This video from the USA is called BUSH TORTURE POLICY: John Yoo and David Addington @ Congress.
From the Conservative Daily Telegraph in England:
November 17th, 2008 11:26 am
George W Bush could pardon spies involved in torture
By Tim Shipman
Senior intelligence officers are lobbying the outgoing president to look after the men and women who could face charges for following his orders in the war on terrorism.
Many fear that Barack Obama, who has pledged to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and put an end to the policy of extraordinary rendition, could launch a legal witch hunt against those who oversaw the policies after he is sworn in on Jan 20.
Most vulnerable are US intelligence officers who took part in intensive interrogations against terrorist suspects, using techniques including water boarding, which many believe crossed the line into torture.
Come on …. “legal witch hunt”??!! If, during the Obama presidency, child rapists or serial murderers would be indicted, would that be “witch hunting” those as well? Torture is a crime according to law. Enough said.
However, it would be a shame if people practicing torture like private Lynndie England would go to jail, while higher ups like Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld who ordered that torture, would go scot free.
Bush Pardons Offenders: Should Prisoner Torturers Be Among Them? Here.
Would Bush pre-emptively pardon Rumsfeld? Here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Obama Advisers: U.S. Torturers Will Walk
[T]he plan is to put a stop to current interrogation methods and to “look forward” as opposed to focusing on prior transgressions.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_admin_wont_prosecure_Bush_war_1117.html
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Congratulations! Just one week ago we asked you to launch a massive movement against pardons by signing a petition to your Representatives. Over 46,000 of you took action and Congress took notice.
On Friday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced H.Res. 1531 urging President Bush not to pardon senior administration officials for crimes the President authorized. It notes:
President George W. Bush may have committed crimes involving the mistreatment of detainees, the extraordinary rendition of individuals to countries known to engage in torture, illegal surveillance of United States citizens, unlawful leaks of classified information, obstruction of justice, political interference with the conduct of the Justice Department, and other illegal acts
and that
Bush has been urged to grant preemptive pardons to senior administration officials who might face criminal prosecution for actions taken in the course of their official duties
Nadler’s resolution urges Congress to investigate those crimes and any pardons relating to them, and urges the Attorney General (current or future) to appoint an Independent Counsel to prosecute those crimes.
These are major steps towards holding George Bush, Dick Cheney, and other senior officials accountable for their crimes and thereby upholding the rule of law, rather than allowing Presidents to become dictators.
Rep. Nadler’s leadership is crucial because he chairs the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and can use his credibility and clout to move the resolution forward either during the lame duck session in December or when the next Congress convenes on January 6.
So our next step is to persuade as many Representatives as possible to co-sponsor H.Res. 1531. Please sign our new petition:
http://www.democrats.com/nadler-pardons?cid=ZGVtczE0MDA2MmRlbXM=
We also encourage you to call your Representative at 202-224-3121 and speak with the Legislative Assistant who handles Judiciary matters.
If your Representative says (s)he will co-sponsor, please let us know by commenting on our resolution “whipping” page:
http://www.democrats.com/nadler-pardon-resolution
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik
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Posted by: “frankofbos” FrankOfBos@yahoo.com
Fri Nov 28, 2008 11:46 pm (PST)
Bush History: “Why are we talking about this in the White House?
History will not judge this kindly” 11/29
A Bush insider acknowledges the shame brought upon our nation, in sharp
contrast to Bush’s statement on this date that the US “does not
torture”. ABC will reveal that US torture operations were directed from
the White House itself. Also, the US gives millions in tax dollars to a
GOP group to actually HINDER an Iraqi free press! What happened to
encouraging democratic principles?
http://poorgeorgesalmanac.com/?p=964
Today’s category: Corruption/Conflicts of Interest, Human Rights/Human
Wrongs, Hypocrisy, Iraq
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Posted by: “frankofbos” FrankOfBos@yahoo.com
Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:55 pm (PST)
Bush History: Bush Adds USA to List that Includes the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge, WWII Japan 11/30
President Bush adds the USA to a list that includes Hitler’s Nazis,
Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot), and WWII era Japan. Bush high-level
insiders and military authorities admit Bush has OK’ed what they would
consider to be torture, even if the president denies it. And our
allies? According to a Navy Commander: “They call it for what it is,
torture”.
http://poorgeorgesalmanac.com/?p=972
Today’s category: Human Rights/Human Wrongs
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Dear Activist,
Congratulations! Just one week ago we asked you to launch a massive movement against pardons by signing a petition to your Representatives. Over 46,000 of you took action and Congress took notice.
