Taxi to the Dark Side Page #14

Even after the Abu Ghraib photographs.

And I think that shows the way that this kind of popular culture has built a constituency for torture,

which allows the Bush White House to get away with the way it twists laws and treaties,

and doesn't spark popular outrage.

On a conservative radio show,

Vice-President Dick Cheney openly defended the practice of waterboarding.

[Scott Hennen, WDAY North Dakota] Would you agree, a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?

[Dick Cheney, Vice President] Well, um, it's a no-brainer for me,

but for a while there I was criticized as being the Vice President for torture.

["President" George W. Bush] We do not condone torture!

[Scott Horton, Attorney] "We do not torture"! Footnote: "As we define torture.

Which means exactly what we wish it to mean, and nothing else."

In the elections of 2006, the Bush Administration openly campaigned for harsh techniques the rest of the world defined as torture.

Bush and Cheney played on the fears of voters and politicians.

If Congress didn't give them the power to do whatever was necessary, how could Americans be safe?

["President" George W. Bush] In addition to the terrorists held at Guantanamo, a small number of suspected terrorist leaders

and operatives captured during the war have been held and questioned outside the United States

in a separate program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Some ask, "Why you are acknowledging this program now?"

Some believe our Military and Intelligence personnel involved in capturing and questioning terrorists

could now be at risk of prosecution under the War Crimes Act!

Simply for doing their jobs in a thorough and professional way!

This is unacceptable!

The President was forced to disclose his secret CIA program when the Supreme Court acted to limit his wartime powers.

In the historic Hamdan decision,

the Court ruled that interrogations and trials of terrorists would be governed by the Geneva Conventions.

["President" George W. Bush] This debate is occurring because of the Supreme Court's ruling that said we must conduct ourselves

under the Common Article III of the Geneva Convention.

And that Common Article III says that there will be no outrages upon human dignity.

It's a, it's a, it's a, like...it's very vague! What does that mean?

[Senator Carl Levin, Senate Armed Services Committee] Do you believe that the use of testimony

which is obtained through techniques such as waterboarding, stress positions, intimidating use of military dogs,

sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, forced nudity would be consistent with Common Article III?

[Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General] Well, sir, I think that most importantly, I can't imagine that such testimony would be reliable.

[Senator John McCain] Mr. Attorney General, do you believe that statements obtained through illegal, inhumane treatment should be admissible?

[Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General] Senator, well, again...I'll say this: the concern I would have about such a prohibition is,

"What does it mean?" "How do you define it?"

And WHO would define it? The Bush Administration introduced a new law

that would elude the restrictions of the Supreme Court.

[Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell] In a legal sense, I think they wanted to discard the Constitution.

And they wanted to write a new one. But you can't do that.

So what you do is you throw a new interpretation on the old one.

And the new interpretation is the Executive in wartime

And perhaps this war is going to last forever...is all powerful.

Congress gave the President most of what he wanted.

He would agree to abide by the Geneva Conventions so long as HE could define their meaning and application.

A few detainees at Guantanamo might be put on trial. But the rest would no longer have access to habeas corpus:

The fundamental legal right to challenge their detention.

Planning a run for President, even Senator McCain voted for the bill

soon after the Bush Administration threatened to discredit him with Conservative voters.

[The Cafferty File...Immunity from War Crimes?] Buried deep inside this legislation is a provision that will pardon President Bush

and all the members of his Administration of any possible crimes

connected to the torture and mistreatment of detainees dated all the way back to September 11, 2001.

At least President Nixon had Gerald Ford to do his dirty work. President Bush is trying to pardon himself.

The pardon did not extend to frontline soldiers.

[PFC. Willie Brand, Convicted: Assault, Maiming, Maltreatment] The trial was a very confusing time for me, because I've never been through a trial before.

I didn't know what was really going on. I kind of just understood that, you know,

I was facing a lot of time in jail. That's the only thing I really understood about the whole thing.

[SGT. Anthony Morden, Pled Guilty to: Assault, Dereliction of Duty] Well, I was sent to jail, to a Military Correctional facility.

I've lost my full-time job. I have a bad-conduct discharge

Wwhich has hindered me in getting a new job in the same field.

I...financially it's just devastated me.

I'm just glad it's over. That's it. Glad I can get on with my life.

I had to plead guilty to assault, and two counts of dereliction of duty.

In exchange, they would say that I could go to jail for no more than four months.

Rather than spend the money that was being spent for that trial,

I think it could have been better spent in working on Army doctrine to make sure that other people

go into battle properly equipped, properly led, and with a full understanding as to what their new roles and responsibilities are.

[William Cassara, Damien Corsetti's Attorney] When a detainee is abused, or a detainee claims abuse,

they want somebody to take the fall for it.

And it's not going to be the person with eagles or stars on their shoulder.

No officer was ever convicted in the Dilawar case.

Following her service at Abu Ghraib, Capt. Carolyn Wood was given a staff position

at the Army Interrogation School in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

[Scott Horton, Attorney] What does that reflect in terms of Senior Leadership's intentions?

Not to eradicate the abuse, but to perpetuate the abuse.

I think the probabilities exist that there will be other terrorist attacks. That more Americans will die.

And the argument that we have to apply abuse to detainees in order to protect American lives,

I find to be violative of our deepest values And to the very safety of our country.

We fight not only to protect lives. We fight to protect our principles.

[Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell] If you say, over the course of Afgan,

GTMO and Iraq, we've detained 50,000 people, I'd say that less than 1% were terrorists.

Were some of them insurgents? Probably.

Were almost all of them in Iraq, in particular, going to become insurgents after their treatment? Yes.

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