War Handwavium

First, the background from Glenn Greenwald:

Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen and British resident, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and then “rendered” by the U.S. to multiple countries (such as Morocco); held incommunicado (no access to lawyers, the International Red Cross or anyone else) and interrogated by U.S. agents until 2004; and then shipped off to Guantanamo, where he has remained ever since.

In May, 2008, Mohamed was accused in a Guantanamo military commission with various acts of Terrorism that carry the death penalty if he’s convicted. The key evidence against him are the confessions the U.S. obtained during that 2002-2004 time period. After charging him, the U.S. Government refused to provide his lawyers with documents and other evidence that would enable Mohamed to prove that those confessions were obtained via torture.

Both the Bush administration and the Obama administration leaned on the British government to stop the publication of documents that showed the US tortured Mohamed. Right wingers claimed that releasing this information would result in fire and brimstone falling from the sky, cats and dogs sleeping together, the end of the world as we know it.

But on 10 February 2010, the British courts ruled the documents must be released, that the fact that the US tortured Mohamed must be made public.

Now, I grant you that it’s only been a week, but it would appear that the world hasn’t come to an end. Though, my cat and my dog have been getting along better than usual.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/19/exceptionalism/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/law-binyam-mohamed-case

In January, Obama supported the release of photos showing Americans torturing prisoners. By May, Obama had reversed his position, signing into law a specific exemption preventing the photos from being made public. In November, a US court overturned a lower court’s decision to release the photos, saying the new law needed to be taken into account.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/principles-by-digby-what-is-lesson-here.html

The American military base in Bagram Afghanistan has a prison that some call Guantanamo’s evil twin. While America is busy making the motions about shutting down the prison in Guantanamo, it’s expanding the prison in Bagram. And people who have been held in Bagram say they were tortured. Meanwhile the US military refuses even to release a list of names of the prisoners it is holding there, let alone allow them lawyers or due process.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/11/20091115114337109563.html

In 2002, a Canadian named Maher Arar was detained by US officials while traveling through JFK airport, accused of being a terrorist, held for two weeks without access to a lawyer or anyone on the outside, then shipped off to Syria where he was tortured for 10 months.

Arar was completely innocent and had no connections to terrorism.

The Canadian government did a full investigation, realized Arar was innocent, publicly disclosd a report of what happened and what went wrong, publicly apologized to Arar, and paid Arer a $9 million dollar settlement.

In contrast, the US government has never admitted doing anything wrong, has never publicly acknowledged what it did, and has repeatedly taken steps to muzzle any attempts to get the US Courts to look at what happened to Arar.

Yesterday the US Courts dismissed Arar’s case entirely, saying that even if the government did violate Arar’s constitutional rights, Arar had no right to sue.

It’s all handwavium, pure and simple. Bury the truth so long as any of the wrongdoers are still alive.

This year, 2009, Obama publicly acknowledged and apologized for the US involvement in Operation Ajax, the 1953 CIA operation to overthrow the democratic government of Iran and install a puppet dictator in the form of the Shah. From 1953 until 2008, the US government had never publicly acknowledged its role in the overthrow of a democratic Iran. For 56 years, the US went about its business in denial.

Obama’s apology to the world was a victory for truth, but it didn’t cost Obama or the administration very much. None of them had been involved in the 1953 operation. None of them were guilty. None of them were culpable. Obama was admitting the guilt of people who were dead, not of something he had done himself.

Apologizing for someone else is only slightly less cowardly than not apologizing at all. True courage, true integrity, would come from a person apologizing for something they themselves had done wrong.

But it seems that 56 years isn’t all that unusual for Americans to come to terms with its actions.

In the 1940′s, America put Americans of Japanese decent into internment camps, a massive failing of justice and liberty. It wasn’t until the mid 1980′s when the US government acknoweldged the wrongness and injustice of its actions, long after the wrongdoers themselves were dead, long after many of the people who had suffered the injustice were dead too. It took 40 years for the US government to apologize and recompense the remaining survivors and the heirs of those who had been imprisoned for the misdeeds of the previous administrations.

Reparations for slavery have never been made, a century after slavery was abolished in America.

So, it seems that 50 years isn’t too unusual of a waiting period for the US government to acknowledge the truth of its actions, apologize to its victims (or the heirs of its victims) for its misdeeds, and compensate its victims (or the heirs of its victims) in some way.

In Maher Arar’s case, Arar was tortured in 2002. That would mean that whatever form of the US government is around in 2052 might finally apologize for what it did to Arar. Arar was born in 1970, so he would be 82 years old if he’s still alive at that point. But the people who tortured him, who ordered his torture, who approved the programs that allowed his torture, they’ll most likely all have died of old age by then. The US Court that ruled that Arar cannot sue, they will all by dead by 2052.

