impeach him

[Dan Scanlan <coolhanduke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bush Approved Torture Techniques 

FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane 
Interrogation Techniques 

 Newly Obtained FBI Records Call Defense Department’s Methods 
"Torture," Express Concerns Over "Cover-Up" That May Leave FBI "Holding 
the Bag" for Abuses 

 12/20/04 "ACLU" -- NEW YORK -- A document released for the first time 
today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President 
Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane 
interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq.

 Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including 
a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the 
Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the 
Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is 
being covered up. 

 "These documents raise grave questions about where the blame for 
widespread detainee abuse ultimately rests," said ACLU Executive 
Director Anthony D. Romero. "Top government officials can no longer 
hide from public scrutiny by pointing the finger at a few low-ranking 
soldiers." 

 The documents were obtained after the ACLU and other public interest 
organizations filed a lawsuit against the government for failing to 
respond to a Freedom of Information Act request. 

 The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the 
President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep 
deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory 
deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the 
White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and 
immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which 
was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of 
senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from 
employing the techniques that the President is said to have 
authorized. 

 Another e-mail, dated December 2003, describes an incident in which 
Defense Department interrogators at Guantánamo Bay impersonated FBI 
agents while using "torture techniques" against a detainee. The e-mail 
concludes "If this detainee is ever released or his story made public 
in any way, DOD interrogators will not be held accountable because 
these torture techniques were done [sic] the ‘FBI’ interrogators. The 
FBI will [sic] left holding the bag before the public." 

 The document also says that no "intelligence of a threat 
neutralization nature" was garnered by the "FBI" interrogation, and 
that the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) believes that 
the Defense Department’s actions have destroyed any chance of 
prosecuting the detainee. The e-mail’s author writes that he or she is 
documenting the incident "in order to protect the FBI." 

 "The methods that the Defense Department has adopted are illegal, 
immoral, and counterproductive," said ACLU staff attorney Jameel 
Jaffer. "It is astounding that these methods appear to have been 
adopted as a matter of policy by the highest levels of government." 

 The June 2004 "Urgent Report" addressed to the FBI Director is heavily 
redacted. The legible portions of the document appear to describe an 
account given to the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office by an FBI agent who 
had "observed numerous physical abuse incidents of Iraqi civilian 
detainees," including "strangulation, beatings, [and] placement of lit 
cigarettes into the detainees ear openings." The document states that 
"[redacted] was providing this account to the FBI based on his 
knowledge that [redacted] were engaged in a cover-up of these abuses." 

 The release of these documents follows a federal court order that 
directed government agencies to comply with a year-old request under 
the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center for 
Constitutional Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common 
Sense and Veterans for Peace. The New York Civil Liberties Union is 
co-counsel in the case. 

 Other documents released by the ACLU today include: 

 An FBI email regarding DOD personnel impersonating FBI officials 
during interrogations. The e-mail refers to a "ruse" and notes that 
"all of those [techniques] used in these scenarios" were approved by 
the Deputy Secretary of Defense. (Jan. 21, 2004) 

 Another FBI agent’s account of interrogations at Guantánamo in which 
detainees were shackled hand and foot in a fetal position on the floor. 
The agent states that the detainees were kept in that position for 18 
to 24 hours at a time and most had "urinated or defacated [sic]" on 
themselves. On one occasion, the agent reports having seen a detainee 
left in an unventilated, non-air conditioned room at a temperature 
"probably well over a hundred degrees." The agent notes: "The detainee 
was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. 
He had apparently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout 
the night." (Aug. 2, 2004) 

 An e-mail stating that an Army lawyer "worked hard to cwrite [sic] a 
legal justification for the type of interrogations they (the Army) want 
to conduct" at Guantánamo Bay. (Dec. 9, 2002) 

 An e-mail noting the initiation of an FBI investigation into the 
alleged rape of a juvenile male detainee at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. 
(July 28, 2004) 

 An FBI agent’s account of an interrogation at Guantánamo - an 
interrogation apparently conducted by Defense Department personnel - in 
which a detainee was wrapped in an Israeli flag and bombarded with loud 
music and strobe lights. (July 30, 2004) 

 The ACLU and its allies are scheduled to go to court again this 
afternoon, where they will seek an order compelling the CIA to turn 
over records related to an internal investigation into detainee abuse. 
Although the ACLU has received more than 9,000 documents from other 
agencies, the CIA refuses to confirm or deny even the existence of many 
of the records that the ACLU and other plaintiffs have requested. The 
CIA is reported to have been involved in abusing detainees in Iraq and 
at secret CIA detention facilities around the globe. 

 The lawsuit is being handled by Lawrence Lustberg and Megan Lewis of 
the New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & 
Vecchione, P.C. Other attorneys in the case are Jaffer, Amrit Singh and 
Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU; Art Eisenberg and Beth Haroules of the 
NYCLU; and Barbara Olshansky and Jeff Fogel of CCR. 

 The documents referenced above can be found at: 
http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/fbi.html. ;

 More on the lawsuit can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/. ;

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