US Government Documents: Proof of "Ghost Detention", Torture, Death

Last night we closed an update with a note that CNN had just reported on hundreds of pages of documents obtained by Amnesty International USA, New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Center for Constitutional Rights — which established that the Pentagon sought loopholes in the Geneva Conventions to hide “ghost detainees”. They also confirmed that the Bush Administration delayed the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees to avoid negative publicity.

This morning the American Civil Liberties Union has released two pages from a Department of Defense document concerning the death of two detainees at Camp Bagram in Afghanistan:

"In both cases, for example, [prisoners] were handcuffed to fixed objects above their heads in order to keep them awake. Additionally, interrogations in both incidents involved the use of physical violence, including kicking, beating, and the use of "compliance blows" which involved striking the [prisoners] legs with the [interrogators] knees. In both cases, blunt force trauma to the legs was implicated in the deaths. In one case, a pulmonary embolism developed as a consequence of the blunt force trauma, and in the other case pre-existing coronary artery disease was complicated by the blunt force trauma.

Seven years after the Bush Administration effectively set aside the Geneva Conventions, declaring they were not relevant to US detentions from Guantanamo Bay to Camp Bagram to CIA "black sites" in North Africa and Eastern Europe, five years after Abu Ghraib, here are the documents establishing not only that detainees were tortured and, yes, murdered. Here is the evidence that US Government officials sanctioned the renditions and "enhanced interrogations" and that they were willing to lie to cover up the programme they had authorised.

It was with a sense of expectation that I have just turned to the headlines in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London. And here is what I found: nothing. I cannot find the story in any "mainstream" US or British newspaper this morning.

Full credit to CNN. And full credit to Harper's, Mother Jones and The Raw Story because, without outlets such as these, "ghost detainees" --- and what happens to them --- would remain, well, ghosts.

Mr. Obama's World: Alerts in US Foreign Policy (12 February)

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9:30 p.m. A relatively quiet foreign policy day, as domestic politics --- notably Republican Judd Gregg's withdrawal from his nomination as Commerce Secretary because of "irreconcilable policy differences" with President Obama --- occupy Washington.

One emerging story is a lawsuit by three human rights organisations --- Amnesty International USA, New York University's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Center for Constitutional Rights --- claiming that the Pentagon sought loopholes in the Geneva Conventions to hide "ghost deatinees" and that the Bush Administration delayed the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees to avoid negative publicity. We'll have more on this tomorrow.



4:30 p.m. We're off the clock for awhile on emergency business (dinner and a movie). Back with an Evening Update.

2:20 p.m. Eight Iraqi pilgrims have been killed and 18 wounded by a bomb less than 1/2 mile from the Imam Hussein Mosque in Karbala.

1:40 p.m. A couple of items of note from US envoy Richard Holbrooke's trip to Pakistan. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who met Holbrooke earlier today (see 6:45 a.m.), has issued a co-operative statement: ""There's a change in [US] approach towards Pakistan. They do give importance to the people of Pakistan and their emotions and that's the feeling that I got from today's meeting."

It is now being reported, as we projected in a separate entry, that Holbrooke and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will head a joint committee "improving intelligence sharing and strengthen security".

12 noon. Further violence in Iraq today. A car bomb in Mosul has killed four policemen and wounded five. Two senior Sunni politicians have been killed by gunmen in Mosul, and a former army officer has been killed in Khaldiya.

10:15 a.m.Of course, today's statement by Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, admitting that "some part of the conspiracy" behind December's attacks in Mumbai was planned in Pakistan, has nothing to do whatsoever with the visit of US envoy Richard Holbrooke.

Morning Updates (6:45 a.m. GMT; 1:45 a.m. Washington): Quiet start this morning, after yesterday was dominated by news of bombings and violences in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will name Stephen Bosworth, the Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as US envoy to North Korea. The move, accompanying yesterday's confirmation that a US delegation will attend the six-party talks in Moscow on North Korea next week, signals the Obama Administration's diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang. It is a far cry from the George W. Bush Administration, which shut down talks with North Korea soon after taking office in 2001.

