Five alleged al-Qaeda conspirators accused of aiding the 9/11 hijackers all say they were tortured for years while in CIA custody, but sitting in a military courtroom on Monday, they all heard a judge insist that “torture” is not “relevant” to their cases.
Critics of the Bush administration’s torture program have long argued that it could taint prosecutions with evidence obtained under duress, which is exactly what defense attorneys have argued on behalf of defendants....The Raw Story
After a brief investigation, the Obama administration took a pass on prosecuting officials over the Bush administration’s torture program. As one of his first orders of business in 2009, President Barack Obama issued an executive order banning torture techniques popularized by the Bush administration, although Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said last year that he would return to “enhanced interrogation techniques which go beyond those that are in the military handbook right now.”
U.S. military judge: ‘Torture’ is not ‘relevant’ in Guantanamo cases
Stephen C. Webster
"It couldn't happen here."
It is happening here.
And not just at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib or Bagram.
The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture?The New Yorker
Hellhole
Atul Gawande, March 30, 2009
Wikipedia — Torture and the United States
Yeah, that won't last. The Supreme Court (or even before that, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals) will reverse any conviction that was based on evidence procured by physical abuse that "shocks the conscience" of the court. A confession that followed 180 waterboarding episodes would certainly count.
ReplyDeleteWas just reported today the DC Circuit threw out a Gitmo conviction on the embarrassingly obvious grounds that you can't be convicted of something that isn't a crime.
"A three-judge bench at the US Court of Appeals in Washington said that a law that listed material support for terrorism as a war crime — approved in 2006 in response to Hamdan’s case — could not apply to him retroactively."
www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/16/federal-court-throws-out-bin-laden-driver-conviction/