9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Appears In Guantanamo Courtroom

Colonel W. Shane Cohen of the Air Force announced on Friday that the trial for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other men is set for January 11, 2021

Washington Examiner: Justice delayed: 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed appears in Guantanamo courtroom as trial approaches

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will appear in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom this week, more than 18 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks he is alleged to have masterminded and a year before he will finally face a jury.

In the nearly two decades since 19 al Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center buildings, the side of the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people, the five men believed to be responsible have yet to face a trial.

The U.S. government alleges that the plotters carried out a criminal conspiracy in planning and executing the 9/11 plot, listing the names of all 2,977 victims killed on Sept. 11, 2001, in the 90-page 2011 charging sheet. The five, who were arraigned in 2012, were also charged with attacking civilians, hijacking, terrorism, violations of the rules of war, and more.

Mohammed, dubbed “KSM" and described as “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks” in the 9/11 Commission Report, was a close ally of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and will be on trial alongside Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ammar al Baluchi, and Mustafa al Hawsawi.

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WNU Editor: It is hard to believe that he is still alive and has not been tried for his hideous crimes. His trial is set for next year .... The Trial For Khalid Shaikh Mohammed And Four Other Men Responsible For 9/11 Is Set For January 11, 2021 (August 31, 2019). As for the media, they are more focused on this .... Architect of Interrogation Program Testifies at Guantánamo Bay (The New York Times). More here .... Architect of CIA’s Torture Program Testifies Just Yards From Accused 9/11 Plotter He Waterboarded (The Intercept).

President Trump: U.S. Defense Secretarty Mattis's View On Torture Will 'Override'

Washington Post: Trump says ‘torture’ works, but he’ll defer on decision over tactics to his defense secretary

President Trump said Friday that he continues to believe torture methods can be effective to combat terrorism, but he pledged to defer over whether to implement such tactics to Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who has opposed them.

“He will override,” Trump said in a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May at the White House. “I’m giving him that power.”

During his campaign, Trump had expressed support for enhanced interrogation techniques, in particular simulated drowning known as waterboarding, which was forbidden by the Obama administration. His vow to allow Mattis to set the direction for his administration on the issue came on a day when Trump planned to visit the Pentagon and sign new executive actions related to national security, including the fight against terror groups such as the Islamic State.

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More News On President Trumps Remarks That U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis's View On Torture Will 'Override'

Trump says he will defer to Defense Secretary Mattis on waterboarding -- Reuters
Trump vows to defer to Pentagon chief's opposition to torture -- AFP
Trump to Defer to Mattis on Keeping Torture Ban -- Military.com
Trump: Mattis's view on torture will 'override' -- The Hill
President Trump Says He'll Let Defense Secretary 'Override' Him on Torture Issue -- ABC News
Donald Trump says he will leave torture decision to General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis -- The Independent

Has President-elect Trump Just Reversed His Stand On Torture?

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (L) and Vice President-elect Mike Pence (R) greet retired Marine General James Mattis in Bedminster, New Jersey, U.S., November 19, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Business Insider: Marine General 'Mad Dog' Mattis got Trump to rethink his position on torture in under an hour

While on the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump often asserted that "torture works." But one meeting with legendary Marine Gen. James Mattis appears to have made him rethink that stance.

On Saturday, Trump met with the retired four-star general at the real-estate mogul's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course for about an hour to discuss the possibility Mattis could be tapped to serve as defense secretary.

Details about the private conversation are hard to come by, but Trump did reveal an interesting bit Tuesday to reporters at The New York Times when asked about waterboarding.

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WNU Editor: But what do you do with terror suspects where cigarettes and beers does not work?

More News On Reports That Suggest President-elect Trump Has Reversed His Stand On Torture

Did Mattis just talk Trump out of bringing back torture? (Washington Examiner)
In Stunning Reversal, Trump Scraps His Calls to Bring Back Torture (Foreign Policy)
Trump makes torture U-turn after ex-marine James Mattis says 'cigarettes and beer work better' (International Business Times)
Trump on waterboarding: Gen. Mattis might have talked me out of it (Hot Air)

Raw Video Of Sharyl Attkisson’s Interview With The Man Who Waterboarded 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

‘We Had to Do Our Duty’: Raw Video of Sharyl Attkisson’s Interview With the Man Who Waterboarded the 9/11 Mastermind -- Daily Signal

The man who waterboarded 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is standing by the CIA’s controversial enhanced interrogation program, saying the intelligence agency and its agents “had to do our duty.”

