Abu Zubaydah’s Torture Diary by Andy Worthington

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by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
16 March, 2010

To coincide with the publication of my article, “What Torture Is, and Why It’s Illegal and Not ‘Poor Judgment,’” in which I revisited the scandalous whitewash of the Justice Department report into the conduct of John Yoo and Jay Bybee (the lawyers who sought to redefine torture in the notorious “torture memos” of August 2002), I reproduce below a transcript of the statements made by the “high-value detainee” Abu Zubaydah during interviews with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, following his transfer to Guantánamo from secret CIA prisons in September 2006.

Torture Whitewash: How “Professional Misconduct” Became “Poor Judgment” in the OPR Report

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
23 February, 2010

The long-awaited report by the OPR (the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility) into the conduct of the lawyers in the OLC (Office of Legal Counsel), regarding their role in approving the use of torture, has finally been published (PDF).

The report largely focuses on two memos dated August 1, 2002, and a third dated March 14, 2003. Widely known as the “torture memos,” these notorious documents sought to redefine torture so that it could be used by the CIA (and by the US military in the March 2003 memo), and the report concludes that the primary author of the memos, John Yoo, an OLC lawyer who is now a law professor at Boalt Hall, the University of California’s School of Law in Berkeley, and the senior official who signed the August 2002 memos, Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee, who is now a judge in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, were guilty of “professional misconduct.”

Tortured Law + Proposed Appropriations Bill To Give Defense Department Authority To Suppress Torture Photos

Dandelion Salad

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

torturedlaw
October 07, 2009

Tortured Law, a new 10-minute documentary by Alliance for Justice, examines the role lawyers played in authorizing torture, and calls upon Attorney General Holder to Join those calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to release the report of the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, and hold accountable those who ordered, designed, and justified torture.

You can join the call by signing Alliance for Justice’s petition http://ga1.org/campaign/release_tortu…

Sign up to host a screening in your area: http://www.afj.org/films-and-programs…

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Tortured Law“, posted with vodpod

h/t: ICH

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Proposed Appropriations Bill To Give Defense Department Authority To Suppress Torture Photos (10/7/2009)

American Civil Liberties Union

Congressional Conferees Agree To Language Allowing Defense Department To Exempt Photos From Freedom Of Information Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (646) 206-8643 or (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org, or (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON – According to a conference summary, House and Senate conferees today approved language for the homeland security appropriations bill that, if passed, would grant the Department of Defense (DOD) the authority to continue suppressing photos depicting the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas. The language described in the summary appears to incorporate an amendment put forth by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) that would allow DOD to exempt the photos from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The photos were ordered released by a federal appeals court as part of an American Civil Liberties Union FOIA lawsuit.