In his first public comments since the release of the Senate report on the CIA detention program, agency director John Brennan said that valuable information was obtained from detainees subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, but it remains “unknowable” whether conventional questioning alone could have led to the same intelligence gains. (AP)
I usually don't rant on this site. We all have
something that gets our panties in a wad so who wants to read other folks'
gripes?
Unless their rant makes you laugh.
This rant won't.
The above news column headline (& full article at end of this blog entry) has my panties in a wad. This is US history continuing to unravel, at it's usual worst, & in the making. Literally.
We are witnessing 1st hand the Demise of the Geneva Convention.
The Geneva Convention purpose was, per Wikipedia:
The Geneva Conventions was comprised of four treaties,
and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international
law for the humanitarian treatment
of war.
The Geneva Conventions are rules that apply in times of armed conflict and seek to protect people who are not or are no longer taking part in hostilities; these include the sick and wounded of armed forces on the field, wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians.
The Geneva Conventions are rules that apply in times of armed conflict and seek to protect people who are not or are no longer taking part in hostilities; these include the sick and wounded of armed forces on the field, wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians.
The first convention
dealt with the treatment of wounded and sick armed forces in the field.[10]The second convention dealt with the sick,
wounded, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea.[11][12] The third convention dealt with the
treatment of prisoners of war during times of conflict; the conflict in Vietnam
greatly contributed to this revision of the Geneva Convention.[13] The fourth convention dealt with the
treatment of civilians and their protection during wartime.[14]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions)
 |
| logo of International Criminal Court |
Grave breaches
Not all violations of the treaty are treated equally. The most serious crimes are termed grave breaches, and provide a legal definition of a war crime. Grave breaches of the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions include the following acts if committed against a person protected by the convention:
Not all violations of the treaty are treated equally. The most serious crimes are termed grave breaches, and provide a legal definition of a war crime. Grave breaches of the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions include the following acts if committed against a person protected by the convention:
- willful killing, torture or inhumane treatment, including biological experiments
- willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
- compelling a protected person to serve in the armed forces of a hostile power
- willfully depriving a protected person of the right to a fair trial if accused of a war crime.
- taking of hostages
- extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly
- unlawful deportation, transfer, or confinement.[27]
Nations who are party to these treaties must enact and enforce legislation penalizing any of these crimes.[28] Nations are also obligated to search for persons alleged to commit these crimes, or persons having ordered them to be committed, and to bring them to trial regardless of their nationality and regardless of the place where the crimes took place.
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I thought about posting my personal rant. But since I've worked with these guys, I know anything I say against me will be used in a court of law. So chew on this blog content for awhile your damn self & think about what this indicates.
In the meantime, I'm going to react to this news as a true Amerikan & go watch a movie.
YouTube video:
Article from WAPost
website:
Full WA Post article (print version) below, in case the above link is taken off line:
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CIA chief: ‘Unknowable’ whether ordinary interrogation would bring same intel gains
In his first public comments since the release of the Senate report on the CIA detention program, agency director John Brennan said that valuable information was obtained from detainees subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, but it remains “unknowable” whether conventional questioning alone could have led to the same intelligence gains. (AP)
By Ellen Nakashima and Brian Murphy December 11 at 2:33 PM
CIA Director John Brennan on Thursday moved to defend an agency battered by a devastating report released this week on the use of harsh interrogation techniques while acknowledging what he called “abhorrent” methods that were “outside of the bounds” of approved policy.
In rare televised remarks from the agency’s marble lobby before two dozen senior CIA leaders, Brennan said that valuable information was obtained from detainees subjected to the measures, which included waterboarding and “rectal rehydration.” But, he said, it remains “unknowable” whether conventional questioning alone could have yielded the same intelligence gains.
“Let me be clear,” he said in his first public comments since Tuesday’s release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA detention program. “The cause-and-effect relationship between the use of [harsh tactics] and useful information subsequently provided by the detainee is, in my view, unknowable.”
Brennan defended the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” as the “right” response at a time when the agency believed al-Qaeda was intent on preparing another wave of terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
He also acknowledged the agency made mistakes, saying its officers were “unprepared” to conduct such a program and in a “limited number” of cases used techniques that were not authorized and “rightly should be repudiated by all.”
He admitted the agency “fell short” in failing to hold some officers accountable for their mistakes. But he strongly denied that the agency had “repeatedly, systemically and intentionally” misled top U.S. officials about the program.
The 528-page document described in searing detail techniques aimed at obtaining information from several dozen detainees held in secret CIA prisons around the world. They included sleep deprivation, slams against cell walls, simulated drowning and stuffing detainees into coffin-sized boxes.
The Senate document, an executive summary of a still-classified report that exceeds 6,000 pages, concluded that such techniques were not effective in cases in which the CIA claimed otherwise, including in the hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
While he asserted that the efficacy of such tactics was unknowable, Brennan also continued to take issue with the Senate report’s central conclusion, saying it was “a point on which we disagree.”
“Detainees who were subjected to EITs at some point during the confinement subsequently provided information that our experts found to be useful and valuable in our counterterrorism efforts,” Brennan said, using the acronym for enhanced interrogation techniques. “For someone to say that there was no intelligence of value . . . that came from those detainees once they were subjected to EITs, I think . . . lacks any foundation at all.”
Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post. She focuses on issues relating to intelligence, technology and civil liberties.
Brian Murphy joined the Post after more than 20 years as a foreign
correspondent and bureau chief for the Associated Press in Europe and the
Middle East. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has written three
books.
Adam Goldman contributed
to this report.