In an interview with Daily Signal senior independent contributor Sharyl Attkisson, James Mitchell, a former Air Force psychologist, shared his thoughts on the controversial Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program. Mitchell has faced threats since Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, released the report last week.

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Previous Post: The Architect Of The CIA's "Enhanced Interrogation" Program And The Man Who Personally Waterboarded Accused 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Speaks Out

My Comment: His comments on how they broke 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is interesting.

Were British Agents Present At Secret CIA Torture Sites?

Photo: Admission: Former US Air Force psychologist Dr James Mitchell

I Saw British Agents At Secret Torture Sites, Says Boss Of CIA's Brutal Interrogation Programme -- Daily Mail

* Dr James Mitchell was responsible for devising waterboarding methods
* Said: 'I would see (British) special operations people at sites I would visit'
* Comes as other allegations point to British knowledge of CIA programme
* MI6 agent who reported abuse by Americans was ordered not to intervene
* Lord West also said British agents could have been present during torture
* Report by Senate Intelligence Committee did not implicate MI5 or Secret Intelligence Service

The man at the centre of the CIA’s brutal interrogation regime has revealed British agents were present at torture sites around the world where detainees were questioned.

The admission by former US Air Force psychologist Dr James Mitchell comes after an explosive report by the Senate Intelligence Committee appeared to go to great lengths not to implicate MI5 or the Secret Intelligence Service in the torture programme.

Mitchell, 62, who went by the alias Grayson Swigert, not only personally carried out countless torture sessions including waterboarding, on detainees, but was also responsible for devising the methods used.

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More News On Reports That British Agents Were Present At Secret CIA Torture Sites

British spies may have been present at some CIA torture sessions, former security minister suggests -- The Telegraph
How mired in torture was Britain? As it emerges UK made 24 bids to suppress evidence, demands grow for judge-led inquiry into UK’s complicity -- Daily Mail
Downing Street admits: CIA torture report redacted at request of British spies -- The Telegraph
US hid UK links in CIA torture report at request of British spy agencies -- The Guardian
British intel asked for CIA torture report redactions, Downing St admits -- RT
British MPs want access to redacted parts of CIA torture report -- Al Arabiya/AFP
British MPs ask for redacted material in US Senate torture report -- Financial Times
British agents may have known of ‘odd case’ of CIA torture, says Lord West -- The Guardian
British torture inquiry ‘not afraid to embarrass PM’ -- The Guardian
Britain condemns torture, but it 'picks the fruit' -- The Independent

My Comment: I cannot help but sense that everyone in the U.S., the U.K., and elsewhere .... they are all now positioning themselves for this .... Explosive Senate torture report could open floodgates for costly lawsuits against United States, Britain and other allies complicit in programme, experts warn (Daily Mail)

The Architect Of The CIA's "Enhanced Interrogation" Program And The Man Who Personally Waterboarded Accused 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Speaks Out

Exclusive: Psychologist Not Named In Torture Report Confirms His Role in CIA Interrogation Program -- Jason Leopol, Vice News

A retired Air Force psychologist widely considered the architect of the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" program confirmed to VICE News today what has been an open secret for the past decade — that he was under contract to the agency after 9/11 and that he was "part" of the program.

Dr. James Mitchell has been identified in dozens of news reports and investigations conducted by Congress and human rights groups as being the central figure who devised the CIA's controversial enhanced interrogation techniques used on high-value detainees, which included waterboarding. But Mitchell has never been able to confirm the specific role he played in the top-secret program — and whether the allegations about him were accurate — because he signed a non-disclosure agreement with the CIA that prohibited him from discussing it. The CIA has also never confirmed his role in the program or declassified any aspect of his involvement.

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My Comment: Since the U.S. Senate CIA Torture report is now out the U.S. Senate/CIA should permit him to speak openly .... but I suspect that they are not going to give it to him. The above video is a fascinating and a must see.

Update: He is probably right .... CIA Enhanced Interrogation Program Architect Says Democrats Using Report to Gain More Control Over CIA (Washington Free Beacon)

U.S. Senate Releases Its CIA Torture Report (Full Coverage)

Senate Torture Report Condemns C.I.A. Interrogation Program -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — A scathing report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday found that the Central Intelligence Agency routinely misled the White House and Congress about the information it obtained from the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects, and that its methods were more brutal than the C.I.A. acknowledged either to Bush administration officials or to the public.

