Change of Heart

First they said “yes”, then they said “no” to testimony.  It’s the age-old situation where that simple reversal and refusal to provide information that makes the Administration look guilty, even if it is not.

Pentagon Counsel William Haynes Bars Gitmo Prosecutor From Testifying About Torture

Today, a House Judiciary subcommittee is holding an oversight hearing on the “effectiveness and consequences of ‘enhanced’ interrogation.” The Committee had invited Lt. Col. Stuart Couch, a former Guantanamo Bay prosecutor, to testify about his experiences. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Asked last week to appear before the panel, Col. Couch says he informed [...]

There was a strong voice at that hearing today..

Nance: U.S. Troops Now ‘Guaranteed’ To Be Tortured in Captivity

Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) asked during today’s hearing whether even the impression that the U.S. tortures makes it more likely that an adversary in a future conflict — he used the Iranians as an example — would torture captured U.S. or allied troops.  Former Navy instructor Malcolm Nance said he considered it a “guarantee” that other nations now have “a legal standard to subject American soldiers to enhanced interrogations.” U.S. Air Force Reserve Colonel Steve Kleinman said [...]

Long-time reporter Joe Galloway would agree:

Memo to Media: I Witnessed ‘Waterboarding’ — And, Yes, It is Torture

Four decades ago, as a reporter in Vietnam, I saw what it was like. When you hog-tie a human being, tilt him head down, stuff a rag in his mouth and over his nostrils and pour water onto the rag slowly and steadily to the point where his lungs start to fill with water, that is torture [...]

Immediately after today’s hearing, action!

House Dems Introduce Anti-Torture Bill

On the heels of today’s torture hearings in a House Judiciary subcommittee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the subcommittee chairman, and Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA) have introduced a bill to force all American interrogators to conform to the Geneva Conventions-compliant standards of the Army Field Manual on Interrogation (pdf). That would mean no waterboarding, no “cold cells,” no stress positions — none of that stuff that Malcolm Nance [...]