Gonzales Helped Set the Course for Detainees

.washingtonpost.com ^ | Wednesday, January 5, 2005 | R. Jeffrey Smith and Dan Eggen

[crushelits]

Gonzales Had Key Role
In March 2002, U.S. elation at the capture of al Qaeda operations chief Abu Zubaida was turning to frustration as he refused to bend to CIA interrogation. But the agency's officers, determined to wring more from Abu Zubaida through threatening interrogations, worried about being charged with violating domestic and international proscriptions on torture.

They asked for a legal review -- the first ever by the government -- of how much pain and suffering a U.S. intelligence officer could inflict on a prisoner without violating a 1994 law that imposes severe penalties, including life imprisonment and execution, on convicted torturers. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel took up the task, and at least twice during the drafting, top administration officials were briefed on the results.

White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales chaired the meetings on this issue, which included detailed descriptions of interrogation techniques such as "waterboarding," a tactic intended to make detainees feel as if they are drowning. He raised no objections and, without consulting military and State Department experts in the laws of torture and war, approved an August 2002 memo that gave CIA interrogators the legal blessings they sought.

[oceanview]

good for him.

don't back down Mr Gonzales. when asked these questions, don't sidestep, speak up and let the Dems have it during the televised hearings.

[Texas Eagle]

But the CIA's officers, determined to wring more from Abu Zubaida through threatening interrogations, worried about being charged with violating domestic and international proscriptions on torture.

There are international proscriptions on torture?

[b4its2late]

I think there was some kind of international guidelines that the UN or some other corrupt body tried to get contries to agree on, but I don't think the US ever signed on to follow whatever garbage they came up with.....

[b4its2late]

I just figures that the presstitutes jump right on the leftists' $hitwagon.......

[Ron in Acreage]

Gonzales is a hero. The democrats will continue to show whos side they are on. And it's not Americas.

[Texas Eagle]

Ahhhhh. Interesting.

Did Al Qaeda sign on to it?

[oldbrowser]

There are some critics that want terrorist to have full american citizen rights when prosecuted in criminal courts.
It appears that they would like for the U.S. to fail in Iraq and are willing to use this Subterfuge to accomplish their aim.

[okie01]

At least one of the meetings during this period included a detailed description of the interrogation methods the CIA wanted to use, such as open-handed slapping, the threat of live burial and "waterboarding" -- a procedure that involves strapping a detainee to a board, raising the feet above the head, wrapping the face and nose in a wet towel, and dripping water onto the head. Tested repeatedly on U.S. military personnel as part of interrogation resistance training, the technique proved to produce an unbearable sensation of drowning.

In other words, the Democrats will apparently contend that "slapping equals torture".

Interestingly, none of the "torture" techniques discussed seem to involve actual physical pain (beyond slapping, I suppose). Instead, they consist of threats and perceptions.

Not even anything "cruel and unusual" -- like panties on the head.

If it weren't for the media and their ability to distort accusations and twist testimony, the Democrats would be empty-handed and at sea on this issue.

[b4its2late]

Probably......