On Friday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced H.Res. 1531 urging President Bush not to pardon senior administration officials for crimes the President authorized. It notes:
President George W. Bush may have committed crimes involving the mistreatment of detainees, the extraordinary rendition of individuals to countries known to engage in torture, illegal surveillance of United States citizens, unlawful leaks of classified information, obstruction of justice, political interference with the conduct of the Justice Department, and other illegal acts
and that
Bush has been urged to grant preemptive pardons to senior administration officials who might face criminal prosecution for actions taken in the course of their official duties
Nadler’s resolution urges Congress to investigate those crimes and any pardons relating to them, and urges the Attorney General (current or future) to appoint an Independent Counsel to prosecute those crimes .
These are major steps towards holding George Bush, Dick Cheney, and other senior officials accountable for their crimes and thereby upholding the rule of law, rather than allowing Presidents to become dictators.
Rep. Nadler’s leadership is crucial because he chairs the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and can use his credibility and clout to move the resolution forward either during the lame duck session in December or when the next Congress convenes on January 6.
So our next step is to persuade as many Representatives as possible to co-sponsor H.Res. 1531. Please sign our new petition :
http://www.democrats.com/nadler-pardons?cid=ZGVtczE0MDA2MmRlbXM=
We also encourage you to call your Representative at 202-224-3121 and speak with the Legislative Assistant who handles Judiciary matters.
If your Representative says (s)he will co-sponsor, please let us know by commenting on our resolution “whipping” page:
http://www.democrats.com/nadler-pardon-resolution
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik
#####
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Spain’s Secret Role in the War on Terror
By Lisa Abend / Madrid Tuesday, Dec. 02, 2008
“However, if, for unseen reasons, an emergency landing were necessary, the U.S. government would like the Spanish government’s authorization to use one of our airports.”
In normal times, the request would be superfluous. International aviation law and a separate bilateral agreement between Spain and the United States both require all airports in the two countries to permit emergency landings. But the flights the Spanish note refers to were far from normal. The year was 2002 and the U.S. Air Force was transferring Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners from Afghanistan to a U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. Washington wanted to know if Spain could help.
It could. On Nov. 30, Spain’s El Pais newspaper published a document, marked “top secret,” that proves that high-ranking officials within the former government of Jose Maria Aznar, including the foreign minister Josep Pique, not only had knowledge of, but gave permission to the United States to use military bases in Spain for layovers during the long flight from Afghanistan to Cuba. (See pictures from inside Guantanamo.)
“The arrests of the people on board those flights were made without lawyers, without a judge’s authorization,” says Esteban Beltran, president of the Spanish branch of Amnesty International, which has conducted its own investigation into the secret flights. “Which means that the Spanish government colluded with illegal detentions.”
Just hours after Spain’s foreign affairs ministry communicated its assent to the U.S. embassy request on January 11, 2002, a flight took off from a military base in Moron, in southern Spain. “From our investigation using Portugal’s registry, we know that the plane originated in Kandahar, landed at Moron, crossed Portuguese air space, and continued on to Cuba,” says Beltran. “The 23 people onboard inaugurated Guantanamo.”
Spain’s government was clearly aware that the flights were of questionable legality. A separate document sent from the Spanish section of the Permanent Hispano-North American Committee and published in Monday’s El Pais suggests that out of the three U.S. military airports in Spain, Moron would be the “most discrete.” That same report urged its recipients to consider that “some of the people transported could have European nationality” and to “weigh the legal consequences.”