The long-delayed report, which took five years to produce and is based on more than six million internal agency documents, is a sweeping indictment of the C.I.A.'s operation and oversight of a program carried out by agency officials and contractors in secret prisons around the world in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It also provides a macabre accounting of some of the grisliest techniques that the C.I.A. used to torture and imprison terrorism suspects.

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More News On The U.S. Senate Releasing The CIA Torture Report (Full Coverage)

CIA interrogation report: The 20 key findings -- BBC
10 key findings from report on CIA interrogations -- AP
7 key facts about the Senate's CIA torture report -- USA Today
The 8 Most Important Excerpts From the CIA Torture Report -- Bloomberg
CIA mistreated detainees, misrepresented intelligence in interrogations, Senate probe finds -- AP
CIA deceived White House, public over 'brutal' interrogations: report -- Reuters
CIA Misled Bush, Congress on Interrogation Tactics, Report Finds -- Bloomberg
Senate report: CIA misled public on torture -- CNN
CIA Detainees Dragged Naked Down Corridors, Force-Fed Rectally -- Bloomberg
CIA torture report: CBS News coverage -- CBS
Torture Report Reveals CIA's 'Brutal' Interrogation Tactics -- ABC News
US Releases Report on CIA Interrogation Methods -- VOA
Report on CIA details 'brutal' post-9/11 interrogations -- BBC
US Senate report condemns CIA brutality -- Al Jazeera
Senate accuses CIA of torturing prisoners, overstepping legal boundaries -- RT
CIA Torture Methods ‘Far Worse’ Than Presented to Policy Makers: US Senate -- Sputnik
Senate Report: Harsh CIA tactics didn't work -- AP
CIA torture was ineffective, Senate report concludes -- USA Today
Senate Torture Report Shows C.I.A. Infighting Over Interrogation Program -- New York Times
CIA Sought to Sway Public by Leaking Secrets, Senate Report Says -- Bloomberg
Senate Report Disputes C.I.A. Claims on Hunt for Osama bin Laden -- NYT
Psychologists’ Firm Got $81 Million for CIA Work, Report Finds -- Bloomberg
C.I.A. Kept Bush Ill Informed on Interrogation Tactics, Torture Report Says -- New York Times
Obama Says Senate Report Vindicates His Ending of C.I.A. Program -- New York Times
A Timeline of the Interrogation Program -- Time

WNU Editor: The full U.S. Senate CIA Report is here.

U.S. Senate Torture Report To Be Released Tuesday. U.S. Beefs Up Security Abroad

Impending CIA Interrogation Report Creates Fear of Violence -- ABC News

U.S. embassies around the world are bracing for a potentially explosive report about to be released that details what the CIA did to terror suspects in the days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and the fear is that its release could threaten American lives.

The report, due to be released Tuesday by the Senate, is described as shocking in its very graphic descriptions of secret interrogations, including some details that have never been heard before.

All U.S. facilities around the world are being urged to review security and brace for the reaction, with concern particularly high in areas where there are hot spots, in the Middle East and North Africa.

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More News On The U.S. Senate Torture Report To Be Released Tuesday

White House confirms Senate torture report to be released Tuesday -- CBS
White House: CIA report due out Tuesday -- The Hill
US Government Prepares for Impact of Releasing CIA Torture Report -- VOA
White House: precautionary measures taken ahead of torture report -- Reuters
U.S. takes precautionary measures ahead of torture report release -- Chicago Tribune
U.S. military braces for release of CIA interrogation report -- Washington Post
U.S. beefing up security abroad ahead of interrogation report release -- Washington Post
U.S. military overseas on heightened alert in advance of CIA torture report -- UPI
Officials fear torture report could spark violence -- USA Today
Senate torture report ‘could lead to greater risk” at U.S. facilities worldwide, admits White House. -- New York Daily News
Is Waterboarding Torture? CIA Enhanced Interrogation Techniques Report May Fuel Attacks Against US -- IBTimes

Is President Obama 'Back-Tracking' On The Use Of Torture?

