Courtesy of Reprieve:
An appeal court has today ordered the Obama Administration to redact 12 hours of secret Guantánamo force-feeding footage in preparation for its public release, rejecting the Administration's argument that not one single frame should be seen by the public.
The classified videos, which show Guantánamo prisoner Abu Wa-'el Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell and force-fed by the US military, were ordered to be released to the public by federal Judge Gladys Kessler in October 2014, following a First Amendment intervention from 16 US press organizations in the abuse case Dhiab v Obama.
The Obama Administration defied Judge Kessler's order to prepare the videos for release, complaining that the process was too much work and insisting that revealing even one frame from the videos posed a national security risk. Leaving the videos unredacted, the Administration took the case straight to D.C.'s federal Court of Appeals in an attempt to get the order overturned.
In a judgment handed down today, the Court of Appeals ruled that the Administration's refusal to comply with the lower court's order was wrong, and rejected its attempt to use the 'burdensome' task of redacting videos as a reason to circumvent the First Amendment.
The Obama Administration must now comply with Judge Kessler’s original order to redact the videotapes to address national security concerns, and submit the redacted tapes to her court for reconsideration ahead of their release.
I think the Obama administrations reluctance to release this video is understandable as one lawyer who saw the footage claimed that it was so "grim" that he had trouble sleeping afterward, and of course it will surely be used by ISIS as a recruitment tool.
However we all have the right to know what was done in our name to these prisoners, many of whom were never charged with a crime and who have been locked away for over ten years.
Yes this might give ISIS a boost with their recruitment efforts, but that cannot be the final consideration at this point.
And besides I would very much like to see some of these Republican presidential candidates forced to watch the footage and then asked for their reaction, and whether they still support the wars of George W. Bush.
By the way Abu Wa-'el Dhiabby, a Syrian national, is now confined to a wheelchair due to the abuses he has suffered since his capture in 2002.
It needs to be released. There were a whole lot of democrats who didn't want Gitmo closed too.
ReplyDeleteWaterboarding, forced feeding, etc. . . . Let it all come out.
Lindsay Graham blocked the funds needed to close Gitmo in 2009. It's time to make sure he and Bush own Gitmo and what they set in motion there.
ReplyDeleteObama owns it too, by letting these war criminals off the hook for any prosecution for so egregiously breaking international law and plunging the U.S. into a ruinous illegal war. Yet Obama's DOJ went after FIFA... a fucking crooked SPORTS organization. Priorities, huh?
DeleteAgain, just how was Obama supposed to go after a former President?
DeleteObama's Justice Department could easily have prosecuted and convicted Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Addington, Lee, Feith, and a dozen others for International War Crimes.
DeletePelosi took "impeachment off the table," ostensibly to grow the Democratic position in DC, but really to protect her own ass and the others in the Gang of 8 who knew about the War Crimes and said nothing. Pelosi and Feinstein are just as culpable as the Bush cabal, because they are accessories.
And so is Obama, because he has *done* nothing to protest these actions, and everything to cover them up and protect the torturers.
I watched the first in-depth interview with Omar Kadhr, the 15-yr-old Canadian boy who was accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier in afghanistan. He was under the influence of his father -- the only reason he was there -and, while he should have been treated as a prisoner of war, he was arrested, tortured in Baghram and eventually sent to Gitmo for 8 years. The torture and horrors he endured -- as a teenager -- made me shudder in horror that any country could treat a human being as he was treated. The American public really needs to know, and to actually SEE, the beastly, inhumane manner in which prisoners are treated. There is no excuse for it, no matter what Darth cheney and the cabal of inhuman Bushies might say about extracting information. Omar pled guilty to try and stop the horrible things being done to him. It literally made me sick to my stomach.
ReplyDeleteFortunately he is now back in Canada, released on bail and living with the lawyer who spent over 8 years trying to secure his release. PM Harper desperately wants him back in prison, but I'm keeping fingers crossed that he will eventually be released as a free man.
What a grifting asshole.
ReplyDeleteGuy Who Staged Anti-Muslim Hate Rally Now Wants You To Give Him $10 Million ‘For Protection’
The organizer of an anti-Muslim hate rally in Phoenix, Arizona now says he needs patriots to donate $10 million to him so that his family can be safe from Muslims – even though none threatened him.
We all saw it coming, but 10 million?!