Arar will likely be dead by then too, and whoever is president in 2052 may not even be born yet.

But what sort of “justice” is it if the heirs of the guilty are the only ones who can apologize to the heirs of the victims?

Can there be no justice now? Can Obama not fight for justice today? Or must we wait until all the wrong-doers are dead before the truth can be spoken about what they did?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/11/03/arar/index.html

A Harvard University study found that the more someone is tortured, the more other people perceive that person as guilty.

This sounds like the flip side of the Ingram Experiment.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026152818.htm

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/20/terrorism/index.html

A 2004 Department of Defense report on what causes terrorism. Hint, they don’t hate us for our freedom, they hate us for bombing and invading their countries and for supporting Israel no matter what.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/20/terrorism/index.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/18/rohde/index.html

A “New York Times” reporter who had been held hostage by the Taliban for seven months reports the source of the Taliban’s hatred for the US. Hint, they don’t hate us for our freedom, they hate us for bombing and invading their countries and for supporting Israel no matter what.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/17/mohamed/index.html

The British High Court ruled that the torture suffered by British citizen Binyam Mohamed at the hands of the CIA are to be publicly disclosed.

Less than a year into his presidency, Obama has won the Nobel peace prize.

This same day, Glenn Greenwald notes the accomplishments that Obama has achieved in those few months:

In February, the Obama DOJ went to court to block victims of rendition and torture from having a day in court, adopting in full the Bush argument that whatever was done to the victims is a “state secret” and national security would be harmed if the case proceeded. The following week, the Obama DOJ invoked the same “secrecy” argument to insist that victims of illegal warrantless eavesdropping must be barred from a day in court, and when the Obama administration lost that argument, they engaged in a series of extraordinary manuevers to avoid complying with the court’s order that the case proceed, to the point where the GOP-appointed federal judge threatened the Government with sanctions for noncompliance. Two weeks later, “the Obama administration, siding with former President George W. Bush, [tried] to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be millions of missing White House e-mails.”

In April, the Obama DOJ, in order to demand dismissal of a lawsuit brought against Bush officials for illegal spying on Americans, not only invoked the Bush/Cheney “state secrets” theory, but also invented a brand new “sovereign immunity” claim to insist Bush officials are immune from consequences for illegal domestic spying. The same month — in the case brought by torture victims — an appeals court ruled against the Obama DOJ on its “secrecy” claims, yet the administration vowed to keep appealing to prevent any judicial review of the interrogation program. In responses to these abuses, a handful of Democratic legislators re-introduced Bush-era legislation to restrict the President from asserting “state secrets” claims to dismiss lawsuits, but it stalled in Congress all year. At the end of April and then again in August, the administration did respond to a FOIA lawsuit seeking the release of torture documents by releasing some of those documents, emphasizing that they had no choice in light of clear legal requirements.

In May, after the British High Court ruled that a torture victim had the right to obtain evidence in the possession of British intelligence agencies documeting the CIA’s abuse of him, the Obama administration threatened that it would cut off intelligence-sharing with Britain if the court revealed those facts, causing the court to conceal them. Also in May, Obama announced he had changed his mind and would fight– rather than comply with — two separate, unanimous court orders compelling the disclosure of Bush-era torture photos, and weeks later, vowed he would do anything (including issue an Executive Order or support a new FISA exemption) to prevent disclosure of those photos in the event he lost yet again, this time in the Supreme Court. In June, the administration “objected to the release of certain Bush-era documents that detail the videotaped interrogations of CIA detainees at secret prisons, arguing to a federal judge that doing so would endanger national security.” In August, Obama Attorney General Eric Holder announced that while some rogue torturers may be subject to prosecution, any Bush officials who relied on Bush DOJ torture memos in “good faith” will “be protected from legal jeopardy.” And all year long, the Obama DOJ fought (unsuccessfully) to keep encaged at Guantanamo a man whom Bush officials had tortured while knowing he was innocent.

It’s kind of difficult to reconcile that Obama won the peace prize after doing all of THAT. Then I read a FAQ that reveals some of the myths about the Nobel peace prize:

Myth: The Nobel peace prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful.

Fact: More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.

So, maybe the Nobel commission is hoping Obama will stop continuing Bush’s torture doctrines. But the headliner reason given is because of Obama’s initives to reduce nuclear weapon stockpiles. Maybe the torture stuff might be a nice bonus.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_nobel_peace

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/08/photos/index.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nobel_peace_myths

Seven CIA directors (3 served under Bush Jr., 2 served under Clinton, 1 served under Bush Sr., 1 served under Nixon) have written a letter to President Obama telling him that the Attorney General should not investige the CIA for any crimes, ever.

