Thank you so much for this - Marcy touched on the contractor part of the equation at FDL, but your post ties things together. I was hoping you'd flesh out the details, and here you are!
Posted by Twinky P* at April 25, 2009 09:11 AMThe Republicans, and the MSM, are succeeding in their tactic of making this an argument about whether or not torture is torture. This is the same tactic they've used on Global Warming and Evolution. "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" is like "Clean Coal," a meaningless phrase to disguise a filthy sordid mess. The media eats it up because it protects their Republican pals and promotes more "He said, She said" journalism.
Dems have to get out of this argument and move straight to investigation and prosecution. There is already plenty of established law on torture. Let's use it.
Posted by johnny at April 25, 2009 09:33 AMExcellent point.
Posted by spocko at April 25, 2009 11:42 AMThey Are Telling Us They Will Torture Again
Great diary by an old favorite -
The latest argument the Republicans are making is that investigating torture is nothing more than 'criminalizing policy differences'.
...
Torture is a policy, over which administrations can disagree, and the full implication of this argument is that they fully intend to use it again when and if they regain power.
Seems pretty clear to me.
Posted by Twinky P* at April 25, 2009 12:37 PMTorture, revenge, fear, hate, divisivness...it's all they got...
Reference the right wing apologists who on a daily basis come here and spew propaganda and lies, with a fuck you attitude...
It's all they got...no solutions, no actual thought or consideration, no ideas..nuttin, nada, zip, zilch..
yep troll sewer scum it is you I refer to
Posted by headxray at April 25, 2009 01:24 PMIn looking for additional ineffective private contractors ignorant of the activities they were supposed to do, how about the people sent to Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion to rebuild the country? I wonder if all of them were working directly for the government or whether some of them were part of "privatized" efforts so favored by Republicans. I'll bet a lot of them were working for private contractors.
Posted by RAM at April 25, 2009 03:23 PMGreat post and dot connecting this common theme occuring during that time. All these external contractors all working diligently during the run up to the Iraq War to make Dick Cheney and his Neocon created facts fit to his policy. Plus it was an end around Congress.
Chalk this contractor thingy up to another lesson learned from Darth's previous scandals years ago. If these evil bastards aren't investigated and prosecuted for this and serious heads rolled here, I can't imagine just what Darth's lessons learned file will be years from now on the torturing for fabricated confessions and going to war all based on lies.
Posted by emal at April 25, 2009 03:34 PMWhen that whole scandal broke out at the CIA with Dusty Foggo under Goss didn't Foggo's have ties with a company that had some sort of defense contracts with the Gov including classified CIA contracts. It was always my understanding that whatever the heck the scandal was Goss paid the price and resigned rather quickly to keep it out of the spotlight??? This isn't something that I paid too much attention to so maybe I way out of line...but I'm just bringing it up because it was CIA and there was a scandal when Goss was running it and he did leave rather quickly if my memory serves me correctly. It's got all the main players and theme that are bandied about now complete with independent contract work for the CIA.
Posted by emal at April 25, 2009 05:11 PMWhen Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld started farming out torture to contractors, it stopped just being torture and became Torture For Profit...no doubt with incentive bonuses awarded to contract torturers for Results, Results, Results...based upon what Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld were seeking in the way of information from detainees...whether this information was the next planned attack by al Qaeda inside America, or in 2002, any links between al Qaeda and Iraq that could be exploited by BushCo in their pre-war propaganda campaign, and after March 2003 (like at Abu Ghraib) any information about the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein and his sons (who were on the loose through much of 2003), any information about al Qaeda-in-Iraq attacks on U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians, and definitely any information on the location of the stockpiled WMD that Hussein was claimed to have had before the start of hostilities in March 2003.
BushCo talking heads said after 9/11 that the gloves were off, but in the case of the contractors who were in it for profit, profit, profit, the gloves were never on in the first place...which probably means that the most extreme instances of torture were committed by the contractors, who were intent upon fulfilling their contract, providing information to Bush/Cheney/Rumsfled as daily and relentlessly demanded.
I can see Cheney and Rumsfeld scanning transcripts daily of detainee interrogations (Bush probably didn't) which may explain, at least in Cheney's case, his needing a man-sized safe in his office, to store, and keep safe, and hide the evidence of torture, of the tens of thousands of documents that must have been generated through "enhanced interrogation techniques" (i.e. torture) by CIA interrogators and contractors alike.
If you noticed, President Obama has not signed an executive order ordering Dick Cheney to turn over the man-sized safe and all government documents therein (or any government documents ever contained therein) as well as all other government documents he may have carried off with him, nor have Democrats in Congress passed a law specifically targeting Dick Cheney and threatening him with jail time if he doesn't return all the government documents (including those related to his torture program) that he had boxed up and carted off, in direct violation of the law...oh, wait, Dick Cheney's office of the vice-presidency was a separate branch of government and not bound (according to his and Addington's warped, un-American reasoning) by any U.S. law or international treaty. My mistake.
Posted by The Oracle at April 26, 2009 01:49 AM