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The New York Times: "All too often in the past, the judges pointed out, secrecy privileges have been used to avoid embarrassing the government, not to protect real secrets. In this case, the embarrassment and the shame to America's reputation are already too well known."

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed. (photo: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)

Torture Is a Crime, Not a Secret

The New York Times | Editorial

09 September 10

Five men who say the Bush administration sent them to other countries to be tortured had a chance to be the first ones to have torture claims heard in court. But because the Obama administration decided to adopt the Bush administration's claim that hearing the case would divulge state secrets, the men's lawsuit was tossed out on Wednesday by the full United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The decision diminishes any hope that this odious practice will finally receive the legal label it deserves: a violation of international law.

The lawsuit was brought in 2007 against a Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan, that the plaintiffs said had arranged the rendition flights that took them to Morocco, Egypt and Afghanistan to be tortured. One of the men, Binyam Mohamed, had his bones broken in Morocco, where security agents also cut his skin with a scalpel and poured a stinging liquid into his wounds.

Comments

+18 # Guest 2010-09-09 09:11

Another example of how deeply divided this country in almost every aspect. We do not have a civil war, but a civil struggle over basic human values. Half the country would rather believe in our moral superiority which gives us rights to do that for which we condemn others than to face facts and deal with them honestly. The half which is capable of accepting the facts seem helpless and unable to get notice or enough support to get us back on track. Sometimes, I have trouble remembering when or if we were on track. This slow motion train wreck has gone on and on and on with no signs of ending.

+1 # Guest 2010-09-10 00:15

With so many issues overwhelming us, this one should be paramount above all. What is now established is the pinacle of American exceptionalism. As a nation, we are above the law. There is no degradation of everything we claim to hold sacred as national values that can't be dismissed in the service of whatever definition of "national security" prevails at the time. This of course degrades national security for all practical purposes. They do it and it's terrorism. We do it and it's national security or some other astounding excuse...all the worse because torture simply doesn't work for producing usable intelligence. This is so well documented, so well researched and so well known that only a genuine bastard could argue in favor of it, or refuse to presecute it.
Well folks, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has just validated 9/11. How does it make you feel to know that the world is justified in its' growing hatred of us? Makes me proud to be a decorated vet.

+15 # Guest 2010-09-09 09:28

The NYT editorial has it right this time, and Obama seems to have caved again rather than upholding his own oft-repeated values regarding torture. Americans are more tolerant of torture than people from most if not all of the over "developed" nations, but it is nevertheless a fundamental violation of the values of our forefathers and foremothers when we violate international agreements, engage in or facilitate torture, and fail to give the victims their constitutional right to have their cases heard.

+12 # Guest 2010-09-09 11:37

It's not just Obama. That there are still people still being held in isolation with a fair hearing is a crime we all share in. How have we allowed this to go on? Why do we tolerate these crimes and violations of law and our ideals? What has happened to us?

+3 # Guest 2010-09-09 17:55

Quoting

It's not just Obama. That there are still people still being held in isolation with a fair hearing is a crime we all share in. How have we allowed this to go on? Why do we tolerate these crimes and violations of law and our ideals? What has happened to us?

Seem to me that in the second sentence, the phrase should be "held in isolation WITHOUT a fair hearing'...]

+1 # Guest 2010-09-10 00:18

Quoting

It's not just Obama. That there are still people still being held in isolation with a fair hearing is a crime we all share in. How have we allowed this to go on? Why do we tolerate these crimes and violations of law and our ideals? What has happened to us?

Take comfort in the fact that "we" were not consulted; these crimes would have been committed even if "we" would have prohibited it. The Rethugliecon government, and maybe the whole of it, is anything but representative of anything but the military/industrial/corporate/congressional complex. "We" are victims of this government, although in different ways of course, just like those tortured. Revolution anyone?

+15 # Guest 2010-09-09 10:44

The United States is dangerously close to being a fascist state -- one in which corporations supplant parliament/congress/etc, and rule together with the military. Actually, some are arguing that what we are headed towards - absolute corporate tyranny (this includes "the military-industrial complex") is worse than classic 20th century fascism. In any case "we" are no longer a democracy: this ruling (and thanks to NYT editors who DO have it right, for point out the dangers) is one more nail in the coffin.

+6 # Guest 2010-09-09 17:23

In Moore's movie on capitalism, he mentions a report circulated by Citigroup to their wealthiest clients in which they applaud the movement of U.S. society from a democracy to a "plutonomy"- in which only the wealthy are able to have any significant influence on the economy. In this scenario, only a few managers and enough citizens to do the labor are necessary to maintain the lifestyle of the ruling elite. Is this where we are headed?

+4 # Guest 2010-09-09 12:54

I believe Murdoch owns stock in the New York Times so the paper can print only what he allows. Obama was bought by Wall Street, the GOP controls it so Obama abides by their rules.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-10 17:12

Quoting

Obama was bought by Wall Street, it controls him and the GOP so Obama abides by their rules.

Fixed that for you.

+6 # Guest 2010-09-09 16:09

When our country continues to imprison people without charges and to torture captives we are going to bring about our own destruction. God help us.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-10 00:22

Quoting

When our country continues to imprison people without charges and to torture captives we are going to bring about our own destruction. God help us.

We may very well be dead already and don't even know it. My son's are denouncing their citizenship and leaving the country permanently, not because they hate America but because they cannot possibly responsibly raise their families in the insane assylum that we've become. I do believe they may be right.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-10 03:01

Torture in this country has become accepted, ordinary. I've curated and organized an exhibition entitled Ordinary Torture. The show will run from Nov. 1, 2010 - Jan. 7, 2011, with an opening reception on Novemeber 10 from 6-8 and a panel discussion that I will moderate on November 1, 6-8. All events are at John Jay College for Criminal Justice and are part of a month-long Torture Awareness Campaign in November, with speakers and presenters such as Noam Chomsky, Seymour Hirsch, Jenny Holzer, etc. The exhibit itself features over 30 artists, including Dread Scott, whose controversial piece, The Proper Way to View an American Flag, was successfully defended in the Supreme Court.

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