In other news, several mafia bosses have sent a letter to the president saying that organized crime should not be investigated.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/09/19/cia/index.html

on 11 September 2001, 19 Al Queda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners. They flew two into the World Trade Center in New York and they flew one into the side of the Pentagon in D.C. The passengers on the fourth airliner fought back and that aircraft crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania.

The attacks resulted in 2,993 deaths, including the hijackers. 55 of the victims were military personel at the Pentagon. All the others were civilians. 329 of those civilians were from other countries, including the United Kingdom, South Korea, Philippines, Mexico, Japan, Jamaica, Italy, India, Germany, Columbia, Canada, and Australia, among others.

Fifteen of the hijackers are from Saudi Arabia, two are from the United Arab Emirates, one is from Egypt, and one is from Lebanon.

Within 5 hours of the attack Donald Rumsfeld is pushing to attack Iraq.

November 2001, Dick Cheney lays out the “one percent doctrine”. If there is a one-percent chance that something will happen, the US has to treat it as a certainty. (unless it relates to Global Warming, of course).

December 2001, Cheney is saying that Mohammed Atta had connections with Iraqi intelligence. It’s not true.

December 2001, So-called journalist, Judith Miller reports that Iraq has 20 hidden WMD sites. It’s not true.

By January of 2002, Americans are torturing prisoners, including Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi. While being tortured, al-Libi claims that al Quaeda sent operatives to Iraq to acquire WMD’s. It’s not true. That same month, Alberto Gonzoles issues a policy memo that authorizes torture.

January 2002, the first prisoners arrive at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo.

By March of 2002, Bush begins “stovepiping” intelligence, taking it directly from the CIA without their analysis and filtering, and begins cherry picking what he wants to believe. At about the same time, Ahmed Chalabi, starts supplying defectors from Iraq who provide the CIA with reports, which are then “stovepiped” directly to Bush. Chalabi heads the Iraqi National Congress, created in 1992 for the purpose of formenting the overthrow of Saddam. And Chalabi hopes Saddam gets kicked out and hopes he’ll be made the new leader of Iraq.

March, 2002, US Intellgence report looking at the information coming in regarding the allegations that Iraq is trying to buy “yellow cake” from Niger states that these rumors are clearly false and the CIA should have made clear this fact rather than allowing the White House to cherry pick what it wanted to believe. In March of 2002, Bush publicly announces that Saddam is actively pursuing nuclear weapons. It’s not true.

June 2002: Operation Southern Focus begins in secret. US aircraft fly missions into Iraq to prep it for invasion. 20,000 sorties will be flown between June 2002 and March 2003 when the invasion begins.

August 2002, Cheney publicly states that we now know with certainty that Saddam has an active WMD program and is looking to acquire nuclear weapons. It’s a lie.

August 2002, Abu Zubaydah is waterboarded 83 times in one month

September 2002, so-called journalist Judith Miller reports that Saddam has purchased thousands of aluminum tubes to use for uranium enrichment. Cheney, Condelezza Rice, and the entire White House will begin paroting about these nuclear enrichment tubes. But almost a year before, Ms. Rice’s staff had been told that the government’s foremost nuclear experts seriously doubted that the tubes were for nuclear weapons. Experts informed the White House that they were likely for small artillery rockets.

September 2002, Cheney says Mohamed Atta had traveled to Prague and met with Iraqi intelligence officers. It’s a lie. The CIA had previously told him this was not credible.

September 2002, Saddam says a UN inspection team can enter Iraq. Hans Blix will be the head of the team. They will enter Iraq in December.

September 2002, Four days after being told by intelligence agencies that there is no connection between Iraq and al-Queada, Bush is telling journalists “You can’t distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror.” It’s a lie.

October 2002, the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) is sent to Congress days before lawmakers will vote to authorize use of military force against Saddam. The report states with “high confidence” that Iraq “has now established large-scale, redundant and concealed BW agent production capabilities.” It said “all key aspects” of Iraq’s offensive BW program “are active and that most elements are larger and more advanced than they were before the Gulf War.” This was in fact untrue and the CIA at that time had reason to believe that it wasn’t true. The NIE also reports that Iraq has 500 tons of yellow cake from Niger (it doesn’t), mentions the aluminum tubes for centrifuges (which aren’t), that Saddam has stockpiled 100 to 500 tons of chemical weapons (he hasn’t), that Saddam is producing biological weapons in mobile labs (he isn’t). The report states it has “high confidence” that “Iraq is continuing, and in some areas expanding, its chemical, biological, nuclear and missile programs” (it isn’t), “high confidence” that “Iraq possesses proscribed chemical and biological weapons and missiles” (it doesn’t).

