Medical experiments part of CIA torture

[Betty Karlson]

There is only a limited range of words available for describing this kind of revelation. Dr Mengele comes to mind, of course. Disgusting, is another one. Evil, unholy, dangerous...

Anyway, with reckless abandon for America's international standing, Bush/Cheney and co have allowed medical experimenting to be conducted on "terror suspects". I know there is Godwin's law, but can we please agree that this is right on par with the German National-Socialists?

http://firedoglake.com/2010/06/06/phr-report-bush-administration-engaged-in-illegal-human-experimentation-on-torture/

[howard112211]

1. This one is exempt from Godwin's law, because it precicely matches what the nazis did.

There is nothing in Godwin's law that says you cannot call out actual nazi practices.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. I never said they were card carrying Nazis I said...

The neoCONs conducted the country's business much like the Nazis conducted theirs. That they didn't go all the way into declaring a dictatorship and the full tilt fourth Reich, could mean that they were experimenting and using the American people as their lab rat. Pushing the envelope in every direction that they could, just to see what all they could get away with. Maybe the next time the neoCONs "Take Over" the White House, they'll be ready for their new and improved Führer to step forward and express himself.

[Betty Karlson]

11. Unless presidential powers are scaled back

The US president has too many powers right now. That is why the left is always in angst under a right-wing president, and why the right has gone Tea-bag insane under Obama.

[Truth2Tell]

2. Recommended. This is a very important report.

From the article...

In one gruesome set of experiments, at least 25 detainees were submitted to both individual and combined use of the different “enhanced interrogation” techniques developed by the CIA through reverse-engineering of the military’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) program, techniques which were originally developed to inoculate U.S. military personnel against torture. The purpose of this experiment, monitored by doctors, was to ascertain the effects of the different combinations of techniques as they pertained to “susceptibility to severe pain,” attempting thereby to calibrate levels of pain in order to keep the interrogations within the dubious frontiers of legality proposed by John Yoo and Jay Bybee in their infamous torture memos...

[Senator]

4. If YOU Oppose Torture, Rec and Kick This

And all the other yes-we-can-handle-the-truth torture news and commentary.

If you'd rather unrec to defend the Driver of the Torture Getaway Car, well...

...it's your post-funeral I suppose.

---

[EFerrari]

9. The motor is still running. There is still abuse or worse going on at Bagram.

The Obama administration needs to STOP McChystal.

[spooked911]

10. Yes, it's a big mistake to think this stopped with Bush leaving

unfortunately

[Drops_not_Dope]

24. and other areas too

:kick:

and recommended.

[chill_wind]

25. Just did an OP this weekend (Andy Worthington, Scott Horton & Others)

Obama, Torture & Bagram, JCOC & TF 714, James Clapper, more..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x540433

:hi:

[Betty Karlson]

27. Thanks for that link!

If I could, I would include a wave-back emoticon for you.

Being away with my significant other this past weekend, I have obviously missed some good stuff.

[chill_wind]

28. Thanks for taking time to look, Betty.

Very appreciated.

[EFerrari]

29. Thank you, I missed that!

:hi:

[sabrina 1]

36. Sorry I missed that I would have rec'd it.

We are busy being outraged over a comment made by Helen Thomas, but look how few comments and recs that excellent post received. Our priorities are so off base, it scares me.

Thank you for taking the time to write that OP. I would love to see the same amount of outrage and demands for accountability regarding this horror story, as we have seen regarding a comment by a woman who is 89 years old and who has spent her long career trying to hold our government accountable.

[chill_wind]

37. Thanks sabrina. I'd like to think this whole subject, past and present,

is something she would have drilled down on a lot more as time goes by. She's one less force now for the hard questions. Poodle press doesn't the fortitude. :-/

[sabrina 1]

38. True, when we ever heard any of them press

for answers regarding this horrendous crimes? Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[Senator]

33. Yes, that's the trouble with getaway cars.

Once you take the wheel, there's no way to slow down or reverse gear. And criminals keep jumping on board. The only way to stop the insanity is to "look backward," then safely turn the car around toward prosecution and the rule of law.

It's not difficult to simply abide by and enforce the laws and treaty obligations our greater generations fought and died to forge.

It just seems to be beyond the ability of Obama and the other icons of Our Lamest Generation.

-----

[pokerfan]

5. White Paper

http://phrtorturepapers.org

Experiments in Torture is the first report to reveal evidence indicating that CIA medical personnel allegedly engaged in the crime of illegal experimentation after 9/11, in addition to the previously disclosed crime of torture. In their attempt to justify the war crime of torture, the CIA appears to have committed another alleged war crime—illegal experimentation on prisoners.

[Scuba]

6. Mr. President, it's time to look back.....

...and prosecute your predecessors for the war crimes they committed. I truly believe such prosecution will enhance, not damage, America's reputation internationally, regardless of what acts come to light.

