Gitmo Detainees: Torture Continued During Obama Presidency

ABC News:

Lakhdar Boumediene's own children didn't recognize him when he stepped off the military aircraft, looking gaunt and out of place. His 8-year-old daughter, who had only seen him in photos, said to her mother: "This monsieur is not my father. He's too old to be my dad." The man experienced a similar confusion. He felt old, too, and he didn't recognize the little girl and her 13-year-old sister as his own children.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[OlsonNa]

The more I read these kinds of articles, the more I wonder whether people actually understand the Geneva Conventions. Maybe if we start teaching youth about IHL (international humanitarian law) in schools there wouldn't be so much confusion.

There's a petition out now-- Protect the Vulnerable in War: Teach the Geneva Conventions-- found at http://bit.ly/RCpetition

Sign the Petition! Perhaps our future leaders will have less issues understanding what is legal & right if they’ve been brought up to respect IHL.

[UtahPatriot]

international humanitarian law?

Why would we in the US care...we have our own laws.

We should not been taking prisoners anyway.


Bang......Tango Down

[confidance government]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Both parties are representing the forces of despotism and will not shrink from using tactics for which the citizenry lacks the spine to prevent their usage.

Anybody who thought the Democrats would stop torture should have realized that their party was either complacent or ineffective in preventing the abuses of power of the executive branch over the last 8 years and that is not going to change now, nor probably ever.

My best estimate is that unless people start getting much more hostile towards these attacks on justice, we will eventually see the institutio­nalization of torturing Americans in a decade or two.

[Marcospinelli]

Have you seen this?:

First steps taken to implement preventive detention, military commissions

A task force appointed by Obama to issue recommendations on how to close Guantanamo announced yesterday it will miss its deadline and instead needs a six-month extension, potentially jeopardizing Obama's promise to close Guantanamo within a year. The announcement was made in a briefing given by four leading Obama officials, where the condition of the briefing was that none of the officials could be named (why not?) and all media outlets agreed to this condition (why?).

Though the Task Force's final recommendations were delayed, it did release an interim report which -- true to Obama's prior pledges -- envisions an optional, three-tiered "system of justice" for imprisoning accused Terrorists, to be determined by the ObamaAdministration in each case:
(1) real trials in real courts for some;
(2) military commissions for others; and
(3) indefinite detention with no charges for the rest.

This memo is the first step towards institutionalizing both a new scheme of preventive detention and Obama's version of military commissions.

[Marcospinelli]

From this interim report, it's more apparent than ever that the central excuse made by Obama defenders to justify preventive detention and military commissions -- there are dangerous Terrorists who cannot be released but also cannot be tried because Bush obtained the evidence against them via torture -- is an absolute myth. That's clear for multiple reasons:

First, the Task Force is formulating detention policy not only for detainees already at Guantanamo, but also for future, not-yet-abducted detainees as well. From the first paragraph of the memo :

Read the rest @
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

[Solja]

Obama should just remove ALL guards at Gitmo and send newly trained soldiers there with explicit orders of how to conduct themselves and how to treat prisoners. I can only assume that the people there are the very same ones who were there under Bush.

How nasty is it for a man to "rape" another man? This is gross and horrible beyond words.

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I think Obama will be p!$$ed to learn of this still going on.

[Coinyer101]

I would urge investigations and prosecutions for all torturers. If that includes President Obama then so be it.

[gbrooks]

Agreed.

If he doesn't investigate and torture continues, Obama will end up going down for what Bush/Cheney started and he continued.

[Whinger]

We hear the allegation, let's see the proof.

[sandiegoconservative]

You libs had no problem about a lack of proof under Bush. Why the change of heart now? Remember the story of flushing the Koran down the toilet?

[wrender]

At this point, I see more credibility in the prisoners at Gitmo than in anyone in Washington who wants to claim it's untrue. Our "leaders" have already shown their position on tor.ture. Evidently, It's not a punishable offense, and they'll go to any length to keep secrets regarding it's use.

