Andrew McLemore
Raw Story
July 13, 2008
In
a secret report last year, the Red Cross found
evidence of the CIA using torture on prisoners
that would make the Bush administration guilty
of war crimes, The New York Times reported
Friday.
The Red Cross determined the culpability of the
Bush administration after interviewing prisoners
at Guantanamo Bay, according to the article.
Prisoner Abu Zubaydahwho said he had been
waterboarded, "slammed against the walls" and
confined in boxes "so small he said he had to
double up his limbs in the fetal position."
The information comes from a new book written by
Jane Meyer, who has frequently published
articles concerning counter-terrorism in The New
Yorker.
The book is titled "The Dark Side: The Inside
Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War
on American Ideals," and will be released next
week.
Mayer cited "sources familiar with the report"
to explain the confidential document as a
warning "that the abuse constituted war crimes,
placing the highest officials in the U.S.
government in jeopardy of being prosecuted."
The report was submitted to CIA last year and
concluded that American interrogation methods
are "categorically" torture that violates both
domestic and international law, MSNBC’s Rachel
Maddow reported Friday.
Although the CIA had already admitted to the use
of waterboarding, Meyer says in the book that
several CIA officers confirm the findings of the
Red Cross, including the other forms of torture
mentioned.
Maddow called George W. Bush a
"torture-approver-in-chief who has yet to be
held to account for anything" and said that
congressman Dennis Kucinich had reintroduced his
articles of
impeachment against the president.
Maddow questioned constitutional law expert
Johnathan Turley about the development.
"The problem for the bush admin is that they
perfected plausible deniability techniques,"
Turley said. "They bring out one or two people
that are willing to debate on cable shows
whether waterboarding is torture and it leaves
the impression that its a closed question.
"It’s not. It’s just like the domestic
surveillance program that the federal court said
just a week ago was also not just a closed
question."
When asked by Maddow if the chances are now
greater that Bush will be prosecuted now or
after leaving office by the international
community, Turley compared the situation to
Serbia in the early 90s.
"I’d never thought I would say this, but I think
it might in fact be time for the United States
to be held internationally to a tribunal. I
never thought in my lifetime I would say that."
