http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...031502724.html
If the article isn't to your liking, that is to say, if you don't like the information it's alleging, I'm sure you can wish it away with a magic wave and incantation of
liberal media bias then ceremonially stick your head in the sand. But that's only if you really can't stand what it says.
Basically, the International Red Cross filed a report in 2007 (reminder: this was the Bush Administration) which claimed that "the Bush administration's treatment of al-Qaeda captives "constituted torture," a finding that strongly implied that CIA interrogation methods violated international law" and details the kind of mistreatment and torture that is expressly forbidden by the Geneva Conventions.
Quote:
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The findings were based on an investigation by ICRC officials, who were granted exclusive access to the CIA's "high-value" detainees after they were transferred in 2006 to the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 14 detainees, who had been kept in isolation in CIA prisons overseas, gave remarkably uniform accounts of abuse that included beatings, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures and, in some cases, waterboarding, or simulating drowning.
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The obvious criticism is that the report relies frequently upon the words of detainees themselves, but and indicator of truth-value when conducting an interrogation (I was trained in military police interrogations) is getting consistent stories. Ideally the subjects are segregated to avoid consolidating stories. In CIA and military detention, segregation is standard operating procedure, so it seems that there is more reason to believe their stories than not. At the very least, it what is demonstrated is neglect and incompetence on the part of the Bush administration and its appointed CIA officials for not maintaining transparency.
One of the things that was instilled on me as a soldier was to treat detainees with respect regardless of their past actions and to avoid any mistreatment at all costs. This was so as not to give our enemies any excuse for mistreatment of our own soldiers, sailors and service members captured in future wars.
Not only is the Bush Administration responsible for its actions up to and through 2008, but it may also be responsible for the torture and mistreatment of my fellow comrades and friends who still serve (or my own daughter should she decide to one day serve) and who are captured in armed conflict.
Should Bush administration officials, including Bush, face any legal charges?