CONFIRMED: U.S. Hid Detainees From The Red Cross

McClatchy Newspapers:

The U.S. military hid the locations of suspected terrorist detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to documents that a Senate committee released Tuesday.

"We may need to curb the harsher operations while ICRC is around. It is better not to expose them to any controversial techniques," Lt. Col. Diane Beaver, a military lawyer who's since retired, said during an October 2002 meeting at the Guantanamo Bay prison to discuss employing interrogation techniques that some have equated with torture. Her comments were recorded in minutes of the meeting that were made public Tuesday. At that same meeting, Beaver also appeared to confirm that U.S. officials at another detention facility -- Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan -- were using sleep deprivation to "break" detainees well before then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved that technique. "True, but officially it is not happening," she is quoted as having said.

A third person at the meeting, Jonathan Fredman, the chief counsel for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, disclosed that detainees were moved routinely to avoid the scrutiny of the ICRC, which keeps tabs on prisoners in conflicts around the world.

Read the whole story: McClatchy Newspapers

Comments

[bikerdude]

Just more evidence of the same disregard for law, the rule of law, ethics, morality..­.a republican strategy. When will this stop? I believe when we begin impeachment proceedings. In most cases criminals will continue their crimes if they aren't apprehended and prosecuted.

[SaulGood]

d ennis k ucinich has vowed to reintroduce articles of impeachment in 30 days if it stalls in the committee.

[nanotubz]

You actually expect the committee to do anything with this article or the next one?

[LLT]

Bless his pointy little ears for trying and for getting it on the record, but folks face it, it ain't going to happen. Even if they managed to get articles of impeachment through the House by simple majority vote (and Pelosi has made it pretty clear that will never happen), they’d never get a 2/3 majority in this Senate to convict. But if by some miracle it did happen, at best it might keep Dubya from ever holding another federal office (as if), but in reality I think it probably accomplishes little and could potentially do more harm than good to our country’s already fractured and fragile morale and psyche. He’s not even bright enough for it to appropriately embarrass him, so I think that we have to accept that it is simply, sadly, far too late.

[Annette]

He can introduce, but will he get the GOP congressman to go along, enough to get an impeachment??

[01202009]

I don't understand why citizens are not in the streets demanding answers from George Bush and his co-criminals! I do not understand why John McCain can be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. Finally, why are so many criminals like Karl Rove, Rumsfeld and Condi Rice not in prison!

[lornejl]

Hey ! Where did my post go ? I saw it a second ago....

[SaulGood]

i've noticed that you have to wait for the reload link to pop up at the bottom, bc when i use the browser's reload button my posts disappear.

[lornejl]

I reloaded before I wined.

[SouthpawSass]

You know, it seemed easier back in the day to carry on a conversation, before they made all these changes. I think I spend more time trying to find my own posts and can't respond to others the way I'd like to... It's a bit of a pain.

[SouthpawSass]

I saw it, but some men in black suits came. They put on latex gloves, took your post and put it in a plastic zip lock baggie and left . I think they're sending it to the lab to be tested...

Uh, I think you should probably go away for while, but do make sure you tell someone you trust where you're going.

[lornejl]

latex gloves ?That must be where I blacked out.

[pinkyboo]

Is it enough to impeach yet???????­??????????­??????????

[lornejl]

I beg your pardon ?

[wadenelson1]

PARDON ME?

[SouthpawSass]

Oh no, no, no, that won't do.

We can't have an impeachment for going to war on false pretenses. That would be giving the American people what we want. And like kids, you give in once, you're a push over for life.

[Gary47]

Arrest every last one of them and send them to the Hague for war crimes. Slim of the Earth! Despicable! They took an oath to protect and defend the constitution and they trashed it. They are treasonous traitors who tortured people.

[SaulGood]

and what are we? we let it happen.

[macbabe]

are you kidding?? .. they are ALL going to be pardoned!! ...except Bush, but he's hoping McBush gets in to pardon him too!
God Bless America!

[dsbsh]

Wait! When we arrest them and send them to the Hague, should they have the right of habeas corpus? We're only accusing them; they're not actually criminals yet...

Sorry, wrong topic.

[Ladyrantsalot]

Hey, I've seen that in old WW II movies, only back then it was the Nazis and Japanese tricking the Red Cross, not the Americans. How times change when your leaders no longer believe in the American ideal.

[ChristianEcon.com]

I remember I used to be so grateful I lived in the enlightened USA, where things like this could never happen, at least not so overtly. I was glad we had learned from history and had left such things in the dustbin.

Of course that was back in the '90's. The neocons have been a historical nightmare. It's so pathetic this has to be played out for successive generations to realize how wrong it is, once again.

[lornejl]

Confirmed : HuffPo disappears many posts

[Stretchumall]

you catch on quick after awhile

[lornejl]

lol, i love that smackdown !

[VolvoBirkenstock]

McClatchy comes through again with another fine piece of investigative journalism.

I am old enough to remember when such journalism was practiced by a majority of the press.

[levibatgirl]

Sad and true.

[maddie0001]

True that! Maybe that's why the company is having financial trouble.

[Bedo]

What the hell is wrong with this country?????

[SwingingFromCenter]

You know, 4 years ago this would have completely shocked and appalled me.

Now I've come to just expect it of this administration. They've done so much, gotten away with so much I'm just numb to the way they trample over domestic and international law.

[SouthpawSass]

Comfortably Numb? I hear a song coming on.... Drifting off to my youth, Pink Floyd's playing on the record player. I'm sitting in a dim lit room, patchouli incense burning. I'm sitting on a shag carpet, my back is propped up with pillows. I'm with friends and we're laughing and coughing at the same time. I'm passing a joi...

Uh, what? I never did that, I'm a mother for Christ's sake. I didn't take drugs and was a virgin when I got married.