Panetta Announces Closure of CIA Secret Prisons
So they're finally closing the book on this bloody chapter and nope, no one will be held accountable for anything. It was all some horrible misunderstanding - albeit, one in which CIA officials actually demanded CYA legal clearance because they knew what they were doing were actually war crimes.
But hey, bygones!
WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency said Thursday that it would decommission the secret overseas prisons where it subjected Al Qaeda prisoners to brutal interrogation methods, bringing to a symbolic close the most controversial counterterrorism program of the Bush administration.
But in a statement to employees, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, said agency officers who worked in the program “should not be investigated, let alone punished” because the Justice Department under President George W. Bush had declared their actions legal.
Mr. Panetta and other top Obama administration officials have said they believe that waterboarding, the near-drowning method used in 2002 and 2003 on three prisoners, is torture, which is illegal under American and international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which interviewed 14 prisoners, said in a report made public this week that prisoners were also repeatedly slammed into walls, forced to stand for days with their arms handcuffed to the ceiling, confined in small boxes and held in frigid cells.
Mr. Panetta said the secret detention facilities were no longer in operation, but he suggested that security and maintenance had been continuing at the sites at the taxpayers’ expense since they were emptied under Mr. Bush in 2006. Terminating security contracts at the sites would save “at least $4 million,” Mr. Panetta said.
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to open a new thread in the search for Sasquobamas.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
color me curious
Don't close them
Turn them into commercial S&M dungeons.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
OK, under Nuremburg, if you are *ordered* to commit a war crime and you don't refuse, you're a criminal. But under the Bush/Rove/and now Panetta doctrine, if instead of an order, you're given a legal opinion that it's OK, well then you're in the clear.
"Government is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex." - Frank Vincent Zappa
Hitler must've WON, 'cuz these guys get a pass on behavior that is nothing short of crimes against humanity...
your name's Lebowski, Lebowski... and your wife is Bunny
Hmmm,It was all a misunderstanding!, America doesn't torture, well, now it doesn't, maybe. They'll take away marbles from the MN 8 but not AK-47's from White Supreme-ists. Bush is not in jail, cheney, not in jail, Rove not in jail, Pelosi takes impeachment off the table, Republicans ruin the economy and its all Obama's fault, etc.
I could go on for hours but will anybody, ever be held accountable?
Don't hold your breath!
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Those evil bastards in the Bush administration will never be punished and it sickens me. It sure must be fun to write your own laws and do whatever you please.
This is very disappointing news.
So it looks as if Obama has given up being remembered in the same breath as FDR and Lincoln and instead will settle for the reputation of another Gerald R. Ford. Pity.
And the Reich wing has an Obama-Hitler t-shirt that says "Hitler gave great speeches too." Regrettable but entirely appropriate for Obama's DoJ stance on government immunity for warrantless wiretaps.
I'm working on one of the same, but with a picture of ray gun.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Somebody better be held accountable for fucks sake!
This is BULLSHIT!
you are slipping. Must be the religious holiday effect.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
torture is a crime. doesn't anyone remember Nuremberg??
.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Well people voted for the CFR Candidates, too bad people didn't vote for Kicinich, Paul, Mckinney, Nader or the constitution party BUT NOOOOOOO people had to listen to the idiots on tv and vote in a Banker owned candidate.
.."Terminating security contracts at the sites would save “at least $4 million,” Mr. Panetta said.
Wow, we'll save a whoppin' 4 million. so that's what it cost to keep these places open? Seems like a bargain, shame they produced absolutely nothing while they were open. Oh wait, they did make us all guilty of torture so at least that's something.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
I'm sure the bankers can find a safe home for the abandoned bills.
and deducting the interest on the TARP money we gave them.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
if you really had any empathy for your fellow man you would get rid of your government.
