Larry Johnson appears on CNN to discuss torture and consequences

I would be interested to hear if there are any credible International Agencies preparing cases for war crimes. I understand there are rules about conducting occupations and I wonder how we stand in the International Legal frame work. Some time ago, I had heard Rumsfield was a person of interest.

Or is that all fluff?

I certainly could understand going after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan being legitimate. However Iraq was sold as a liberation, but I think it turned into a Occupation.

I hopw some one with International Legal status starts addressing this now that George Bush is out of office.

Larry should put a new picture on this blog, he looks totally different in a “hot kinda way.”

We were guilty of “state sponsored” torture.
This is a punishable crime. Torture produces any information you want the victim to admit, even inventing items to stop the torture.

Just by saying “no more torture” is not enough.
Bring up Yee/Gonzales and all the way to the top
those who issued the orders, fabricated legal opinions to back their actions, and then by recognizing and prosecuting the guilty, we may reclaim a portion of our lost face.

Larry, good to see you get your opinion out to the MSM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgZWF5LRQro

TOP UN Investigator calls for indictements

http://mathaba.net/news/?x=616030

Top UN official calls for indictment of Bush and Rumsfeld
Posted: 2009/01/21
From: MNN

The incoming American President Barack Obama is legally obligated to prosecute Bush and Rumsfeld because the US has ratified the UN Convention on Torture and has also recognized it as legally binding, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said.

Berlin, Jan 20, IRNA — The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak urged the indictment of outgoing US President George W. Bush and his former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld for their role in the torture and abuse of prisoners in the Guantanamo prison camp.

“The evidence is on the table,” Nowak told German television Tuesday.

He held Bush and Rumsfeld responsible for the brutal interrogation methods and the inhuman treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo.

“One should not quibble, it was torture,” Nowak stressed.

The incoming American President Barack Obama is legally obligated to prosecute Bush and Rumsfeld because the US has ratified the UN Convention on Torture and has also recognized it as legally binding, he said.

“Therefore they must do everything they can that persons who are accused of torture, are put on trial,” added Nowak who published a UN report in 2006 on the situation in Guantanamo.

Nowak charged the US in the report with violating international human rights standards.

Many interrogation methods led to the torture of Guantanamo inmates, the UN official said

This is one article, but it is most direct. Many others are available if you google, “Manfred Nowak”
He is the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

yea Larry you look good!

I vote you trashcan the out dated photo and find something more recent.

oh I’d love to watch the rest of that interview when ever it is ready too please

I used to love Toobin than I hated him when he drank the Bambi juice now I don’t know what to think except he has a grumpy puss when the cameras aren’t looking – needs someone to show him that mug I caught when he thought he was off camera when Larry was talking………. he’d probably straighten up and pay attention

lol

Larry you just looked irritated and kind of sad at the topic (which made sense)

Proud to see Larry make a clear position on his view and to do it in the main media arena.
If I knew about his appearance ,I would have broken my CNN boycott and actually tuned it to see Larry stand by this cause live.
Thanks Larry ! Your opinions are brought to higher platforms and this is good to know.

I will be interested in the reaction/action Obama takes when an American is tortured/beheaded/killed by the terrorist who follow no code of conduct.Do I suscribe to torture? No but I don’t play a game by a different set of rules. To all of those so hellbent on the US playing nice guy why don’t you offer your services outside of the safe US soil. If you are taken prisoner be sure to request the UN treatment, and see if you get it.Closing Gitmo is a symbolic gesture as the disposal of the prisoners has yet to be determined. If they put them in gen pop of the toughest prisons waterboarding will be the least of their worries!

I also vote for an updated photo. I always thought the one there makes you look sort of like a modern priest.

I’m usually not the type of guy to tell another guy what to do with his hair…

Great hair cut dude!

Sure beats the bowl cut

well said

When the first beheading occurred, most all over the world were totally appalled. It was clear that we were dealing with people whose mindsets were/are in the Middle Ages. We might still have more sympathy and support from the rest of the world if we had not decided to get medieval also.

Again,,,,,the ends never justify the means. I am happy that O’s presidency has ended this horrible behavior, but I also know he’s in office because of fraud and so I’m still not on his bandwagon. Almost any other Dem would have done the same.

the US did not behead anyone! These people are friggin’ nuts.

what country is this un person from by the way and just what is the situation with torture there? why is he speaking out now? why didn’t he speak before? hmmmm!

call it turning on a dime! that’s how fast obama will turn the other way when and if outrage sets in when (not if) we are attacked again.

Comment by rickrickrick | 2009-01-22 19:32:31

I will be interested in the reaction/action Obama takes when an American is tortured/beheaded/killed by the terrorist who follow no code of conduct.Do I suscribe to torture? No but I don’t play a game by a different set of rules. To all of those so hellbent on the US playing nice guy why don’t you offer your services outside of the safe US soil. If you are taken prisoner be sure to request the UN treatment, and see if you get it.Closing Gitmo is a symbolic gesture as the disposal of the prisoners has yet to be determined. If they put them in gen pop of the toughest prisons waterboarding will be the least of their worries!

