powell relied on this fabricated information in his speech to the United Nations that made the case for war against Iraq.
“Despite the scale of torture and other human rights violations associated with secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations, the United States and most of its partner governments have failed to conduct effective investigations into secret detention and extraordinary rendition. The U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into detainee abuse was limited to ill-treatment that went beyond what its Office of Legal Counsel had previously authorized, and concluded without bringing any criminal charges, despite ample evidence of CIA torture and abuse.
“Moreover, it appears that the Obama administration did not end extraordinary rendition, choosing to rely on anti-torture diplomatic assurances from recipient countries and post-transfer monitoring of detainee treatment.
“As demonstrated in the cases of Maher Arar, who was tortured in Syria, and Ahmed Agiza and Muhammed al- Zery, who were tortured in Egypt, diplomatic assurances and post-transfer monitoring are not effective safeguards against torture.
“Soon after taking office in 2009, President Obama did issue an executive order that disavowed torture, ordered the closure of secret CIA detention facilities, and established an inter-agency task force to review interrogation and transfer policies and issue recommendations on ‘the practices of transferring individuals to other nations.’ But the executive order did not repudiate extraordinary rendition, and was crafted to preserve the CIA’s authority to detain terrorist suspects on a short-term transitory basis prior to rendering them to another country for interrogation or trial.
“Moreover, the inter-agency task force report, which was issued in 2009, continues to be withheld from the public.
“The administration also continues to withhold documents relating to CIA Office of Inspector General investigations into extraordinary rendition and secret detention.
“In addition, recent reports of secret detention by or with the involvement of the CIA or other U.S. agencies remain a source of significant concern. These include reports of a secret prison in Somalia run with CIA involvement, secret Defense Department detention facilities in Afghanistan where detainees were abused, and the two-month long secret detention of a terrorist suspect aboard a U.S. Navy ship.
“There can be no doubt that in today’s world, inter-governmental cooperation is necessary for combating terrorism. But such cooperation must be effected in a manner that is consistent with the rule of law.
“As recognized in the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006, ‘effective counter-terrorism measures and the protection of human rights are not conflicting goals, but complementary and mutually reinforcing.’
“Consistent with this principle, it is incumbent on the United States and its partner governments to repudiate secret detention and extraordinary rendition, secure accountability for human rights violations associated with these operations, and ensure that future counter-terrorism operations do not violate human rights standards.”