The Geneva plaza of the United Nations, whose treaty the White House is debating. Credit Denis Balibouse/Reuters

Obama Could Reaffirm a Bush-Era Reading of a Treaty on Torture -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — When the Bush administration revealed in 2005 that it was secretly interpreting a treaty ban on “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” as not applying to C.I.A. and military prisons overseas, Barack Obama, then a newly elected Democratic senator from Illinois, joined in a bipartisan protest.

Mr. Obama supported legislation to make it clear that American officials were legally barred from using cruelty anywhere in the world. And in a Senate speech, he said enacting such a statute “acknowledges and confirms existing obligations” under the treaty, the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

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My Comment: It looks like someone within the administration is not happy with where this discussion is going .... and leaked the news to the New York Times. I personally doubt that President Obama is going to reveres a position that he has been steadfast on for his entire political life .... but it is also clear that there is a debate right now within the administration to revisit this policy. But what I would like to know is .... why the debate now? What do they know that they are not telling us?

President Obama: After 9/11, 'We Tortured Some Folks'

Obama Says That After 9/11, 'We Tortured Some Folks -- Reuters

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday the CIA "tortured some folks" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that the White House had handed over to Congress a report about an investigation into "enhanced interrogation techniques."

"We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values," Obama told a White House news conference.

Obama's comment was a reaffirmation of his decision to ban the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding shortly after he took office in January 2009.

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More News On President Obama Admitting That The CIA Tortured Some Detainees After 9/11

Obama: "We tortured some folks" after 9/11 -- CBS/AP
Obama: US 'Tortured Some Folks' After 9/11 Attacks -- VOA
Obama: 'We tortured some folks' -- USA Today
Obama admits CIA 'tortured some folks' but stands by Brennan over spying -- The Guardian
Obama: Senate report will show ‘we tortured some folks’ -- Yahoo News
Obama: ‘We tortured some folks’ after 9/11 -- Washington Times
Obama on CIA’s post-9/11 tactics: ‘We tortured some folks’ -- RT
Obama 'Torture' Comments Reopen Debate -- WSJ
What Obama Meant When He Said “We Tortured Some Folks” -- David Weigel, Slate
Obama Says America Tortured, but That's Not Enough -- David Graham, The Atlantic
Ex-CIA lawyer defends interrogation program, as Obama says looming report will detail torture -- FOX News

My Comment: So .... one of the worse kept secrets is now public .... but is the "outcry" justified? My memories of 9/11 are very vivid .... I had to be in New York city on September 22, 2001 ... I still went .... and the memory of that smouldering ruin is still in my mind. After the attack my friends in Russia and China and everywhere else were badgering me every hour .... asking me questions such as .... what is going to happen, who did it, will there be more attacks, what is the U.S. going to do? I knew that the U.S. was going to respond .... everyone knew that .... but I told everyone that the Americans had "taken their gloves off" .... and it would be best to leave them alone but help them if requested.

"They had taken their gloves off" .... everyone knew what I meant by that. The U.S. was going to do everything in it's power to find the perpetrators of this crime .... and no one cared on how it was done.

Today .... we do care .... or at least some in power do. They will pontificate and look serious and say that this is not what America does .... but I do remember what happened after 9/11 .... and I can easily predict the following. If another 9/11 hits the U.S. .... or something worse .... President Obama will be the first one saying to everyone .... "We are taking our gloves off".

Amnesty International: Half The World Lives In Fear Of Torture

Amnesty: Torture Use 'Systematic' in Many Countries -- Voice of America

LONDON — Governments around the world are failing to keep the promises they made in the 1984 U.N. Convention on Torture, according to human rights group Amnesty International. Amnesty International says many countries are using torture systematically on a vast scale.

In his home city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Justine Ijeomah is known as 'Mr. Human Rights'.

In a region with high rates of poverty and crime, Ijeomah offers support to people arrested and held by authorities. He says many of the younger, poorer detainees suffer police brutality and torture.

He describes the torture police allegedly carried out on one detainee, accused of kidnapping.

