The problem the Obama Administration faces now is somewhat expected. Setting aside the $80 million believed to be needed to close Gitmo, the obvious dilemma the current administration faces in regard to the detainees was expected by me and I believe I have relayed that in earlier entries to this blog.
The Cheney 'intelligence' departmentS (Yes, that was plural. There is the FBI, military intelligence and the CIA as well as other 'autonomous' entities set up by local and state authorities such as the New York City 'task force' to track down terrorists before they strike. All these agencies have records and there is no way an investigation by the Obama Administration, Senate or House has revealed all that is known.) were 'dogged' by the Vice President, either directly or indirectly. We know that for a fact. It is well known and documented that the Vice President was chronically involved with 'sculpting' the 'methods' and 'secrecy' of information obtained and how it was obtained.
The 'task' at hand to discover 'the truth' of the 'workings' of the Bush/Cheney Adminisration will go on and as time goes by there is every reason to believe there will be more and more atrocities revealed. Currently, there are defense attorneys of the Gitmo detainees that feel comfortable making statements regarding other methods of torture used within Gitmo but still undisclosed. There is much to learn about Gitmo, but, extracting that information is going to be difficult to say the least. All those conducting such atrocities are more interested in protecting themselves than revealing 'the truth.'
I find it all too interesting to find Dickey Cheney at the head of the Republican assault against the Obama Presidency. He was the architect of this mess and it is he that is confident in speaking out while knowing the information needed to successfully prosecute detainees has disappeared along with the evidence of the torture.
The USA seems 'stuck' with the past eight years that successfully mars its reputation and methods of dealing 'humanely' with injustice and crime. That is the recklessness of the Republicans. They are power players and don't care about the decency of the USA. They have no regard for the law, except, what they can do to change the law to suit their purposes.
The Republicans bottom line is always to overwhelm the 'system' so that it has to bend to its purpose. They do it chronically in financial venues and they are doing it now to make an attack against Obama seem as though it has purpose. What the Republicans should be doing is joining with President Obama in disgust of the reality the detainees cannot be tried due to lack of evidence while they are dangerous people.
There is another reality no one is looking at and that is the fact 'war' has it own rules in 'detaining' POWs. I don't believe the detainees cannot be tried. I do believe they are POWs at this point and when the enemy is vanquished they will be disposed off according to the Geneva Conventions. Even the USA has sustained the POWs from past wars and when the war is over the POWs are returned to their native country now vanquished and cleansed of the enemy. I refuse to believe the detainees will be detainees forever.
The fact that this has 'lingered' for nearly eight years is part of the problem we face. The chronic detainment of these POWs are wearing on the American people no different than the wars themselves. There is only consolation at this point and that is the Iraq War is an unjust war that was engaged for its oil venues and not for any other purpose. That is more evident today than ever before. We need to move forward to end our occupation of Iraq and end the existance of al Qaeda and the power of The Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Only with that and the stability of the Pakistan-Afghan region will we finally be able to 'make peace' with the darkest eight years the USA has ever experienced.
Let the Bush/Cheney years of the USA be a lesson to the people of this country.
More errors in CIA interrogation briefing list
By PAMELA HESS – 19 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — New questions surfaced Wednesday about the accuracy of a CIA document meant to settle who in Congress knew about severe interrogation methods approved by the Bush administration.
Three new errors appeared to emerge in the CIA's matrix of 40 congressional briefings on so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. Those techniques include waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, which President Barack Obama has called torture.
The CIA acknowledged one of the errors but continued to stand by its version of events in the other two cases.
The briefing chart, widely leaked to the news media two weeks ago, was compiled by the CIA at the request of members of Congress after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed in April that the CIA failed to tell her at a September 2002 briefing that waterboarding had been used against a prisoner.
That briefing occurred within weeks of the waterboarding of terrorist suspect Abu Zubaydah. He was subjected to the procedure at least 83 times.
Pelosi has been a frequent target of criticism from Republicans who are eager to argue that Democrats knew about waterboarding and did little to stop it.
The CIA chart states that a Senate staffer, Chris Mellon, attended a briefing on July 15, 2004. However, Mellon told The Associated Press that he left the Senate in April 2004 and did not attend the briefing....
