Who's Responsible for Torture?

By James O. Goldsborough
Wednesday, May 13, 2009

... The CIA asked for the opinions on ten interrogation techniques it had been using, including slapping, cramped confinement, waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation and confinement with insects. Bybee, the principal author, who was subsequently appointed by Bush to the federal bench in the Ninth Circuit, California's circuit, approved them all.

Bybee's arguments are ludicrous, as was his appointment, and now that Justice has recommended disciplinary action, we can hope Congress begins impeachment proceedings against him. In his extraordinary memo, this lawyer/judge goes through the interrogation methods one by one, concluding that none of them constitutes torture.

Though the U.S. Code defines torture as both physical and mental, for Bybee torture only involves techniques that leave marks (How do you detect mental marks?), which he defines as "severe beating with weapons such as clubs" and "the burning of prisoners." Waterboarding, a technique used to simulate drowning and imminent death, is not torture, he says, because it does not inflict "prolonged mental harm."

What kind of a judge is this? ...

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/05/15/opinion/goldsborough051309.txt

x(

This is so twisted, so horrible, and such a bad opinion lacking in all research, judgment, reasoning, or legal backing that this guy should be a laughing stock among all judges.

But I hope he gets far worse than just laughed at. I hope he gets serious jail time for his hack judgment that allowed the CIA to get away with torture. He deserves to spend a long time in jail. If what we are hearing is correct, that approximately 100 people DIED while being interrogated because of torture then he is an accessory to their murders.
:grr:

When everything finally comes out into the light of day, I wonder how far we'll find the torture went. Was it just the CIA and a few of their contractors? Or did the military have people doing this too? Were other agencies in there torturing people? What is the true scope of this?