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: Never In Our Names

Open Thread and News: Wednesday

By possum

The day is filled with various bits of news today.  Much is happening in our world as the Obama administration continues to work to reverse the failures of the Bush administration.  Not all the news is good, but much is worthy of note today.

For five former Guantanamo detainees the news is good as they were given their freedom by a French appeals court.

The court in Paris released the men on grounds the ruling was based on evidence illegally extracted by French security agents at the U.S. prison (Guantanamo).

President Obama in a dramatic break from the Bush administration said the U.S. "does not torture."

Living our values doesn't make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture

Senator Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee announced plans to move forward in investigation of Bush administration actions in the treatment of detainees.

Plans to establish the commission still remain in their infancy, as senators and staff look at previous panels, such as the 9-11 Commission, and investigations following Watergate.

Progress is being made little by little.

The twisted tale of Binyam Mohamed continues to unravel.  The government of the U.K. announces they have no objection to the release of documents pertaining to his U.S. detention.  The matter is left to the U.S. to review and to decide.

The foreign secretary has declined requests to urge the US to publish documents about the alleged torture of freed detainee Binyam Mohamed.

The U.K. may not disagree but the Prime Minister is not asking the U.S. to move.

Another former military interrogator has come forward with writings critical of the use of torture.  Writing under a pseudonym, Matthew Alexander, published a book, How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq.  In expanding his views he says

There's no evidence anywhere that torture is effective.  People who think you just waterboard somebody and they give you the information in five minutes are sorely mistaken.

Pressure is mounting on the British government to clarify the role of U.K. representatives in the mistreatment of detainees.

Senior MPs on Tuesday launched a campaign to force the government to clarify MI5's role in the alleged abduction and torture of terror suspects after Binyam Mohammed a U.K. resident, who was detained at Guantanamo Bay, returned home amid claims that he was tortured with the full knowledge of British intelligence agents.

Opposition to California's Prop 8 continues to gather steam.

If the state Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, the ruling will constitute a giant step back for civil rights for all minority groups, advocates for marriage equality told The Desert Sun editorial board Tuesday.

And so goes the day.

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on February 25, 2009 (boomark / email).