won't.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
For 7 years the Media, Press, President Bush and Vice President Cheney said the US doesn't have secret prisons and we never transport detainees to any country for torture. Today we learn the secret prisons that didn't exist are closing. What other lies have we been told. We now know we kidnapped innocent people and tortured them. We also torturedd woman/children. We know 7 detainees were tortured so bad their now insane. We tortured some people to death but we did pay their families 2,500 dollars. This is now American History and even Obama can't change the pass. Look for future generations of terrorist to use the Bush Policy. Yes as American men/woman/children are kidnapped and the same thing is done to them let's see how America feels about it then. So easy to torture and kill others while holding God's name as the sheild but it will be your ture. The Foreign Press released this informtion years ago. Yes Germany allowed the planes with detainees to refuel and even Iran had held detainees for the Bush Administratiion. So much for Bush's comment about Iran being the Axis of Evil. As the UK press reported Cheney's company Halliburton working in Iran and Cheney making sure the oil deals were signed, the US Media was reporting no American company could trade with Iran. The laughs on how stupid the American people were because we believe all this bull.
Watch the Rachel Maddow segment on the two American journalists being held in North Korea?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#30039063
Know what the Koreans said when asked about the detainees' safety? "We are not Guantanamo." To their credit, they are at least charging our countrywomen with a crime, so I guess that makes an "Axis of Evil" country better than the Bush/Cheney regime.
my young padawans.... okay, I always wanted to say that. Seriously, this has not been forgotten and albeit slow, this issue is gathering steam. If I had to guess, this will be a big issue next year just as people get ready to pull the lever for the mid term elections....
sometimes politics and justice can be served at the same time.... i'm just saying.
..the hope is that by the mid-terms, the economy will be on enough of an up-swing, no one will care. No one will be held accountable.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
1) that the economy with be so robust that people will be lulled into complacency.
and
2) this worm filled apple has a lot of powerful people oozing around. they need to insure that they get it right, because once this thing rolls... well you only get one chance at justice.
Cheney, and Rove will be sent to the gallows, and Bush will be forever tarnished.
sometimes politics and justice can be served at the same time.... i'm just saying.
Name once?
Closing them is a start. I'll take it!
*
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Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Leaving those crimes unpunished is like reloading a weapon ready to fire again!
Bruce Fain on the Nuremberg Trial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXyDK2-p4fU
Perhaps.
Panetta Announces Closure of CIA Secret Prisons Weren't they denying their existence before? Are we inching forward? Does anyone trust Washington (the whole collective) in these matters?
far left loon >.<
On the bright side, with the CIA destroying tapes of interrogations as quickly as possible, Dubya and Dick's little private libraries will prove to be a smart investment. That is once they get tired of viewing them to fuel their sick fanatsies.
We need to keep in mind that Pelosi et. al. were briefed on this and did nothing.
So not only do we need to remove the slimy repigs who rubber-stamped Bush, we need to replace the compliant Dem congressmen who did likewise.
about a snowball's chance in hell in getting re-elected.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
For some reason the Rethugs are better insulated from this scandal than their Democratic cohorts. This needs to be handled with some skill to insure that the merely complicit do not endure the scape goat treatment, thereby freeing the real villains (they are all guilty, but you know what I mean). While I wished this process would move faster, I do disagree with the Left in giving up on justice. Patience. I know its hard given the magnitude of their crimes, but if we are going to charge the previous Administration the charges have to be slime proof. And as we all know, they are a particularly slimy form of scum....
The first step may well be arrest warrants and international efforts to extradite Bush administration officials, as a result of the Spanish investigations, or the British, or the Polish (those are the only 3 I know about).
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Whether we are willing to admit it or not, we are very close to open rebellion in this country. The Right are purposefully fanning the flames of rebellion, and it is my belief that they are using the threat of open revolt as leverage against continuing judicial inquiries into some of these matters (we will have a better picture on April 15). Therefore it is terribly important that we support the efforts of these other governments to prosecute in hopes that it allows us to free ourselves of this corrupt governing body. Justice in the US is being held hostage by fear, and the real concern that prosecution would not achieve the desired and justified results. Patience people.....
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Q U E S T I O N:
If the story was that there were no black sites which later morphed into they were legal black sites, closing them sends a large message that these black sites were indeed, illegal and wrong, otherwise, why clos them, NO?