The Aznar government and its Socialist successor have long claimed ignorance of these military flights to Guantanamo, believed to number 13. On the day of the first El Pais story, current foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told the press that he had had “no knowledge of the report” prior to its publication, and called for an internal investigation to locate any other related documents. “Our government is committed to the defense of human rights,” Moratinos said. “We have nothing to hide.”
Both Amnesty and the European Parliament have found evidence that the CIA also used civilian airports in Spain on 68 different occasions between 2002 and 2005 for layovers on flights used for the transport of suspected terrorists.
Spain’s national court has opened an investigation into the CIA flights, and it’s possible that the reports published in El Pais are part of the documentation submitted to the presiding judge. But the question of why these documents have surfaced now remains a mystery. “We have no idea where this came from,” says a spokesperson at the foreign ministry. “It was very surprising.”
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1863264,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-world
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CommonDreams.org – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community
Tuesday 12.16.08
Headlines…
Cheney Admits Key Role in Torture
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/16-1
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Will Bush Pardon Cheney on Christmas Eve?
On Christmas Eve 1992, defeated President George H.W. Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger, Elliott Abrams, Duane Clarridge, Alan Fiers, Clair George, and Robert McFarlane for their Iran-Contra crimes. Not one served a single day in jail; Weinberger was about to go on trial and would have tied Bush himself to the scandal.
Will George W. Bush follow his father’s precedent and pardon Dick Cheney and his other criminal co-conspirators this Wednesday on Christmas Eve?
Last week, Cheney was all over TV setting the stage for pardons. He admitted he personally approved torture, but insisted it destroyed Al Qaeda and saved American lives.
According to a powerful article by David Rose in Vanity Fair, the Bush-Cheney torture regime accomplished exactly the opposite. The torture photos from Abu Ghraib helped Al Qaeda’s recruitment soar. U.S. officers in Iraq say torture-inspired attacks on U.S. soldiers were the #1 and #2 cause of soldiers’ deaths. CIA analysts say the “intelligence” produced by torture was worthless.
On November 20, Rep. Jerrold Nadler introduced H.Res. 1531 to urge Bush not to pardon his criminal co-conspirators. Nadler’s bill has 9 co-sponsors but we need every Representative (and Senator) to speak out against corrupt self-pardons.
If you haven’t signed our petition to Congress, please join over 48,000 who have:
http://democrats.com/nadler-pardons
Discuss this here:
http://www.democrats.com/will-bush-pardon-cheney-on-christmas-eve
_______________________
Urge Eric Holder to Appoint a Special Prosecutor for Bush War Crimes
Last week three important Democrats – Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Sen. Carl Levin, and VP-elect Joe Biden – independently urged the Attorney General to investigate Dick Cheney’s torture confession. A growing chorus of newspapers (NY Times) and legal scholars (John Dean, Glenn Greenwald) agrees.
Prosecution of those responsible for torture is not optional – it is required by our obligations under the Geneva Conventions.
So we’ve joined forces with buhdydharma and the Docudharma community to petition Obama’s AG nominee, Eric Holder, to appoint a Special Prosecutor.
Holder replied after receiving a few hundred emails: “Enough folks. I hear you.” That’s a start, but we’ve asked for a formal statement. And we’re collecting additional signatures to deliver when Holder goes before the Senate for confirmation hearings in January.
Please sign and spread the word!
http://democrats.com/special-prosecutor-for-bush-war-crimes
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Posted by: “frankofbos” FrankOfBos@yahoo.com
Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:14 am (PST)
Bush History: Bush’s Dropping Military Support, Enduring Big-Pharma
Support 12/22…
Today in Bush History, 12/22…
Bush’s Dropping Military Support, Enduring Big-Pharma Support
On this date we have reports of Bush’s dropping military support, and
of Bush’s enduring support for big-pharma. As one senator points
out, “The pharmaceutical industry has bought off the White House”.
Also getting a mention: It’s Blago!
Meanwhile, the annual Military Times poll describes dropping support
for Bush’s Iraq war amongst service members.
More details, from the 2009 Bush Blunder Calendar …
http://poorgeorgesalmanac.com/?p=1228
Today’s category: Failing the Troops, Iraq, The Corporation’s Yes Man
2.
