Disbar the Torture Lawyers

www.DisbarTortureLawyers.com

A VelvetRevolution.us campaign

Will Bunch responds

"The latest poor information on John Yoo," by Will Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News, 05/17/2009: ". . . Torture isn't like mass transit funding or filling a Supreme Court vacancy. It is something that is both unlawful and immoral and falls into those categories of things -- like racial discrimination or any kind of violence (which torture is) -- that are clearly beneath the core standards of the community. A newspaper that make such an overt (and unforced, and unnecessary) hire as John Yoo is normalizing torture to its readers and the world, stating that waterboarding and other violent interrogation tactics are just another one of those 'on one hand, on the other hand' kind of things. I find this torture normalization highly offensive, as do scores of other people who have written the Inquirer. . . ."

Lawrence Wilkerson re Cheney

"The Truth about Richard Bruce Cheney," TPMCafe, May 14, 2009.

Harold Jackson defends the indefensible

"Uproar over Inquirer's Yoo ignores opinion page purpose," by Harold Jackson, Philadelphia Inquirer, 05/17/2009.

Inquirer publisher Brian Tierney wanted Yoo

"Definitely not a 'knee-jerk liberal publication," by Will Bunch, Philly.com, 05/12/2009. "The New York Times, the so-called 'paper of record,' adds to the record of how torture architect John Yoo got that Inquirer column. . . ."

Gitmo prisoner abuse under Obama

"Little-Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama," by Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet, May 15, 2009. "The 'Black Shirts' of Guantanamo routinely terrorize prisoners, breaking bones, gouging eyes, squeezing testicles, and 'dousing' them with chemicals. . . ."

Inquirer editorial re torture

Editorial: "Descent into torture," Philadelphia Inquirer, 05/15/2009: "Just as harsh U.S. interrogation techniques were being discredited at a Senate hearing this week, the reported suicide of a former CIA detainee in Libya recalled one of the most spectacular and far-reaching failures of torture-like tactics. . . ."

"'Impolite' questions for Gen. Myers"

by Ray McGovern, Consortiumnews.com, May 13, 2009:

. . . While researching his book [The Torture Team], [Philippe] Sands, a very astute observer, emerged from a three-hour session with Myers convinced that Myers did not understand the implications of what was being done and was “confused” about the decisions that were taken.

Sands writes that when he described the interrogation techniques introduced and stressed that they were not in the manual but rather breached U.S. military guidelines, Myers became increasingly hesitant and troubled.

Author Sands came to the conclusion that Myers was “hoodwinked;” that “Haynes and Rumsfeld had been able to run rings around him.”

There is no doubt something to that. And the apparent absence of Myers from the infamous torture boutiques in the White House Situation Room, aimed at discerning which particular techniques might be most appropriate for which “high-value” detainees, tends to support an out-of-the-loop defense for Myers.

I imagine it should not be all that surprising, given the way general officers are promoted these days, that a vacuous mind like Myers’s could rise to the very pinnacle of our entire military establishment. Certainly, nothing Myers said or did Tuesday evening would contradict Sands’s assessment regarding naïveté.

My best guess is that it is a combination of dullness, cowardice and careerism that accounts for Myers’ behavior — then and now. And, with those attributes well in place, falling in with bad companions as Richard Myers did, can really do you in.

Myers still writes that he found Rumsfeld to be “an insightful and incisive leader;” the general seems to have been putty in Rumsfeld’s hands — one reason he was promoted, no doubt. . . .

John Yoo column in the Inquirer!

"Inquirer defends the indefensible: A monthly column by torture architect John Yoo," by Will Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News, May 11, 2009.

"Pushing for a public health care option"

PhillyBurbs.com: "Pushing for a public health care option," Bucks County Courier Times, May 10, 2009, by Jo Ciavaglia.

Is time really running out for prosecution?

truthout.org, "Prosecuting Torture: Is Time Really Running Out?" by Elizabeth de la Vega, May 10, 2009.