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Starve the WAR Beast...
... Save the World.
I said last year that I wouldn't be surprised if the Republicans attempt to impeach Obama within his first term. Their disgust, disrespect and hatred for him is obvious. Now I'm beginning to wonder if that impeachment attempt won't come from the Democratic side! In the last week, the Obama administration has seriously implicated itself in the continuation of lawless, illegal Bush policies. It's a really sad state of affairs. I really feel betrayed.
rhetoric is fueled by the real fear that Obama is going to send people to the prison for their crimes. While much of the hateful rhetoric can be chalked up to racism, and some significant stupidity, there are elements that seem well organized and pre-planned. I think they are using the threat of a possible revolution as leverage against moving too quickly against the previous administration and their cohorts....
WOW! What an amazing legal mind Panetta has! No matter that it's one of the most serious felony crimes in our nations judiacial codes if the DOJ says in a secret memo that it's legal hey then it's legal. I bet there's a whole bunch of lawyers and judges out there that will be astounded to learn this simple new "legal" principle!! Fuck who needs any stinking Constitutions or laws when you got DOJ memos?
closing these sites is a good move, yet as long as rendition is legal under US law, and until the CIA's conduct to "high value detainees" is made public, i can only assume that this has more to do with PR than an actual shift in policy
close all the gitmos, bagrams, and abu ghraibs you want, they are merely the symptoms. 'black sites' are merely the secret bases that have been outted.
yet, i do wholeheartedly commend and thank the admin for the directive that contractors will no longer be employed in interrogations.
In the first news I heard about "black sites" years ago, it was stated that the sites included US military bases on foreign soils AND floating prisons, US military ships at sea. Look at all the US ships that have prison facilities:
USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)
USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
USS George Washington (CVN-73)
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)
USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
USS Constellation (CV-64)
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74)
USS Wasp (LHD-1)
USS Kearsarge (LHD-3)
USS Bataan (LHD-5)
USS Essex (LHD-2)
USS Boxer (LHD-4)
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)
USS Nassau (LHA-4)
USS Tarawa (LHA-1)
USS Peleliu (LHA-5)
USS Simon Lake (AS-33)
USS Emory S. Land (AS-39)
And lest anybody get too giddy about the prison shut-down news, the administration is still playing games with us about Guantanamo Bay.
I really want to kick myself for being so gullible sometimes. See, I thought "shut down Guantanamo" meant the innocent detainees would be set free, the prison would be abandoned and the land returned to Cuba, and we could look forward to trials of those detainees for whom there is evidence of criminal activities. Well, not only is it going to take a year for Gitmo to be closed, they're just planning to move the prisoners.
ABC News reported this a couple of months ago:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6664947
Secret List of U.S. Military Bases to Replace Gitmo
Pendleton, Leavenworth, Miramar Included as Possible New Home for 250 Detainees
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Funny, ain't it? It didn't take long for the US to illegally collect all those "detainees" but it's taking years and years to get the innocents out of that prison system.
When we see a full investigation and report about ALL the black sites that have been mentioned over the years, in Japan, Poland, Iceland, those in several other countries including Baghram in Afghanistan, maybe we can take Leon Panetta at his word. But he's certainly lied to America several times before. I trust him as far as I could throw him.
President Obama has put forward a military budget that is $21 billion larger than the Bush military budget. His Defense Secretary, Bush holdover Robert Gates, has called for cutting some no-longer-needed and very expensive weapons systems, but he is also seeking more money for drones and a bigger DoD budget.
Obama's DoD budget is $534 billion, compared to Bush's $513 billion budget.
why? it seems like you understand
Woe is me
....and the rightwing nutosphere is screeching about Obama "gutting" the DoD budget!
The Busheviks lied about it, and the Obamanauts, who succeeded them, are still preserving the Bushevik presidential perqs about 'state secrets.'
If they're STILL lying to us (IF? ha), how would we ever know?
