Democrats Ask to Recall Haynes (?'s for Judicial Nominee because of Iraq))

[Khephra]

Democrats Ask to Recall Haynes
New Questions for Judicial Nominee
By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 18, 2004; Page A17


Key Senate Democrats are pushing -- so far without success -- to reopen hearings on a top Pentagon official whose judicial nomination has become entangled in the scandal over abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. forces.

The nomination of Defense Department general counsel William J. Haynes II for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee two months ago -- well before the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke into the open.

Haynes's nomination has since been pending before the full Senate, caught in a political deadlock that is holding up action on nearly 100 nominations by President Bush, including more than 30 for circuit and district court positions. Negotiations are underway to break the logjam.

Over the past week, Judiciary Committee members Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) each have written committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) to request new hearings to explore Haynes's role in developing policy on detention and interrogation of prisoners.

more..................

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34518-2004May17.html

[crossroads]

1. Lets air him out, re-open the hearings

he (along with the rest of the crew) stinks to high heaven!
:eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

2. He should humble himself and answer the damned questions.

(snip)
Separately from the request for a hearing, Kennedy fired off a letter May 7 to Haynes with 21 specific questions about his role in the "establishment and oversight of legal standards of conduct in U.S. military prisons and detention facilities." Kennedy asked Haynes to describe the "full extent" of his role in the prison investigations, when he became aware of conditions at Abu Ghraib, what steps he took in response to Maj. Gen. Anthony M. Taguba's report on the abuses, and whether he approved sleep deprivation and "stress positions" for use in military interrogations.

Even before these questions arose, Kennedy and other Democrats complained that Haynes was not adequately forthcoming in response to their questions, especially on the constitutional rights of people detained as terrorist suspects. As a result, all nine Democrats voted "no" or "present" when the Judiciary Committee voted on Haynes in March. All 10 Republicans voted to approve his confirmation to the Richmond-based 4th Circuit bench.
(snip)

_Bush's nominees forget there are greater purposes to serve than the P.N.A.C.kers's evil domination fantasies.

[maddezmom]

3. amazing how all the "wrong doers" in the misadministration get promoted

:eyes:

[maddezmom]

4. Haynes scolds human rights officials: link

~snip~

During a February 2003 meeting, William J. Haynes II, the Pentagon's general counsel, scolded the human rights officials, saying the United States does not torture and accusing the groups of cheapening the notion of torture, recalled Holly J. Burkhalter, U.S. policy director of Physicians for Human Rights.
~snip~

In April 2003, Haynes, who is currently up for a federal judgeship, sent a letter to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) saying that U.S. policy "condemns and prohibits torture." But the letter sidestepped the issue of illegal, inhuman and degrading treatment.


The same month, the Pentagon quietly approved about 20 interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo Bay that included what human rights groups charge are outlawed stress-and-duress tactics.

Unaware of that move, human rights groups persisted in their campaign to persuade the administration to take the extra step to formally reiterate longstanding U.S. commitments forswearing the same tactics. On June 2, Leahy wrote national security adviser Condoleezza Rice expressing concern that detainees in U.S. custody were being subjected to cruel and degrading treatment, including beatings and food deprivation. He, too, appealed for a public renunciation of such techniques.

~snip~

On June 25, Haynes responded to Leahy's letter to Rice. For the first time, he stated that U.S. policy is to "treat all detainees and conduct all interrogations, wherever they may occur," in a manner consistent with the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment. He specifically mentioned the Eighth Amendment -- which the Senate referenced when it ratified the treaty and which the groups noted had been cited by the Bush administration in a 2002 Supreme Court case in which the handcuffing of an Alabama prison inmate to a "hitching post" for seven hours in the sun had been deemed unconstitutional.
~snip~
more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30214-2004May15_2.html