Impeach torture architect Bybee

Sign the petition at the Center for Constitutional Rights

Sen. Specter re presidential power

"Sen. Specter: Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs": NPR, April 27, 2009: "In The New York Review of Books, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) outlines his plan to restrain the executive branch."

NY Times editorial re Don Siegelman

Editorial, "The Siegelman Case," NYTimes.com, April 24, 2009: "Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent decision to drop all of the charges against Ted Stevens, the former Republican senator from Alaska, because of prosecutorial misconduct raises an important question: What about Don Siegelman? A bipartisan group of 75 former state attorneys general has written to Mr. Holder asking him to take a fresh look at the former Alabama governor’s case. He should do so right away. . . ."

For a Presidential Commission on Torture

Thomas R. Pickering and William S. Sessions, washingtonpost.com, March 23, 2009: "Moving Forward by Looking Back: Why a Presidential Commission on Torture Is Critical to America's Security."

Petition for Commission on Accountability

Sign the petition for a Commission on Accountability
We call on the President of the United States to establish an independent, non-partisan commission to examine and report publicly on torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees in the period since September 11, 2001. The commission, comparable in stature to the 9/11 Commission, should look into the facts and circumstances of such abuses, report on lessons learned, and recommend measures that would prevent any future abuses. We believe that the commission is necessary to reaffirm America ’s commitment to the Constitution, international treaty obligations, and human rights. The report issued by the commission will strengthen U.S. national security and help to re-establish America ’s standing in the world.

Co-Sponsors for CommissiononAccountability.org
Amnesty International USA
The Brennan Center for Justice
The Carter Center, Human Rights Program
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University, School of Law
Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, UC Davis
The Center for Victims of Torture
The Constitution Project
Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
International Center for Transitional Justice
International Justice Network
The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
National Institute of Military Justice
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The Open Society Institute
Physicians for Human Rights
The Rutherford Institute

"Obama open to prosecutions"

"Obama Open to Prosecutions in Interrogation Abuses," NYTimes.com, April 21, 2009: "President Obama on Tuesday left open the door to creating a bipartisan commission that would investigate the Bush administration’s use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects, and he did not rule out taking action against the lawyers who fashioned the legal guidelines for the interrogations."

2 prisoners waterboarded 266 times

"Waterboarding Used 266 Times on 2 Suspects," NYTimes.com, Scott Shane, April 19, 2009: "C.I.A. interrogators used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique that top Obama administration officials have described as illegal torture, 266 times on two key prisoners from Al Qaeda, far more than had been previously reported."

NY Times editorial: "The Torturers’ Manifesto"

Editorial -"The Torturers’ Manifesto," NYTimes.com, April 18, 2009: "After eight years without transparency or accountability, Mr. Obama promised the American people both. His decision to release these memos was another sign of his commitment to transparency. We are waiting to see an equal commitment to accountability."

Olbermann on torture accountability

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"Cowardice in the Time of Torture"

By Ray McGovern, Consortiumnews.com, April 5, 2009: "I used to take a certain pride by association with prominent Bronxites who have 'made it.' Cancel that for Attorney General Eric Holder and former Secretary of State Colin Powell."

Doha Debate on US Mideast policy

The Doha Debates » Qatar's forum for free speech in the Arab world: "A heated Doha Debate held at Georgetown University [March 25, 2009] in Washington, DC, signalled America was ready for change in the Middle East, with the audience voting in favour of a motion to 'get tough on Israel.'"

Obstruction of Justice

Truthdig - Reports - Obstruction of Justice: "The trial of Al-Arian is a cause célèbre in the Muslim world. A documentary film was made about the case in Europe. He has become the poster child for judicial abuse and persecution of Muslims in the United States by the Bush administration. The facts surrounding the trial and imprisonment of the former university professor have severely tarnished the integrity of the American judicial system...."

"The silence surrounding Sri Lanka"

"The silence surrounding Sri Lanka," by Arundhati Roy, Boston Globe, March 31, 2009. "The horror that is unfolding in Sri Lanka becomes possible because of the silence that surrounds it."

"Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots"

"Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots: Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say," by Peter Finn and Joby Warrick, washingtonpost.com, March 29, 2009.