Honestly, would anyone be surprised in the least bit to find out that the tor.ture program is still effect? We have to remember, with rendition, even though we can say the U.S. won't tor.ture anymore, that doesn't mean we can't send someone off the a country that does. I believe this is true. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[peacechants]

"Boumediene claims that the abuse and humiliation of prisoners continues in Guantanamo and that detainees there are still harassed and tortured."

Days before his inauguration, Obama made it clear he would close Guantanamo Bay, begin the process of moving current detainees through US or international legal systems, and stop torture from being committed by Americans. In fact, he blankly stated [via MSNBC]:

“I was clear throughout this campaign and was clear throughout this transition that under my administration the United States does not torture,” Obama said… “We will abide by the Geneva Conventions. We will uphold our highest ideals.”

Change we can believe in ? Or is the new boss the same as the old boss?

[Solja]

No, he's not the same. He had a bill in Congress to fund the transfer of the prisoners as the first step towards closing Gitmo, and what happened to that bill? It was defeated in Congress. Our representatives voted against closing Gitmo because of, "Not in my backyard!" syndrome.

He has stated that the prison will be closed, and it will be.
He has negotiated with other countries to take some of the prisoners.
He has released some prisoners to other countries, because no politician wants them here.
He has put some on trial, upholding our values as Americans.

The POTUS is NOT the person who is or has tortured people, nor does he approve of torture. If there are still some slime left over from the Bush Administration, then they need to be removed, and tried for war crimes, but do not blame this on Obama, because he has made his policies CRYSTAL CLEAR.

For anyone to say anything different, they are either stupid or a bold-faced l!ar.

[hotwire]

Yahnnnnnn. Zzzzzzzzzz­zzzzzzzzzz­zzzzzzzzzz­zzzzzzzzzz­.

[antifluff]

There is torture, when are we going to prosecute all those prisoners that are torturing the people that are trying to care for them? When someone tries to throw humanwaste on you and hurtyou when ever you get to close, they can be charged with assault or even attemptedmrder. We should tell those prisonersto stop torturingtheir caretakers, immediately.

[peacechants]

Truly the most absurd comment I've ever read. Are you a former Gitmo guard?

[WeMustSpeakOut]

utterly delusional

[sviolette]

Torture needs to end now. The military commanders and guards that continue this should be arrested and prosecuted.

[JakeMontero]

enough is enough, I want an investigation... oh, yeah, never mind…

[hayduke74]

What’s the rest of the world going to think?

[hapiday]

"It was a painful procedure, and Boudediene claims that he complained about the nurse taking more than 15 minutes to perform it -- long enough to make his nose bleed. He believes that she deliberately took her time."

I'm a nurse and I can confirm that it does not take 15 minutes to put in a feeding tube. I've put in many, and it takes 1 minute tops. The people who are at these prisons and hospitals watch the news and listen to Limbaugh too. Don't think that they leave their political views and prejudices at the door. This doesn't surprise me that this mistreatment and torture would continue after President Obama became president. How many birther people are working in hospitals, on the police force, in government or in the military? People need to be very concerned. I work in and out of hospitals and I can tell you there's a lot of anti- Obama people working on the public and it's scary.

[hayduke74]

To rtu re is still going on under “the chosen one” and it is Lim bau gh’s fault?

[FernandoRuiz]

But you love torture so why dont you comend Obama for not doing enough to stop your heroe Bushs policies

[LeeCalif]

Robert Gates is attempting to sabotage the Obama administration by ignoring the continuation of this.

[FernandoRuiz]

I doubt Robert Gates knows its happening, just like he didnt know it was happening under the Bush torture regime

[SangZe]

More Obama lies.

[Kenji]

If he really cared, he could have stamped this out the first day office.
So sad...

[PatForObama]

And how would he do that?

We're dealing with a massive defense bureaucracy and very firmly entrenched behaviors here. Hapiday is right: there are people in all walks of life who would do anything to undermine the president directly or indirectly: disobey orders, not engage in humane ways of doing their jobs, and take out their frustrations on people whom they see as the representing those frustrations. Unfortunately, those attitudes don't stop with the coming of a new administration.