Bush History – Spending Your Tax Money to Distort Researcher’s Findings
Posted by: “frankofbos” FrankOfBos@yahoo.com
Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:11 pm (PST)
So typically Bush. Here’s a fine waste of money: On this date we have
an example of Bush once again spending your tax money to distort
researcher’s findings. The truth is out there. President Bush just
doesn’t want you to hear it.
More details, from the 2009 Bush Blunder Calendar …
http://poorgeorgesalmanac.com/?p=1236
Today’s category: Manipulating Research
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Prosecute Cheney or Legalize Marijuana? Decide Today.
On December 15, Vice President Cheney admitted on national TV that he authorized torture, including waterboarding. That shocking confession makes Cheney a war criminal . But apart from Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow , the Corporate Media barely noticed.
Under the Geneva Conventions, the United States must prosecute Dick Cheney for war crimes. So we submitted this question to President-elect Obama at Change.gov:
“Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor – ideally Patrick Fitzgerald – to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?”
-Bob Fertik, New York City
At the end of the first round on December 15, our Special Prosecutor question was #6 but Obama’s team only answered the first five , including one on the legalization of marijuana.
The second round began on 12/30 and ends at midnight on 12/31. Once again, marijuana legalization is #1. We need your help to make our Special Prosecutor question #1!
1. Sign in at http://change.gov/openforquestions
2. Search for ” Fitzgerald ”
3. This will display several similar questions, so look carefully for “Bob Fertik”
4. Look right for the checkbox, mouseover it so it goes from white to dark, then click to cast your vote
As Ari Melber writes in The Nation,
With so few journalists directly asking the President-Elect about [torture and war crimes prosecution], it is up to the rest of us to put accountability and the rule of law on the agenda. Change.gov is a fine place to start.
Discuss this here:
http://www.democrats.com/encourage-obama-to-appoint-a-special-prosecutor
Thanks for all you do!
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Obama Answers Our Special Prosecutor Question on TV
Thanks to you, something remarkable happened this weekend: President-elect Barack Obama answered our question asking if he will appoint a Special Prosecutor to “investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping.” Watch the video.
Because of your votes, our question was #1 on Change.gov after 4.7 million votes were cast for 76,000 questions. We received 22,779 votes; the next question (on bank bailout accountability) received 19,271.
We shocked the political and media elites who believe ordinary Americans don’t care about holding Bush and Cheney accountable for their crimes. Your votes proved them wrong!
But winning the vote didn’t guarantee an answer; Obama tried to dodge the question by recycling an evasive answer from Joe Biden.
Obama’s strategy backfired. Bloggers like Ari Melber of The Nation objected. Then MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann discussed our question with John Dean on Friday. Then on Sunday, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Obama our question on This Week. Obama replied:
If nobody is above the law, then Obama must prosecute those who broke it. That’s why Obama’s very first act is swearing the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
But Obama should not spend his time “looking backwards” and neither should his Attorney General. That is exactly why we want a Special Prosecutor who will pay no attention to politics and simply enforce the law.
And the Special Prosecutor should target the highest officials who have admitted on TV they authorized torture: George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and their thoroughly corrupt lawyers. No one else should have to “look over their shoulders” or “lawyer up.”
So we need your help again to continue our efforts to persuade President-elect Obama to appoint a Special Prosecutor. Please vote for our question again at a great independent website called change.org (not Obama’s change.gov):http://tinyurl.com/5ohjyl
You can also vote for 9 other questions. We hope you’ll also vote for “Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties.”http://tinyurl.com/8ovtnt
Voting closes Thursday at 5 pm and the the top 10 finishers will be announced at the National Press Club on Friday – so please vote today.
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik
_______________________
Inaugural Events in Washington DC
Are you coming to Washington DC for the historic inauguration of President Obama?
There are dozens of progressive events taking place:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/inauguralevents
And if you live in the DC area, there are even more progressive events throughout January:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/january
Some of the most committed Democrats.com members and friends marched in Washington DC wearing death masks to remind Congress about the victims of America’s wars. Bill Moyers discussed the march on his PBS show:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efm9uAnUU00
Together we’re making a difference!
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