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More News On Amnesty International's Report On Global Torture

Torture In 2014: 30 Years of Broken Promises -- Amnesty International
Global crisis on torture exposed by new worldwide campaign -- Amnesty International
Nearly half of people around world fear torture in custody: Amnesty -- Reuters
Amnesty International Says Torture Practices Widespread -- Radio Free Europe
Government backed torture is flourishing, says Amnesty -- EU Observer
Amnesty International report finds global torture 'flourishing' -- Voice of Russia
Amnesty: 141 countries still torture -- Al Jazeera
Amnesty: Torture is alive and flourishing -- Al Jazeera
China, North Korea Among Asia’s Worst Culprits for Torture: Report -- Radio Free Asia
Torture remains rampant in sub-Saharan Africa, Amnesty International declares -- Catholic Online
Torture is a ‘global crisis’ – but more than a third of people think it can be justified -- Journal.ie

U.S. Senate Panel Report: CIA Subjected Terror Suspects To Intgerrogations Not Approved By Washinghon

Senate Panel Finds CIA Illegally Interrogated Terror Suspects After Sept. 11 -- McClatchy News

WASHINGTON -- CIA officers subjected some terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11 attacks to interrogation methods that were not approved by either the Justice Department or their own headquarters, and illegally detained 26 of its 119 captives in CIA custody, the Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded in its still-secret report, McClatchy has learned.

The spy agency program’s reliance on brutal techniques – much more abusive than previously known – and its failure to gather valuable information from the detainees harmed the United States’ credibility, according to the committee’s findings in its scathing 6,300-page report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention program.

The agency also repeatedly misled the Justice Department while stymieing Congress’ and the White House’s efforts to oversee the secret and now-defunct program, McClatchy has learned.

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My Comment: Even though much of the US Senate's report on CIA torutre will be classified .... I will not be surprised if in the next few months details and information will be leaked to the press.

U.S. Senate Committee Votes To Declassify And Release To The Public Parts Of CIA Torture Report

Image: The logo of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is shown in the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia March 3, 2005. Reuters

Senate Votes To Make CIA Report Public -- Time

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted to lift a blackout on key parts of its report on the CIA’s controversial interrogation and detention program. “The report exposes brutality that stands in stark contrast to our values as a nation,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein

A Senate panel voted Thursday to declassify key aspects of a controversial report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation program during the George W. Bush Administration.

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report was written by its Democratic staff, and reportedly concludes that the CIA inflated the effectiveness of so-called “enhanced” interrogation and detention practices, misleading the Justice Department, Congress, and the public.

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More News On The U.S. Senate Committee Voting To Declassify And Release To The Public Parts Of CIA Torture Report

Senate panel votes to declassify report on CIA interrogations -- Reuters
Senate panel votes to release parts of CIA interrogation report -- FOX News/AP
Senate panel votes to release CIA interrogation report -- Washington Post
Senate Panel Votes to Declassify CIA Interrogation Report -- Wall Street Journal
Senate Panel Asks Obama to Release CIA Interrogation Methods -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Senate Panel Orders Release of CIA Torture Report -- Voice of America
US senators back release of CIA abuse details -- BBC
Senate panel votes to declassify part of CIA report -- USA Today
Panel Votes to Reveal How C.I.A. Interrogated -- New York Times
Senate Intelligence Committee votes to declassify CIA report -- CBS
Senators OK Report Exposing ‘Brutality’ of CIA Interrogation Program -- ABC News
Senate committee votes to declassify parts of CIA torture report -- The Guardian
Who's Who In Senate-CIA Report Showdown -- NPR
Declassify: The Importance of Releasing the CIA Torture Report -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

WNU Editor: Only the executive summary will be released .... and the White House has already agreed to this request .... but with redactions.

Update: CIA torture report to remain largely secret despite declassification vote -- Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian

Was President George Bush Kept In The Dark That The CIA Was Conducting Waterboarding On High Profile Terror Detainees?

Central Intellegence Agency (CIA) Acting General Counsel John Rizzo heads into a closed-door hearing with The House Select Intelligence Committee in the US Capitol 16 January 2008 in Washington, DC. (AFP Photo / Chip Somodevilla)

Former CIA Lawyer Says Bush Didn't Know About Waterboarding -- RT

Former United States President George W. Bush has defended the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques against accused terrorists, but a lawyer from his administration says the two-term leader wasn’t in the loop when it came to waterboarding.

John Rizzo worked as an attorney at the Central Intelligence Agency for 30 years, including a stint under then-President George W. Bush during the dawn of America’s war on terror. He recounts his experience with the CIA in a soon-to-be-released memoir, Company Man, and the New Yorker’s Steve Coll says in a book review published on Thursday this week that a preview copy contains accusations about Mr. Bush and his presidency’s torture program that have not been made before now.