Going after the wrong and evil doers at CIA from when it first became the American institution for covert/overt political monkey wrenching around the planet would be a long quest. OK--just go after the criminals of past six years then. Well--Leon Panetta says we can't because Bush DOJ said CIA could do this stuff. Gosh--works for me. What about the Red Cross stuff? Mr.Panetta said the Bush DOJ said it was OK for the CIA to do it so the CIA is not going to be looked into nor is anyone at CIA to be arrested/punished/jailed. What part don't you still get? Stop nosing around or you will get some change you can believe in. Thank you Mr. Panetta. I feel better now.
So Mr. Panetta claims these sites were no longer in operation--while only not many years back we were told there were no such sites--so now we can take his word they are no longer still in existence? Or just this set of sites is not?
The really rich part of course being that the CIA people who were either directly involved or were responsible for the small degrees of separation the "hired help" premise was set up for are all good being CIA was told by Bush DOJ that it was OK.
Stay/Get Out Of Jail Card? Check.
It certainly is a good thing Americans are always the good guys in these episodes. Not like some evil Nazis,Commies or Islamofascists.
The Bush DOJ said it was OK. Nothing to see here folks--move along.
As for Barack Obama's "change we can believe in" ? Just some more TP.
I agree with the Obama administration. Why should we finance expensive torture facilities when we can outsource the job to Syria or Egypt for much less? Kudos to C&L for supporting the O.C.O.!
...and then someday Obama isn't president anymore ... and Torture is something any US future government can get away with consequence free...
Excuse me, I was just thinking about what happens AFTER the opportunity to re-claim our national dignity and any claim to decency as a society has passed us by.
We should try imagining what it is like to be Obama sometime - in January he walks into a vast and sprawling ideologically snake infested swamp of a government that is ruled by plutocrat money flowing like Niagra Falls into the pockets of the old guard whores and liars we call Senators and Representatives and has an agenda for change. Change that inevitably means some drooling group of well connected vampires with a powerful lobby machine is going to have their oxen gored (Health Care reform? Military spending cuts?, dealing with economic chaos?), their place at the public trough closed off, and THAT group of vampires will start doing everything they can to subvert, thwart, and generally make life impossible for the president. So what does Obama have to do? He has to start allying himself with other gangs of fat slimy vampires and bloated maggots in order to gather enough power to himself to politically survive pissing off the first group of blood sucking monsters. He almost had a real crisis on his hands when people started freaking out over the bank bailouts and Geithner's Goldman Sachs Allstar plan to preserve all the oligopolistic immorality of the current system - but fortunately everyone was distracted by the jingling keys of AIG bonuses and Bernie Madoff - whew! that was close! - they might have had to inconvenience some people who matter if the proles and suckers started tearing the NY Stock Exchange and US Treasury buildings apart with their bare hands.
That is what we are seeing now - the price he, and we, all have to pay in order to see any sort of healthcare reform, or progress on energy policy, or any progress on any policy is that he makes deals with odious scum and allows clear wrongdoing to go unpunished, because if he didn't he wouldn't last 10 minutes in that cesspool called Washington. Those career spooks and giant cockroaches who gleefully oversaw black sites, torture, and all manner of morally bankrupt awfulness are going to eventually retire and collect fat pensions - with plaques on their walls commending them for such excellent service to their country. All of which guarantees that it will take place over and over again - there is no stopping it.
When you lay down with dogs...etcetera.
Someday Obama wont be president and all this garbage will still be going on - how will everyone feel about that?
for more death and destruction, more murder and mayhem, more international criminality, more war crimes, more international poverty, displacement and more ecological disasters than any other country of the Globe.
These policies have been the products of our 'elites,' our 'leaders' (of BOTH "parties'), the oligarchs, the OWNERS.
Those are the bills that are gonna come due, presently, though those guilty parties will NOT feel the sting...
That's correct.
far left loon >.<
Looks like Obama doesn't really stand for change actually ... law and order is done, unless you're a little guy.
Of course Obama will not go after any of these criminals, he instead is protecting them. Obama wants to oursource the torture to other countries, Lou Dobbs should be outraged!!
I forgot to mention, I will not believe they are closed till the Red Cross and a few others says so.
Just asking.
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