In Pakistan, US envoy Richard Holbrooke has met former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. No details on the conversation, but it is a signal of a change in American strategy, reaching out to politicians that had not been favoured by the Bush Administration. Sharif was sent into exile by General Pervez Musharraf and only returned to Pakistan with the strong backing of Saudi Arabia. He had been seen by Washington as too sympathetic to "conservative" elements in Pakistan, both religious and political, to be an alternative to President Zardari.

The Latest on Israel-Gaza-Palestine (12 February)

9:35 p.m. A member of the Hamas negotiating team in Cairo says a cease-fire agreement with Israel will be announced within 72 hours. Israeli officials have offered no comment on the claim.

9:30 p.m. Evening Update: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend an international donors' conference for Gaza next month in Cairo. Gheit met Clinton in Washington to urge a more "even-handed approach" to Israel and Palestine than that shown by the Bush Administration.

12:30 p.m. Interesting and little-noticed development in Cairo. High-ranking Fatah officials met the Hamas delegation on Tuesday, raising the possibility of a reconciliation. Hamas had earlier said that it would not attend a 22 February meeting in Cairo to discuss Palestinian unity, but Fatah's Azzam el-Ahmed says that the Gazan leadership is now considering attendance.



10:30 a.m. I Heart You from Tel Aviv: "Israel temporarily eased its blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday to allow Palestinian flower growers to export 25,000 blooms to Europe ahead of Valentine's Day."

Morning Update (8 a.m. GMT; 10 a.m. Israel/Palestine): No significant movement overnight on either the formation of the new Israeli Government or the Israel-Gaza cease-fire talks. There could be some development in Cairo today, at least in Hamas' position, as its delegation is meeting Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

Washington, after the high profile of the George Mitchell mission, is standing well back at the moment. Its token move yesterday was to welcome an Egyptian confernce on aid for Gaza, which will not take place until 2 March. Still, the US Government can't let go of its "Mahmoud Abbas Good, Hamas Bad" political approach: the US hopes the conference will "support the Palestinian Authority's plan for the reconstruction of Gaza as an integral part of a future Palestinian state".

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Forces have carried out an airstrike against a target in southern Gaza.

US Engagement with Iran: Transcript of President Ahmadinejad's Speech

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Update: During a trip to Iraq on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, ""We look positively on the slogan that Obama raised in the elections. The world has really changed. If the American administration wants to keep up with the changes, this will be happy news."

This is the transcript of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech on Tuesday at Tehran's Freedom Square, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. The translation is provided by the US Government's Open Source Center via Juan Cole:

In the name of God, the Compassionate the Merciful. O God, hasten the reappearance of the Hidden Imam and grant him health and victory and make us his true companions and believers and those who testify to his rightfulness. . .

The new US government has announced that it wants to create change and follow the path of talks. It's very clear that true change should be fundamental and not tactical. It's clear that the Iranian nation will welcome genuine changes.


The Iranian nation is prepared to talk. However, these talks should be held in a fair atmosphere in which there is mutual respect.

They have said that they want to fight terrorism. The Iranian nation has been fighting terrorism for the past 30 years. If you truly want to fight terrorism come and cooperate with the Iranian nation, which is the main victim of terrorism, so that terrorism is uprooted. We can give you the addresses of terrorist dens in some European countries, the lands occupied by the Al-Quds occupying regime (Israel) and some other countries which in fact have good relations with you. Of course, we think that it's very unlikely that you don't have this information. If you want to dry the roots of aggression and murder, let's put those behind the recent wars in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, on trial and sentence them together. Everyone knows that Saddam (Husayn) was not the only person who caused the wars. Since the attack by Mr Bush's government some one million people have been killed and a few million people have been displaced. In order to uproot insecurity, those behind these killings including Mr Bush, his allies and government, have to be put on trial and sentenced. (Chants of indistinct slogans from the masses in support of the president's comments)

If you want to uproot crime, join the Iranian nation and other nations and let's put the criminal leaders of the Zionist regime on trial and sentence them together (chants of indistinct slogans from the masses).

