"Letters Give C.I.A. Tactics a Legal Rationale"…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 12:26 PM Permalink

…sez the headline from this article in the NYT. Big Brother just got a big boost in the favored means to extract information from prisoners that may have knowledge of a future 'terrorist attack.'

Excerpt:

The Justice Department has told Congress that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law.[…]

“The fact that an act is undertaken to prevent a threatened terrorist attack, rather than for the purpose of humiliation or abuse, would be relevant to a reasonable observer in measuring the outrageousness of the act,” said Brian A. Benczkowski, a deputy assistant attorney general, in the letter, which had not previously been made public.[…]

If the United States used subjective standards in applying its interrogation rules, he said, then potential enemies might adopt different standards of treatment for American detainees based on an officer’s rank or other factors.

“The cumulative effect in my interpretation is to put American troops at risk,” Mr. Wyden said.

Aw, c'mon people! Under these terms any one of us could be snatched off the street and tortured just because your next door neighbor is tired of your barking dog and calls in a report that you are engaged in 'terrorist activity.'

This is an open order allowing the torture of anyone as long as they are tortured in the name of national defense. Everyone 'may' be presumed to pose a threat and thus be subjected to torture. This means ALL of us are prospective torture victims.

Big Brother is not only here, he has unpacked his bags, taken residence in the home of the bush/cheney torture rooms, and awaits his first victim to apply state approved torture, secretly, without benefit of habeas corpus, no attorneys, and the whereabouts of the suspected terrorist unknown to the victim's family.

When will we bring back coliseums, sell tickets, and start feeding terrorists to the lions if they won't talk? Might as well have Roman-style entertainment to enjoy while Caesar bush cheers on the lions. Entertainment for the masses.

And soon, the end of empire.

Pity our poor troops that will face having to endure inhumane torture because of this policy for it is they who pay the price of bad leadership.

Labels: Bush, bush as chimp, bush war doctrine, cheney, cheney secrecy, CIA, civil liberties, civil rights, conspiracy, corruption, disinformation, hypocrisy, inhumane cruelty., military industrial complex