According to Jon Ritzheimer, he doesn’t fear for his own safety (because he’s a tough guy) but his family has been put in harm’s way by his actions, and therefore he humbly asks that Fox News watchin’, Muslim-hatin’ America lovers please give him $10 million so he can fortify his house. Given the price tag, this involves coating the entire thing with diamond-embedded gold – you know, to keep out the moslems.
But don’t worry, skeptics and cynics, he swears he needs it!
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/06/01/guy-who-staged-anti-muslim-hate-rally-now-wants-you-to-give-him-10-million-for-protection/
When 250 Anti-Muslim Protesters Turned Up With Guns, This Phoenix Mosque Invited Them In For Evening Prayers (VIDEO)
Deletehttp://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/06/01/when-250-anti-muslim-protesters-turned-up-with-guns-this-phoenix-mosque-invited-them-in-for-evening-prayers-video/
Phoenix mosque protest organizer launches $10 million fundraising bid — fails miserably
Deletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/phoenix-mosque-protest-organizer-launches-10-million-fundraising-bid-fails-miserably/
This article/analysis about that FB rant the other day is priceless!
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin Re-Emerges with a Seemingly Drunken Facebook Rant About Martin O’Malley and the “Democrat Party”
http://thedailybanter.com/2015/06/sarah-palin-re-emerges-with-a-drunken-facebook-rant-about-martin-omalley-and-the-democrat-party/
It seems to me that the Republicans are suffering from chronic short term memory loss. They think the release of these videos will harm Pres. Obama. But they forget, everything single thing happening at Gitmo can be laid at the feet of GW Bush and the Republican-led Congress. Yes, Miss Graham, I'm looking at you, bitch.
ReplyDeleteOf course it will and should harm Pres. Obama. His DOJ was too busy going after gay service members and whistleblowers, and is still too busy going after the latter, to go after the Bush war criminals. In fact Obama gave them a pass from the get go. So any Democrat calling for BushCo heads needs to remember exactly who has prevented that from happening. And his name begins with "O."
DeleteRight. So what was he supposed to do? Take office and immediately give up his plans for health care to go after Bush and Co? That would have ended well. He couldn't even get Congress to close Gitmo, how would he have gotten them to indict Bush? Be realistic. Obama wanted Gitmo closed. Congress raised all sorts of roadblocks, and it hasn't happened. We can only hope that it will now. Torture is wrong. Always has been; always will be. I hate that these prisoners were not released, and were tortured. But frankly, I don't see that as strictly Obama's fault.
DeleteRead the book "The Presidents' Club" by Gibbs and Duffy. It will explain why no current President has never, and will never, hold a former President responsible for anything. Remember Ford pardoning Nixon? Just one example......
DeleteExcuses, excuses, 10:30. You either follow the law or you don't and you either apply it impartially or you don't. And if you don't, you show your ass to the world. Don't expect it to go unnoticed.
DeleteThe real reason the Obama administration's DOJ exempted the Bush war criminals from the U.S. legal code is to set the precedence for protecting its own law ignoring ass.
When the Bush Administration passed the Patriot Act and violated the Geneva Conventions, and his executive orders on secret rendition, etc. were put into place the Democrats in office, the ACLU, and many, many citizens ALL said if you do this, then the next President will be able to do so as well. The Republicans thought they would hold the White House and Congress for the foreseeable future. Now that Obama is POTUS, all of a sudden, what was so wonderful, is now so bad. And OF COURSE the CIA, FBI and the rest are still chock full of Bush Jr. era appointees. It will be very interesting to see what happens with a lot of festering sores in Goverment agencies now that we have a new sheriff in the DOJ. I think its juicily ironic that her name is Lynch.
DeleteThis is what needs to happen to cheny and bush. Everyone think on this the collective thought will happen similarly.
ReplyDeleteThis should have been released while Cheyney and Bush were in office. I guarantee GITMO would have been closed. I saw a similar procedure in a hospital setting in a film about anorexia. Apparently, at the time, they thought it would help "restore her appetite". And, apparently they were wrong.
ReplyDeleteI understand the why of not wanting this released, it'll cause more kickback from the terrorists. What bothers me is is what good will it do? If closing GITMO for good by forcing the President's hand, then it's a good thing.
War is hell and horrible things happen, but this will remind the GOP of the atrocities under the previous administration. What I'd like to see is releasing them all and building them a brand new home right near a certain ranch in Crawford Texas.