If you want to genuinely fight against the proliferation of atomic weapons and weapons of mass destruction, you have to join Iran and help it so that it can show you the right way. Yes, atomic weapons and weapons of mass destruction are a serious threat. They have to be destroyed. The Iranian nation is the victim of chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction.

However, the only way (to counter them) is to implement justice and suitable planning. It's clear that the measures which have been taken up until now to destroy atomic weapons have been ineffective. If they are interested in destroying these weapons and if they genuinely want the world to become a peaceful place, they must resort to rational and just methods.

We told them that their behavior in Iraq was wrong but they didn't listen. As a result, these atrocities occurred and Mr Bush's government was humiliated. If they truly want to establish genuine security, let's reform the fundamentals of the UN's structure, which is the source of oppression and discrimination and is incapable of establishing security, together and establish justice there.

If you genuinely intend to uproot drugs, you should ask the Iranian nation, which has sacrificed more than 3,300 martyrs in its fight against drug smuggling. Of course, this development is in need of fundamental changes to their approach and behavior.

We hope that this happens. The world is not interested in the repetition of the dark ages created by Mr Bush. We don't even want the American nation to be humiliated and have a bad reputation. I believe that the fate of Mr Bush, who has the worst reputation in our contemporary history, should be a lesson to all of those who wish to dominate the world and impose themselves on other nations. Of course, some try to repeat that experience but in another shape, they must know that a fate worse than that of Mr Bush awaits them (chants of indistinct slogans).

The Iranian nation is the friend of regional nations and governments. Even though Iran is a great power, it is the brother of other nations, especially those in the region. Praise be to God, today the Iranian nation has brotherly and friendly relations with other regional nations.

The enemies don't like us to have such relations. They are determined to put some of the region's governments against other nations by imposing certain measures and behavior and humiliate and belittle them in the minds of other nations and make them an accomplice in their crimes. I would like to give them this friendly and brotherly advice and that is that some of them made the same mistake during the first decade of the revolution when Saddam was carrying out atrocities against the Iranian nation.

Then they regretted it. Of course, the Iranian nation was gracious and never showed off to them. As a brother, I would like to say to them that it's to their advantage to be careful of satanic temptations and those created by the Zionists and imperialistic governments. It's in your interest to support your own people. The Iranian nation is by your side and supports you. You have to be in the service of your own people. You should have been by the side of your people during the Gaza incidents....

Failing the Torture Test? Obama Blocks Judicial Review of Bush Rendition Policy

Update: Irony Alert. State Department's DipNotes says, "Acting Spokesman [Robert] Wood states that with this President and this Secretary, human rights is a high priority issue."

As we debated on Enduring America whether President Obama was going to make a meaningful change to the Bush Administration's rendition policy, preventing the despatch of detainees to countries where they might be tortured or denied legal rights, I was waiting for developments in a court case in San Francisco. Five plaintiffs were suing a subsidiary of Boeing, Jeppesen, which carried out rendition flights.

Well, the news is now out that the President's men want to keep the matter behind closed doors:

A source inside of the Ninth U.S. District Court tells ABC News that a representative of the Justice Department stood up to say that its position hasn't changed, that new administration stands behind arguments that previous administration made, with no ambiguity at all. The DOJ lawyer said the entire subject matter remains a state secret.

An American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represented the plaintiffs reacted:

We are shocked and deeply disappointed that the Justice Department has chosen to continue the Bush administration’s practice of dodging judicial scrutiny of extraordinary rendition and torture. This was an opportunity for the new administration to act on its condemnation of torture and rendition, but instead it has chosen to stay the course. Now we must hope that the court will assert its independence by rejecting the government’s false claims of state secrets and allowing the victims of torture and rendition their day in court.

Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Sullivan offer damning indictments of the Obama Administration and the Justice Department, while a New York Times article confirms the original leak of the Government's position.