It is saddening and sickening either watching an American get tortured / beheaded or hung or hearing about it. However that is why the US should not do it to others. If the West is to “promote democracy” it should also promote the rule of law.

What we did was not beheading, but it was just like, in my mind, the mindset of those who tortured during the Spanish Inquisition.

I have three numbers for you: 9/11

I have three numbers for you: 9/11 my pen name is Joe Biden

Maybe you might want to refer to some other persecution period to make your point:

In 2000 Pope John Paul II called for an “Inquisition Symposium” and opened the Vatican to 30 external historians. Their findings called into question certain long-held beliefs. It emerged that more women accused of “witchcraft” died in the Protestant countries than under the Inquisition. For example, the Inquisition burned 59 women in Spain, 36 in Italy and four in Portugal, while in Europe civil justice put to trial close to 100,000 women and burned 50,000 of them.[11][12] Some 26,000 persons condemned as witches died in Germany.[13]

How do I tell the difference between you, and the terrorists, again?

Oh, right, America has one of the most advanced legal codes known to mankind.

And those who didn’t seek impeachment when they took control of Congress. Instead they allowed the policies to continue. They’ve got blood on their hands, too.

Manfred Nowak is Austrian. And he did speak up before. But I’m sure we’re hearing about it now because it is being framed in the context of “Will Obama prosecute?”.

I vote that when Gitmo closes, those who aren’t allowed back into their home countries should go live in the vacant mansion in Chicago.

I agree. They need to be held to account for breaking their oath of office to defend the Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC.

rick, we managed to catch the Blind Sheik (Twin Tower Attack #1) without torturing anyone and adhering to the rule of law. We tortured people under Bush and the mastermind of 911 is still free and wandering the planet. So tell me, how does lowering yourself to the level of those barbaric animals work?

Strawberry, He may not have to be lowered much.

It doesn’t take a genius to want to resort to the most disgraceful tactics. It doesn’t take a genius to talk and act like a brute.

And it certainly doesn’t take a genius to constantly throw down 9/11 as a response to justify horrendous actions.

Hitler used the burning of the Reichstag to justify his invasions.

Doesn’t take much of a genius to scare people. And last, it doesn’t take much genius to resist listening to fear talk, like above, and use basic common sense.

Khmer Rouge.

As one of your regulars, I must tell you that I went through SERE training in 1969 at Warner Springs, CA, and guess what? I was tortured! Now, as I was a surfer, and accustomed to being under water for periods of time, I only found it disconserting. If I had been an Arab, who had never even seen a swimming pool, let alone a bath tub, it might have been worse. I might have gagged and gotten wet. I do so wish you guys would get real. Yours Keith

Keith, you still knew it was TRAINING!!!! You knew deep in your heart, they wouldn’t, couldn’t do permanent damage to you. You were a very expensive investment. Couldn’t have you get disabled or quit. It’s different when you are truly in enemy hands. (PS military family here.)

I’m glad Gitmo will close and that the United States government has finally said: no torture allowed. I absolutely cringed listening to Cheney insist that waterboarding isn’t/wasn’t torture.

This is not who we are or ever wanted to be. Close the detention center, run the bad guys through the justice system. But get rid of the nightmare.

But we cannot make excuses for torture, ever. Because if we do, we’re no better than those we consider the enemy. And then, they’ve won.

Larry, I’m sorry I missed the airing on this. Good clip!

You mean that you were trained to endure torture. There is a key difference between training to endure something, and then authorizing such actions.

Russian soldiers go through extremely intense endurance, that doesn’t mean what is done to them to help them survive should be used as an interrogation technique.

“wish you guys would get real”?

And how do you define real, Keith? Does real mean, agree with your world view?

Truth, that’s why we need people with actual combat military and intelligence experience discuss such matters…watching 24 or James Bond movies doesn’t count.

Exactly Strawberry, well said.
Keith’s argument has been over used by torture advocates to excuse torture, “but we do this to our own troops”.

But I thought Jack Bauer was the paradigm for all intel talk. I mean, if he can stand up to the Senate and say, “yeah I tortured” then that must be enough, right?

Glen Beck thought so on FoxNews morning show.

Everybody email CNN and praise Larry.
At Daily Kos, there was a post inviting everyone to complain about him.

Now that’s torture.

Put your ass out there and let those nutjobs torture you. I’m sure you will very quickly take a different position. Its very easy to make the comments you do from the safety that has been provided in the past 8 years. As I said earlier I don’t believe in Torture but you are dealing with people who’s only value of life is to die a martyr after killing others. Wake the fuck up and accept the fact that the playing field is not even.

I’m guessing you didn’t lose anyone close to you in the wars or 9/11?

Time will tell and it would be great if you are right. Somehow I think the 72 virgins calling says we will see more harm to come to our country.

And in case Susan gets to this later, the link for the second video has been updated to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra9UA40aB3I

I don’t know why the other cut off, but here you go.

Can you provide e-mail. Although I will search for it I would have responded pronto.