Legal advisers, high-level officials, covert operatives
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | August 17, 2006
To date, there are at least 600 covert operatives who may find themselves in need of a pardon |
Abuse of prisoners and detainees by US personnel has occurred, at the very least, at three overseas sites: Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, in Iraq; Guantánamo Bay, in Cuba; and Bagram Air Base, in Afghanistan. As of April, more than 330 cases have surfaced in which US military and civilian personnel are alleged to have abused, tortured, or killed detainees, implicating more than 600 US personnel and involving more than 460 detainees.We still do not know how widespread, severe, and systemic the abuse was. Thanks to the Washington Post’s Dana Priest’s pioneering reporting, the public learned last November that the US government is operating a “covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe.” But what exactly has transpired at these sites remains unclear. Nor do we know what transpired during the first few years at Guantánamo Bay, since US officials wouldn’t let lawyers or human-rights advocates survey the facility until 2004 — more than two years after the detention facility opened — after the Supreme Court ruled that inmates have the right to receive visits from their lawyers.
So far, only lower-echelon military personnel and one civilian contractor have been charged with abuse-related offenses, all committed at Abu Ghraib. Yet federal prosecutors have numerous resources at their disposal to uncover what happened, and to work their way up the ladder toward prosecution of any of the president’s men responsible for allowing the military and intelligence services to step outside the traditional laws of war.
Related:
Republican dirty tricks, Criminalizing the war, Resolution of the Maine Democratic State Committee, More 
- Republican dirty tricks
Late last month, readers of the conservative web site NewsMax discovered this juicy tidbit in a column by Ronald Kessler: “In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an ‘October surprise’ to help win the November congressional elections.”
- Criminalizing the war
Lieutenant Ehren Watada seems to know his chances are slim.
- Resolution of the Maine Democratic State Committee
Whereas, the Maine Democratic State Committee strongly supports the brave men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces in Iraq and recognizes the sacrifices that each of them is making; the Democratic State Committee stands ready to help these servicemen and women in any way it can.
- Getting out
- Visible man
As Tracy Kidder’s immersive journalism matures — his latest book recounts his travels through genocidal East Africa — he becomes more visible.
- Letters to the Portland editor: January 12, 2007
Maybe the Democrats in Washington owe the anti-war activists in America something.
- Rueful reflections
March 19 marks the fifth anniversary of the start of our war in Iraq.
- Iraq + surge = ???
Certain that the newly elected Democratic Congress will not end American involvement in the Iraq War, Rhode Island peace movement leaders are calling for additional demonstrations to bring US troops home.
- Sooner or later?
While interviewing Paul Greengrass, I was determined not to ask the question that has dogged United 93 like a tag line: “Is it too soon?” It didn’t matter; within five minutes he would ask it himself.
- Reignite your rage
It’s tempting, five years into the Iraq War, to regard that conflict with fatalistic resignation.
- Fighting words
Imagine that suicide bombers have just blasted three American shopping malls.
- Less
Topics:
News Features
, Politics, Criminal Sentencing and Punishment, Prisons, More
, Politics, Criminal Sentencing and Punishment, Prisons, Espionage and Intelligence, War and Conflict, U.S. Armed Forces, Central Intelligence Agency, torture, Iraq War, Afghanistan War, Less