According to Coll, Rizzo’s book contains allegations that Bush was absent from confidential national security meetings in 2002 and 2003 in which the president would have been briefed on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, or EITs.

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Update #1: Former top CIA lawyer John Rizzo: Bush didn’t know about torture -- Salon
Update #2: The C.I.A.’s Lawyer: Waterboarding and Memory -- The New Yorker

My Comment: President Bush has always defended the use of these interrogation techniques .... and even if he was not present in these meetings, I am sure that everyone who was present knew that if he was aware of it he would have signed off on it.

Did U.S. Military Doctors Torture Terror Suspects And Detainees?

A new report claims that medical doctors were used in the torture practices of terror suspects post-9/11 at the order of the CIA and Defense Department. (Photo: Reuters)

CIA Made Doctors Complicit in Torture After 9/11, Report Says -- Time

Doctors and psychologists were compelled to help torture detainees, report says

Health professionals working for the U.S. military were “improperly demanded” by the CIA and the Department of Defense to be involved in the design and administration of “harsh treatment and torture” of suspected terrorists since 9/11 at U.S. detention centers, a new report says.

A 19-strong panel of experts, convened by the Columbia University-based think tank Institute on Medicine as a Profession and the non-profit organization Open Society Foundations, spent over two years reviewing public records into the medical professions’ alleged complicity in the abuse of prisoners suspected of terrorism who were held in U.S. custody during the years after 9/11.

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More News On Reports That US Military Doctors Are Complicit In Torture At CIA And Military Prisons

Report raps doctors over roles in post-9/11 interrogations -- CNN
CIA made doctors torture suspected terrorists after 9/11, taskforce finds -- The Guardian
Doctors complicit in torture at CIA, military prisons, study claims -- AFP
US military doctors designed innovative new methods of torture under orders from the CIA and the Pentagon to be used at Guantanamo Bay -- Daily Mail
Doctors aided US torture at military prisons, report says -- BBC
'Big, striking horror:' US military doctors allowed torture of detainees, new study claims -- NBC
Report blasts 'unethical' US detainee policy post-9/11 -- Al Jazeera
Report: Military doctors have abused detainees, breached ethics -- Air Force Times
Report Outlines How the C.I.A. and Department of Defense Sidestep Medical Ethics -- The Atlantic
CIA, DoD had doctors torture detainees after 9/11 -- Salon
US military force-feeding violates medical ethics, says task force -- Verge

Did U.S. Special Forces Torture Afghan Civilians?

U.S. Army Special Forces in Kandahar ahead of a nighttime mission, February 2011. Photo: U.S. Army

Afghans Claim To Have Video Of U.S. Special Forces Guy Torturing Civilians -- Danger Room

Afghan officials say they’ve got video of a man overseeing the torture of Afghan civilians. Exactly who ordered the man to torture is a matter of fierce dispute — and also helps explain this year’s erosion of trust between Washington and Kabul.

Allegedly, there’s a videotape in Afghan government hands showing a man named Zakaria Kandahari presiding over the torture of an Afghan civilian who, along with 15 others, recently disappeared from Wardak Province. According to the New York Times, Kandahari, an American citizen, is “seen conducting” the torture session and “supervising” others.

But there is great disagreement over who Kandahari actually is. The Afghans say that Kandahari leads a U.S. Army Special Forces unit recently kicked out of Wardak over allegations of torture, disappearances and executions. The U.S. military command says unequivocally that Kandhari was an interpreter for the unit, not a leader; that he’s not actually an American; and that the unit was not involved in any torture.

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Update: Afghans Say an American Tortured Civilians -- New York Times

My Comment: This is a case that deserves a thorough investigation .... it also explains why U.S.-Afghan relations are poisonous at the moment.

Three Former Top Spies Endorse "Zero Dark Thirty's" Version Of Torture

Shock Endorsement: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Wins Raves From Top Spies -- Washington Examiner

In a surprising endorsement, three top former CIA officials Tuesday praised the controversial anti-terror film "Zero Dark Thirty," claiming that it properly showed that brutal interrogation worked in the early war against al Qaeda, despite administration claims.

What's more, the three, including a former CIA director and his top spy, said that without so-called "enhanced interrogation," which President Obama killed in his third day in office, the nation's security is at risk.

