[Marxism] UAE top's use of nonfriendly interrogation tactics outrages US

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/03/torture/print.html

UAE "torture" scandal and cover-up sparks outrage in U.S.
How primitive and uncivilized must a country be to allow its leading
officials to inflict torture with no accountability? 
Glenn Greenwald

May. 03, 2009
As more videotapes emerge documenting the torture inflicted on numerous
victims by Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a prince of the United Arab
Emirates, the controversy is beginning to jeopardize the UAE's relationship
with the United States, a country that absolutely loathes torture and
demands real accountability for those who do it:

"I have more than two hours of video footage showing Sheikh Issa's
involvement in the torture of more than 25 people," wrote Texas-based lawyer
Anthony Buzbee in a letter obtained by the Observer.

The news of more torture videos involving Issa is another huge blow to the
international image of the UAE . . . . The fresh revelations about Issa's
actions will add further doubt to a pending nuclear energy deal between the
UAE and the US.  The deal, signed in the final days of George W Bush, is
seen as vital for the UAE.  It will see the US share nuclear energy
expertise, fuel and technology in return for a promise to abide by
non-proliferation agreements. But the deal needs to be recertified by the
Obama administration and there is growing outrage in America over the tapes.
Congressman James McGovern, a senior Democrat, has demanded that Hillary
Clinton, the US secretary of state, investigate the matter and find out why
US officials initially appeared to play down its significance.



The U.S. is a very tolerant nation, but the one thing we simply cannot abide
is when a government fails adequately to investigate allegations of torture
on the part of key officials and fails to hold them accountable.  That's
where we draw the line. 



The UAE royal family claimed that they had investigated and resolved the
matter and made sure that it would not happen again -- but when it comes to
torture, we have made clear that such a
"look-forward-not-backwards/reflection-not-retribution" mentality is morally
outrageous and unacceptable -- from the UAE:



The authorities in the UAE have certainly mishandled the emergence of the
initial torture tape. The 2004 tape was obtained by ABC News and shown on
television in the US.  The UAE at first said that the matter had been
privately settled between Sheikh Issa and his victim. They also added that
UAE police had followed all their rules and regulations properly.

But that position did not last long in the face of a wave of international
revulsion at the brutality on display. The fierceness of the criticism
eventually forced the UAE government to both condemn the tape and announce a
new investigation. The government "unequivocally condemns the actions
depicted on the video", the state-run news agency said last week. It added
that a government human rights group in the Judicial Department would also
now review the matter. . . .

Buzbee welcomed the developments, but expressed scepticism that the
investigation was genuinely motivated, because the authorities had known
about the tapes for several years. "I am sceptical about whether there will
be a genuine investigation, given that various officials have been aware of
these issues for many years and given the fact that members of the
government were actually involved in, or covered up, the torture," he said.



Indeed.  What kind of primitive, brutal country knows for years that its own
powerful government officials participated in torture and then fails even to
investigate what happened, let alone impose meaningful accountability on the
torturers?   The international community simply cannot tolerate acquiescence
to that sort of evil.  Note that the UAE apparently compensated the victims
of the prince's torture, whereas the U.S. blocked -- and continues to try to
block -- its own torture victims from even having a day in court.



Had Issa -- who ordered these torture sessions recorded -- only looked to
the U.S. for civilized and moral leadership on such matters, he almost
certainly could have avoided this trouble:



U.S. Says C.I.A. Destroyed 92 Tapes of Interrogations 

The government on Monday revealed for the first time the extent of the
destruction of videotapes in 2005 by the Central Intelligence Agency, saying
that agency officers destroyed 92 videotapes documenting the harsh
interrogations of two Qaeda suspects in C.I.A. detention. . . .

It had been previously known that officials of the agency had destroyed
hundreds of hours of videotaped interrogations, but the documents filed
Monday reveal the number of tapes. . . . The destroyed videotapes are
thought to have depicted some of the harshest interrogation techniques used
by the C.I.A.



Only monsters and barbarians fail to destroy their own torture tapes.  The
New York Times previously reported that the highest-level White House
officials -- including David Addington and Alberto Gonzales -- participated
in discussions about whether to destroy those videotapes (acts which the
co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission have called "obstruction of justice"),
though because we need to Look Forward, Not Back, and this all happened in
The Past, we don't know what was said and don't need to.  Knowing that might
disrupt our moment of quiet, contemplative reflection.



What's most notable about the Guardian article reporting on the emergence of
the new UAE torture tapes is that it contains this link to one of the new
torture videos (or, to use the high editorial standards of our nation's
leading newspapers:  "the 'torture' videos," or "videos depicting harsh
techniques which critics decry as 'torture'"):



 



But if you actually click on the warning link, it merely takes you to a
video that -- although it's dramatically entitled "Sheikh Issa bin Zayed
al-Nahyan Torturing a man" -- shows nothing more than a tied-and-bound
victim being slapped around a little bit and forced to eat some sand -- a
technique that (a) nobody who has read the OLC memos could possibly find
shocking, (b) would be dismissed by America's morally upstanding right-wing
warriors as nothing more than a fun fraternity prank; and (c) would never
qualify as "torture" as our own government defined that term, given that
there's no organ failure, no permanent physical damage, and no death: 



 



It's certainly true that the first released video of the torture inflicted
by Issa depicted grotesque violence -- including severe beating, culminating
with running over the victim with a car.  But that level of brutality also
isn't exactly unknown to the U.S., as the Far Leftist score-settler, Gen.
Barry McCaffrey, recently pointed out on MSNBC:



We tortured people unmercifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during
a course of that, both by the armed forces and CIA. [Releasing the memos]
was the right thing to do. . . . There is prosecutorial discretion.  We
shouldn't in my view go after the CIA officers involved in this. There is a
good argument in my view for reviewing the White House justice council and
the Attorney General's office who okayed this.



Gen. McCaffrey's point was echoed by the Hard Leftist Vengeful Partisan,
Gen. Antonio Taguba:



[T]here is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has
committed war crimes. . . . [T]he Commander-in-Chief and those under him
authorized a systematic regime of torture. . . . The only question that
remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will
be held to account. 



Even by official U.S. Government acknowledgments, there have been numerous
deaths of detainees in U.S. custody which "were acts of criminal homicide."
Independent reports make clear just how prevalent detainee death was.



But anyway, enough about all that divisive partisan unpleasantness --  back
to this brutal, criminal UAE prince:  let's watch more of those videotapes,
express our outrage on behalf of international human rights standards, and
threaten the UAE that their relationship with us will suffer severely unless
there is a real investigation -- not the whitewash they tried to get away
with -- along with real accountability.  We simply cannot, in good
conscience, maintain productive relations with a country that fails to take
"torture" seriously.  We are, after all, the United States.



-- Glenn Greenwald



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