torture

Steve Watson ~ Ron Paul: Scrap CIA, NSA, Bring Troops Home

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Former Congressman slams “disingenuous” Obama over torture

RonPaulNever one to hold back when it comes to corrupt big government agencies, former Congressman Ron Paul said Tuesday that the world would be a much better place if the CIA were completely abolished.

Responding in part to the release of the Summary of the forthcoming Senate report on CIA torture, and also to an impending possible government shutdown, Paul stated “my government shutdown would be something to be proud of.”

“Abolish the NSA, the TSA, the CIA and all spying on American citizens.” Paul urged.

Referring to actual government shutdowns as “mediocre PR stunts,” the former Congressman also said that if he had his way, both the IRS and the Federal Reserve would be shut down. Continue reading →

Washington’s Blog ~ UN Torture Investigation Singles Out, Describes USA

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usFlagNBC reports that “The United Nations Committee Against Torture released a report Friday that deeply criticized the U.S.”

Patrick Martin summaries:

The … report today assess[ed] the performance of the 156 countries whose governments have ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which took effect two decades ago.

The report subjected a major country to a wide-ranging critique, indicting it for a long list of human rights violations including:

  • Refusal to prosecute officials who engage in or sanction torture of prisoners
  • Detaining prisoners indefinitely without trial or other judicial proceeding, or any hope of release
  • Kidnapping individuals overseas and torturing them in secret prisons

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Dan Froomkin ~ It’s About The Lying

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“. . .  the report not only discloses abuse that was more brutal, systematic and widespread than generally recognized, but also chronicles how the people most intimately involved in the torture regime lied to others inside the CIA, lied to Justice Department lawyers, and lied to the public; how they lied about what they were doing, they lied to make it sound like it accomplished something, and afterwards, they lied some more.” – D Frromkin

John Brennan at the Council on Foreign Relations on March 11. 2014. Photo Credit: Council on Foreign Relations
John Brennan at the Council on Foreign Relations on March 11. 2014. Photo Credit: Council on Foreign Relations

I don’t want to understate how seriously wrong it is that the CIA searched Senate computers. Our constitutional order is seriously out of whack when the executive branch acts with that kind of impunity — to its overseers, no less.

But given everything else that’s been going on lately, the single biggest — and arguably most constructive — thing to focus on is how outrageously CIA Director John Brennan lied to everyone about it.

“As far as the allegations of the CIA hacking into Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth,” Brennan told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell in March. “We wouldn’t do that. I mean, that’s just beyond the, you know, the scope of reason in terms of what we do.” Continue reading →