Today’s report that the CIA possesses videotapes of interrogations of alleged 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh in a secret prison in Morocco is renewing attention to the government’s abusive interrogations practiced in secret prisons around the world as part of its “war on terror.” But U.S. officials are already saying that the tapes, which have not been publicly released, don’t actually show any abuse.

A good amount of documentation on the involvement of psychologists in the torture and abuse of detainees or “terror suspects.” And, a new study provides even more revelations on the involvement of physicians making it increasingly clear that medical professionals put limits on ethical standards they were expected to follow in order to help the CIA interrogate detainees

I decided to see if The New York Times is following its own policy for describing interrogations.

The normalization of torture continued apace yesterday as the criminal President Bush said in a speech in Grand Rapids, MI that if he had it all to do over again he would still order the waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. That’s right this unindicted war criminal still thinks that ordering this crime, which produced no actionable intelligence was not only the legal thing to do but the right thing.

Lest we let time wash away our memories KSM was waterboarded 183 times in the course of one month. That is an average of five times a day that they tortured this man and exactly nothing came of it. Sure we got some BS that banks and malls might be attacked, but there were not operations to do that, just the desire on the part of the tortured to say anything, everything to make it stop.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

Below is a fictionalized first person account I wrote a couple of years ago, to give everyone a glimpse into what waterboarding is like. I am re-posting it. Warning – To those who have been tortured, this account can be triggering, please read only if you are sure you will not be thrown back to that time.

Liz Cheney and her father discuss what to do with false profits…

Liz Cheney seems to be lashing out in an attempt to distract from the real issue of the Department of Justice investigation.

Over the past month, former Vice President Dick Cheney, torture memo author John Yoo and ex-Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen said waterboarding is a safe interrogation method, with Thiessen going so far as to say it’s sanctioned by the Catholic Church. But a never before released DOD memo said the torture method leaves psychological damage and is unsafe. Moreover, there’s been a serious campaign within the SERE community to ban waterboarding from the one Navy school where it is still used.

Blue Texan earlier noted Maddow’s busting of Cheney’s “waterboarding works” myth. She and her crew go on to bust two more: that the GOP is interested in governance of civil society by civil society; and that being born with a handicap is god’s vengeance for aborting first born of any kind. When politicians stop making sense, what are they making instead? Myths!

On the contrary – The OPR report is only the beginning of a long fight.

Happy Monday and welcome to my on-going campaign for torture accountability. The purpose of this series is to keep the issue of accountability under the law for torture alive. To do this every Monday I write a letter to one of the decision to makers who could move the issue of torture accountability forward. You get involved by sending your own letter, you can use the one I write, just pasted over your signature, or you can write your own. The point is to have some notice given that not everyone has forgotten about the issue of torture war crimes in the glare of HCR and the new season of American Idol.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

This week we are going to write to the Attorney General, as he is the single person that can really get the ball rolling with full-scale investigations. There will be copies to the President, the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader of the Senate, Judiciary Chairs Leahy and Conyers and ranking Judiciary Committee Member Rep. Jerry Nadler.

This week’s letter:

Dear Attorney General Holder;

I write you this week to ask a simple question; doesn’t it make you angry that you are being made a patsy by war criminals?

I know that is rather blunt, but I have to assume it is what you feel in your heart. The man you were when you went to law school, the man who decided to spend his life in service of the law must be howling with rage at the box in which you now find yourself.

Make no mistake, you have been put in a box. It is crystal clear from the testimony, under oath, of former Bush Administration officials that there was a conspiracy to circumvent the laws on torture and find a justification to use waterboarding on prisoners of the United States. The conspiracy was completed when Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheik Mohamed were waterbaorded 83 times and 183 times respectively.