October 2002, “Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002″ is passed by US Senate and House.

November 2002, The UN passes Resolution 1441, calling for immediate and comlete disarmament of Iraq, demanding declare all WMD’s, and requiring that Iraq submit to inspections. The Resolution does not authorize the use of force if Iraq fails to comply.

January 2003, Hans Blix reports to UN that he has found no “smoking gun” so far while inspecting Iraq. UN press release states “It would appear that Iraq had decided in principle to provide cooperation on substance in order to complete the disarmament task through inspection.” After 60 days of work, 106 sites have been inspected.

February 2003, Bush announces that “Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al-Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al-Qaeda” and “Iraq has also provided al-Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training.” All of this is a lie.

February 2003, Hans Blix reports to UN that they have inspected 300 sites without restrictions in 11 weeks. No WMD’s found.

March 2003, Hans Blix reports to UN that Iraqis are cooperating with inspections and that they have found no evidence of mobile biological labs.

March 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is waterboarded 183 times during the month

March 2003, Bush has been pushing for a UN Resolution authorizing military force against Iraq. It becomes clear it will not pass. Bush announces the “Coalition of the Willing” will enforce the resolution without UN approval. Only four countries provide troops for the actual invasion: The US, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Australia, Poland, and Denmark.

March 17, 2003, Bush Jr. addresses the nation, saying “every measure has been taken to avoid war”, then he gives Saddam and his sons 48 hours to step down from power. Bush invokes “regime change” as the trigger for the war, when no UN resolution ever approved it, when the reason given in the months preceding were that Iraq had to comply with UN Resolution 1441 demanding Iraq disarm and comply with inspections to confirm. UN Inspector Hans Blix’s most recent report states that inspections are working and he should be complete in a few months.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq begins. Rumsfeld said we’d be out in 6 days, 6 weeks, or 6 months, and welcomed as liberators.

November 2003, US military personel in Abu Graib prison begin torturing, raping, and killing prisoners.

June 2004, Rasul v. Bush. The first habeas corpus case regarding prisoners reaches the Supreme Court. The court rules prisoners have a right to hear the evidence against them and the chance to refute it. Bush sets up military commissions to try and keep control of the outcome of the trials.

July 2006, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, US Supreme Court rules that the executive branch does not have the authority to set up miltary commissions.

June 2008, Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court rules that prisoners at Guantanamo should have access to the US justice system.

September 2009, 6 years after the invasion, American troops are still struggling to control Iraq.

About 5,000 American troops have been killed in Iraq. About 45,000 to 90,000 American troops suffer from permanent traumatic brain injuries who will need assisstance for the rest of their lives. 500 American troops lost a limb. About 30,000 American troops have been diagnosed with mental health problems.

About 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed from military operations. About one million Iraqi civilians died as a result of criminal violence and civil war brought on by the US invasion. 4 million Iraqi civilians have been displaced from their homes. 2 million of them have fled the country.

About 1,000 prisoners went through Guantanamo. About 800 turned out to be completely innocent of any crime and were eventually released. Many were tortured during their imprisonment. A total of three convictions have been handed down. The rest of the prisoners remain in limbo.

It’s the 8 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember the scale of the attack, all the lives lost, all the tragedy. I think its because all the lives lost since, all the lives lost in the name of avenging 9/11, is overwhelming. The events since have created an even larger tragedy.

I can remember when I first heard about the attacks on 9/11. I was in my car, driving to work. The radio station was reporting that a plane had crashed into the world trade center. I remember that the initial report said it may have been an accident. There wasn’t a lot of information available. When the second plane hit about 15 minutes later, everyone knew it wasn’t an accident. I didn’t get a lot of work done that day. A lot of people were in a conference room watching the only TV that had an antenna. We watched images of the towers burning. An hour after the plane hit, one tower collapsed. An hour after that, the other tower collapsed. All I could think about was all the lives lost.

In the days following, 9/11 went from a tragedy to a rallying call for vengeance. The lives lost were forgotten and replaced with some form of “debt” that could only be paid in blood by someone else. America began to torture prisoners, rape them, kill them. America invaded Iraq wholly based on fabricated intelligence. Three thousand lives lost on 9/11 became overshadowed by five thousand American troops killed, fifty-thousand American troops with permanent brain injuries, and a million dead Iraqi civilians.

One can no longer think of the loss we suffered on 9/11 without thinking of the losses we inflicted on ourselves and the rest of the world in its name.

And that’s the biggest tragedy of all.