It is curious that even though Torture is a US Federal Capital Crime, IT never seems to get much attention from the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. John Conyers.

I see elsewhere today in the Huffington Post that Monica Conyers has plead guilty to a Federal Corruption Charge in Detroit, Michigan Rep. John Conyers’ district. Conyers was for years the leading proponent of Impeachment in the House.

One wonders what effect his wife’s corruption accusations will have on Rep. Conyers performance as Chairman.

His Committee is where Impeachment would have started and he also oversees the US Justice Department which is currently ignoring Torture Prosecution.

Conyers has been a big disappointment to Impeachment and Torture Accountability Advocates. Conyers portrayed himself as the the leading advocate of Impeachment in the House, but blocked it for 7 years & kept Kucinich’s Bush-Cheney Impeachment Bills from ever being voted on.

Conyers accepted an IMPEACHMENT PETITION SIGNED BY 1.1 MILLION VOTERS but IGNORED IT AND HAD THOSE DELIVERING IT ARRESTED.

Did Chairman Conyers single handedly keep Bush and Cheney in Office?

Does he owe an apology to the over 34,000 US Soldiers who were killed or maimed for NOTHING in the unnecessary IRAQ WAR?

SIGN THE PETITION
To Prosecute Those who Tortured In Our Name at ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

Jigglypuff wrote:

Again, I’m with you Andy — the all-day coverage of dead celebrities should be relegated to the Entertainment Network and the Tabloid Magazines. What a waste of time that could be used to discuss issues more paramount to moving our country out of the moral quicksand we are sinking deeper into.

Khaija wrote (more or less):

Thanks to Andy for his important work. It seems that no Italian newspaper has seen fit to report the ACLU’s actions on behalf of my husband, Abou Elkassim Britel. It’s easy to talk about the human rights of citizens in other countries and to pretend that those of an Italian Muslim don’t exist.
The Italian government continues with its indifference and silence regarding the obvious injustice that Kassim suffers every day in prison.
For him, the torture is also ongoing …
I ask a favor from journalists who follow this blog, to speak out, as has Andy, and as have other journalists (their articles are on my site).
In recent years, the use of torture has done nothing but make out societies less civilized. [Sorry, don’t understand the next section].
And we mustn’t forget the families who also suffer …
In recent days, looking over all the documents sent by my friends at the ACLU has made me feel ill. I feel absolutely impotent when confronted by the suffering of the many people who, everyday, endure torture.
Like Andy, I urge you not to forget, and to work to help the numerous victims of torture around the world.
Thanks!
Khadija

Website here:
http://www.giustiziaperkassim.net/

My bad.
“Enhanced interrogation”
“Safe and humane”
“Enhanced interrogation”
“Safe and humane”

Our Unitary Executive has banned the ‘T-word’ from all media. You must not use the T-word or risk being T’d. The Corporate States of America does not T-word. Our Unitary Executive has spoken. Blessed by His name.

Thanks for the reminder. In many ways, I think “mistaken identity” is covered by prisoners telling lies about other prisoners — i.e. being shown the “family album” of photos, and coming up with a story to secure favors or avoid punishment — but I’m delighted that you remember the story that Carlotta and I wrote for the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/world/asia/05gitmo.html
And the follow-up here:
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/03/08/afghan-hero-who-died-in-guantanamo-the-background-to-the-story/

Thanks for another excellent article Andy. The list of objections to the Guantanamo “evidence” you quoted from Gladys Kessler is pretty comprehensive. But I think it is missing one important further objection. As you and Carlotta Gall pointed out in your investigative report on Abdul Razzaq Hekmati, there are many captives who, even after half a decade in detention, remain victims of mistaken identity.

It’s shocking.

So many photos that we never see. No skeletal prisoners at Guantanamo, and nothing — ever — out of Bagram or Guantanamo showing the kind of “softening up” of prisoners for interrogation that went on at Abu Ghraib, even though both Bagram and Guantanamo established the template.

I can understand why Obama chose not to release the Afghanistan and Iraq photos, as they would inflame anti-US sentiment and endanger soldiers — and if the President is to believed, this kind of abuse has been curtailed — but photos enable a vast number of people to comprehend, viscerally, what’s actually going on, and without them, Bagram remains a hidden secret, and the enthusiasts for arbitrary and indefinite detention without charge or trial get to maintain the illusion that Guantanamo is a “safe and humane” environment stuffed full of terrorists.

When clearly, that is not the whole story:
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/06/24/why-did-it-take-so-long-to-order-the-release-from-guantanamo-of-an-al-qaeda-torture-victim/
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/06/16/empty-evidence-the-stories-of-the-saudis-released-from-guantanamo/
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/06/15/the-last-iraqi-in-guantanamo-cleared-six-years-ago-returns-home/
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/06/11/who-are-the-four-guantanamo-uighurs-sent-to-bermuda/
and more …

Research wrote:

The American people MUST see those photos.

I pray no soldier or American is hurt because of it, but it is more important than that risk.

because of relentless media depiction of successful violence, done by our “heroes”, some half of American BELIEVE torture is necessary and works.

We must Show the photos to understand how brutal and beneath us, torture is, as a nation, as one world.