Continuing to protect these criminals is obsecene, immoral, unjust and wrong for our country.

[Echo In Light]

7. +1000 (never happen, though)

[noamnety]

8. I'm looking forward to Obama prosecuting them.

(j/k)

[emulatorloo]

12. deplorable. despicable K&R

[Soylent Brice]

13. K&R

[ThomWV]

14. Who is our Dr.Josef Mengele? Who is our "Angel of Death"

Who ever it is, both he and every person in the chain of command above him all the way to the President of the United States who was serving at the time must be charged with war crimes and prosecuted.

[spanone]

15. god help us.

[Mari333]

16. knr and bush will never be held accountable, none of them

[Betty Karlson]

17. Maybe our Heavenly Father will hold them accountable.

(Or do you find that hard to believe?)

[Mari333]

20. i believe we are all welcomed with unconditional love and no judgement

when we pass. but they could use a consequence for their behaviour right now. every mother knows that when children misbehave there must be consequences.

[Betty Karlson]

21. That is a clear position.

But do you believe that this applies as well to Mengele and the likes of his?

[Mari333]

22. yes.

[ThomWV]

18. This was mentioned on C-Span Radio this morning, so it had to be heard all over DC

[City Lights]

19. I have no words...

:cry: :-( x(

[HillWilliam]

23. Digg

TruthOut has posted the article at Digg and it was trending earlier.

K/R

[Spheric]

26. Dr. Mengele I presume? K&R /nt

[Rex]

30. It is disgusting, even to this very day, how Bush/Cheney got away with

covering up the crime scene at Ground Zero. May they rot in Hell.

[Cleita]

31. Seems we were getting closer and closer to being real Nazis under the BFEE.

We need to make sure we never allow Republican loser candidates to take office again after they lost. I would like the Supreme Court justices who did this investigated and then put on trial for violating their oath of upholding the Constitution.

[friendly_iconoclast]

32. Here's the link to d/l the report, Experiments in Torture:

Experiments in Torture is the first report to reveal evidence indicating that CIA medical personnel allegedly engaged in the crime of illegal experimentation after 9/11, in addition to the previously disclosed crime of torture. In their attempt to justify the war crime of torture, the CIA appears to have committed another alleged war crime—illegal experimentation on prisoners.

http://phrtorturepapers.org/?dl_id=9

[Bluebear]

34. And the current Administration says to 'move forward'. nt

[chill_wind]

35. Obama walked away in the spring of 2009. Who will change his mind?

"This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. Our national greatness is embedded in America's ability to right its course in concert with our core values, and to move forward with confidence. That is why we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together on behalf of our common future.

The United States is a nation of laws. My administration will always act in accordance with those laws, and with an unshakeable commitment to our ideals. That is why we have released these memos, and that is why we have taken steps to ensure that the actions described within them never take place again."

Apr 16, 2009

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/04/65561925/1

Nearly 100 days after Barack Obama entered office, his top White House lawyer, Greg Craig, braced the President's senior advisers for a potentially explosive development. The Administration was preparing to release photographs of suspected terrorists being abused in U.S. custody. On April 16, Craig asked chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to focus on the issue. Emanuel pleaded for more time to bury the release behind other news. (Read "Why Obama Needs to Reveal Even More on Torture.")

The White House made public its plans to release the photos seven days later, triggering a powerful reprisal inside and outside the Obama Administration. The images included those of U.S. soldiers pointing guns at one detainee's head and a broomstick at the backside of another. Obama's field commanders advised that U.S. troops would die in an extremist reprisal if the release went ahead. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates originally supported the release, then opposed it. Republicans pummeled Obama for taking unnecessary risks with national security. Even John Kerry publicly voiced concern about the fallout. (See pictures of life inside Guantanamo.)

Less than three weeks later, Obama pulled a U-turn. When Craig walked into the Oval Office on Friday, May 8, for a hastily called meeting, the normally placid Obama was visibly unhappy. "I don't like my options," the President said. Craig told the President his lawyers had concluded there was no alternative to releasing the photos. Obama sent Craig scrambling for a new way out. Three days later, Craig had found a loophole: instead of releasing the photos, Obama would buy time by fighting their release all the way to the Supreme Court.

Interviews with two dozen current and former officials show that Obama's public decision to reverse himself and fight the release of the photographs signaled a behind-the-scenes turning point in his young presidency. Beginning in the first two weeks of May, Obama took harder lines on government secrecy, on the fate of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and on the prosecution of terrorists worldwide. The President was moving away from some promises he had made during the campaign and toward more moderate positions, some favored by George W. Bush. At the same time, he quietly shifted responsibility for the legal framework for counterterrorism from Craig to political advisers overseen by Emanuel, who was more inclined to strike a balance between left and right.

The Fall of Greg Craig, Obama's Top Lawyer
By Massimo Calabresi and Michael Weisskopf Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

(3 pages)

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1940537,00.html