"I fear for the safety of our national security because of that," said Jose Rodriguez, a 31-year CIA veteran who headed the National Clandestine Service from 2004-2008.

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My Comment: Conventional wisdom has been saying the opposite .... but I will wager that years from now .... when the politics has changed ..... a re-evaluation on the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques will be done. And when that report is completed, it would not surprise me that a different conclusion and consensus will be reached.

Update: Top CIA Officials To Bigelow: Our Torture Boxes Were Bigger -- Business Insider

Sesame Street Music Used To Torture Detainees At Guantanamo Bay

 

Songs of War -- Al Jazeera 

We follow a Sesame Street composer as he learns how his music has been used to torture detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Award-winning musician Christopher Cerf has composed music for the famous children's television show Sesame Street for 40 years.

During this time, he has written more than 200 songs intended to help children learn how to read and write. But these innocent children's songs were abused for inhumane purposes.

 In 2003, it transpired that US intelligence services had tortured detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib with music from Sesame Street.

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My Comment: Listening to Sesame is bad enough .... but the real torture is being forced to listen to Barney.

US Intelligence Committee Approves The Report That Finds Harsh CIA Interrogations Are Ineffective

Report Finds Harsh CIA Interrogations Ineffective -- Washington Post

After a contentious closed-door vote, the Senate intelligence committee approved a long-awaited report Thursday concluding that harsh interrogation measures used by the CIA did not produce significant intelligence breakthroughs, officials said.

The 6,000-page document, which was not released to the public, was adopted by Democrats over the objections of most of the committee’s Republicans. The outcome reflects the level of partisan friction that continues to surround the CIA’s use of waterboarding and other severe interrogation techniques four years after they were banned.

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More News On The US Intelligence Committee Approving The Report That Finds Harsh CIA Interrogations Ineffective

Senate committee approves report on CIA interrogations, revives torture debate -- Reuters
Senate Panel Approves Findings Critical of Detainee Interrogations -- New York Times
Senate committee adopts interrogation techniques report -- CNN
Senate intel panel approves torture report -- The Hill
Report On CIA Interrogation Tactics Revives Torture Debate -- NPR
US Senate panel condemns CIA torture ?mistakes? -- AFP
Senate CIA Torture Report Adopted, Provides Factual, Comprehensive Review of U.S. Torture Program -- Human Rights First
Senate under pressure to release mammoth report on CIA interrogation -- The Guardian

My Comment: The authors of this report obviously did not see the movie "Zero Dark Thirty". As for the report itself .... Democrats voted for the report, and with the exception of Sen. John McCain who has always advocated that torture should not be use .... the Republicans voted against it. No bipartisanship on this issue.

Human Rights Watch Accuses The U.S. Of Additional CIA Renditions And Waterboardings

Waterboarding 'More Widespread Than CIA Will Admit' As New Torture Claims Emerge -- Daily Mail

* Human Rights Watch report challenges George W. Bush's claim that only three al Qaeda suspects were waterboarded
* Terror suspects allegedly not allowed to bathe for three months
* Opponents of Colonel Gadhafi said to have been handed to Libya with only 'thin assurances' they would not be tortured

Waterboarding at CIA-run prisons was more widespread than has been acknowledged, a damning human rights group report claimed today.

New details of brutal treatment by Bush-era interrogators included how terror suspects were not allowed to bathe for three months.

The report by Human Rights Watch also paints a more complete picture of Washington's close cooperation with the regime of Libya's former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

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More News On Libyan Reports That CIA "Waterboarding" More Widespread Than Thought

US: Torture and Rendition to Gaddafi’s Libya -- Human Rights Watch

Report: Libyans claim waterboarding, other CIA abuses -- CNN
Human rights group alleges U.S. waterboarded Gaddafi opponents -- Reuters
Libyan Alleges Waterboarding by C.I.A., Report Says -- New York Times
Evidence of US Waterboarding Discovered -- Voice of America
Evidence of wider US waterboarding, Human Rights Watch says -- New York Daily News
New Torture And Rendition Allegations Surface Against The U.S. -- NPR
Gadhafi's enemies tortured, HRW says -- UPI
New Report Alleges Bush-Era CIA Waterboarded At Least One Of Gaddafi's Enemies -- Business Insider
US waterboarded Libyan Islamists: report -- AFP
Human Rights Watch accuses US of covering up extent of waterboarding -- The Guardian