The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged extreme interrogation

Supreme Court Shuts Door on Gitmo Torture Case

By | 12.15.09 | 6:00 am

The Supreme Court dealt a harsh blow on Monday to victims of abuse by U.S. officials during the “war on terror.” The court announced it would not review a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by four British citizens who claim they were wrongly arrested, detained More…

FBI Interrogators Argued in 2002 That ‘Enhanced’ Interrogation Techniques Were Illegal and Ineffective

By | 11.08.09 | 2:03 pm

As former Vice President Dick Cheney and some Republican lawmakers continue to debate whether torture works and was a legitimate interrogation technique during the Bush administration, it’s almost jaw-dropping to read some of the memos that were written by the real experts on interrogation techniques in the U.S. government, warning More…

The ‘Hard Takedown’

By | 08.24.09 | 8:08 pm

In a section of the 2004 CIA inspector general report about interrogation techniques that were used on detainees by the CIA but never approved by the Justice Department — including mock executions, blowing cigar smoke into someone’s face until he became ill, squeezing a detainee’s neck “to restrict the detainee’s More…

Did Gitmo Defense Lawyer Break Any Laws?

By | 08.21.09 | 11:16 am

That’s what I asked Joshua Dratel, Chair of the John Adams Project Advisory Committee and a prominent defense lawyer who has represented numerous terror suspects before. Speaking this morning after the news broke that the Department of Justice is investigating military defense lawyers representing terror suspects, More…

Judge Rules Torture Details Irrelevant to Detainee’s Mental Health

By | 08.11.09 | 11:30 am

A military commission judge has ruled that the types of abusive techniques U.S. interrogators used on a suspected 9-11 conspirator are irrelevant to determining his competence to stand trial, the Miami Herald reports.

Ramzi bin al Shibh is one of five men charged by the U.S. military commission More…

The New York Times as Torture Apologist (UPDATED)

By | 06.08.09 | 8:50 am

The New York Times’ front-page story Sunday reporting the unanimous agreement among Justice Department lawyers that the “harsh” interrogation techniques approved by the Office of Legal Counsel for use by the CIA were legal relies on the classic journalistic “battle of the experts”: one “outside” expert says the CIA interrogation More…

Why Did U.S. Interrogators ‘Soften Up’ the Uighurs for the Chinese Government?

By | 05.22.09 | 1:35 pm

While the Republicans in Congress are up in arms about the possibility that a handful of Uighurs will be released into the United States, it’s worth noting that these Chinese Muslims could have some disturbing stories to tell about their treatment at Guantanamo Bay.

Buried in More…

Cheney Calls for Release of ‘Torture Works’ Memos

By | 04.21.09 | 8:58 am

Former Vice President Dick Cheney isn’t satisfied with the release of the latest batch of Bush-era Office of Legal Counsel torture memos by the Obama administration last week. Now, he says, the government should release more memos — this time not just the ones describing the torture, but also More…

Judge Receptive to Padilla Lawsuit Against John Yoo

By | 03.07.09 | 12:18 pm

Even with the Obama Justice Department on the side of John Yoo, the former Bush administration deputy assistant attorney general at the Office of Legal Counsel, a federal judge hearing former enemy combatant Jose Padilla’s lawsuit against Yoo on Friday seemed wary of dismissing the case, More…

CIA Confirms 12 Destroyed Videotapes Depicted ‘Enhanced Interrogation Methods’

By | 03.06.09 | 7:33 pm

The CIA has reportedly just confirmed — conveniently late on a Friday afternoon — that 12 of the videotapes it destroyed while its interrogation methods were under investigation and the subject of a pending lawsuit depicted the “enhanced interrogation methods” that detainees’ advocates were worried about.