TO paraphrase Al Pacino in “Godfather III,” just when we thought we were out, the Bush mob keeps pulling us back in. And will keep doing so. No matter how hard President Obama tries to turn the page on the previous administration, he can’t. Until there is true transparency and true accountability, revelations of that unresolved eight-year nightmare will keep raining down drip by drip, disrupting the new administration’s high ambitions.
NYTimes Frank Rich: Obama Can’t Turn the Page on Bush
Torture photos below (2003)...
These photos were taken using cameras owned by Cpl. Charles A. Graner Jr., Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick II and Spc. Sabrina Harman. They depict a dead Iraqi detainee, Manadel al-Jamadi, whose body had been stored by CIA personnel overnight in a shower room at Abu Ghraib. Two of the photos show Graner and Harman posing with al-Jamadi's corpse.
Warning: Photos contain disturbing images of violence, abuse and humiliation.
● Torture doesn't work in providing information which will keep us safe
● Torture actually reduces our national security
● Most of those tortured were innocent
● They were not tortured in order to prevent terrorist attacks, but to create a false justification for the war in Iraq (by creating a false linkage between Iraq and Al Qaeda)
● Attorney General Holder has admitted that torture is a crime, at least if it results in death. Many have been tortured to death.
● Worse was done at Guantanamo and at Bagram Air base.
● Torture has also been used throughout history as a form of intimidation, to terrorize people into obedience. However, it is not yet clear whether or not this was one of the reasons that the Bush administration implemented a policy of torture.
Video of Torture and Sexual Abuse in Iraq Prison
Feb 2006: SBS Dateline documentary about the Abu Ghraib prison and torture.
Everything you wanted to know about TORTURE
The Movie: "Taxi To The Dark Side", the story of the U.S torturing an innocent Iraqi taxi driver to death.
Not unlike a sudden appearance of stinkhorn burrowing out of loamy earth, revelations continue to blossom wildly that the US government now simply functions as a gateway to untold and undeserved riches for the well-connected. The latest rancid bud to emerge from the fertile soil of entrenched corruption comes from news that the FBI have been investigating two "enforcement" lawyers at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
FBI Probes Insider Trading at SEC
As Smash-and-Grab Capitalism Collapses, the French Economy Shines
