Reagan's DOJ Prosecuted Waterboarding | Truth Commission = Whitewash | Defeat for 'State Secrets'

Rights & Liberties Newsletter April 29th, 2009 More from Rights & Liberties »

Calls For a 'Truth Commission' Will Lead to a Whitewash: We Must Keep Pressing for Prosecutions By Michael Ratner, After Downing Street The conclusion of a commission process would likely be: the U.S. shouldn't have tortured, but it was a dangerous moment after 9/11. Read more »   The following comes courtesy of our friends at Witness Against Torture, who have organized the 100 Days Campaign: On April 30th, hundreds of human rights activists will gather near the White House to call on the Obama administration to support a criminal inquiry into torture under the Bush administration and to fully break with past detention policies. At a rally at Lafayette Park at 11:15 am, members of Witness Against Torture, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition will speak out about the need for accountability and an end to Bush-era policies. At noon, sixty activists from Witness Against Torture -- each representing one of the Guantanamo inmates cleared for release but still imprisoned -- will risk arrest. "Despite early, encouraging signs," says Matthew Daloisio of Witness Against Torture, "the Obama administration has been a disappointment with respect to detainee issues and torture. President Obama has been reluctant to investigate possible, past crimes, and many of the immoral and illegal policies of the Bush administration -- from the denial of habeas rights at Bagram Air Base, to the continued detention of innocent men in Guantanamo -- remain in place. We need accountability, not immunity, and an end to the abuse of detainees. This president and many members of Congress are in office partly because of their promise to repudiate Bush's detention regime. It's time they live up to that promise." Go here to learn more about the 100 Days Campaign. Thanks for reading, Liliana Segura Editor, Rights & Liberties Special Coverage     What if Instead of the Nuremberg Trials There Was Only a Truth Commission? By Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports The lawyers who fought for the release of the torture memo explain why prosecutions, not a truth commission, are the only right thing. Read more »   Thousands of Pages of Evidence and a Quarter Million Signatures: What Will It Take For Attorney General to Prosecute Torture Crimes? By Liliana Segura, AlterNet Amid citizen outrage and news that torture was used to extract a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, Eric Holder won't say if he intends to prosecute. Read more »   Michelle Malkin and Michael Savage Use Swine Flu Crisis to Peddle Their Xenophobia By Joshua Holland, AlterNet The right-wing pundits who seized on the swine flu to push their anti-immigrant rhetoric are employing an ancient racist tactic. Read more »   The Sick Logic of the CIA Memos: Abuse Isn't Torture If a Doctor Is There By Sheri Fink, ProPublica Perhaps the most chilling aspect is that medical professionals apparently conducted a form of research on the detainees, without their consent. Read more »   Reagan's DOJ Prosecuted Texas Sheriff for Waterboarding Prisoners By Jason Leopold, TruthOut.org Ignoring the 1983 case is just one of the flagrant violations committed by Bush lawyers who crafted the newly released "torture memos." Read more »   Who Ordered the Torture of Abu Zubaydah? By Andy Worthington, AlterNet If the torture of the first "high-value detainee" was authorized by the Bybee memos, who ordered his torture 18 weeks before they were written? Read more »   PEEK and Video: The hottest buzz and videos on the web     Anti-Torture Activists to Rally, Commit Civil Disobedience at White House Witness Against Torture Protesters will demand prosecution of U.S. torture and the release of innocent detainees. Read more »   Federal Court to Obama DOJ: 'State Secrets' Excuse is Bogus, Torture Victims' Lawsuit Can Proceed By Liliana Segura, AlterNet In a crucial defeat for the Obama administration, an ACLU lawsuit on behalf of five victims of extraordinary rendition will move forward. Read more »   George W. Bush Thinks the Bush-Era Torture Should Be Investigated By Steve Benen, Washington Monthly If Democrats are looking for an excuse to do the right thing, they don't have to say much more than, "We're doing what Bush told us to do." Read more »   Cop Tasers Minor Five Times for Not Getting Off His Bike Fast Enough By Digby, Hullabaloo Is the government is allowed to shoot citizens with electricity solely because they fail to do what agents of the government tell them to do? Read more »

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