Retired Gen. Taguba: Bush Administration Committed "War Crimes"

THEY TORTURED PEOPLE. Doesn't matter what methods they used: torture is torture, and it's ALL inhumane, illegal, and immoral. No nation that calls itself civilized can engage in the torture of prisoners. ANY prisoners..civilian or military.

"Oh, it was only some barking dogs." Doesn't matter. It's intended to terrify, humiliate, or intimidate someone into confessing, it's TORTURE.

Answers obtained under torture are automatically suspect anyway. Run "false confessions" through Google sometime.

It's useless, it's illegal, it's immoral, it's uncivilized, and INDEFENSIBLE by an civilized nation.

Torture.. everyone says they tortured... A dog barking in your face is what these jerks are calling torture, skipping a meal is what they are describing as torture. standing on your feet for 8hrs is being described as torture. Being woken up in the middle of the night is being described as torture. Getting too hot from no AC is torture, or too cold from too much AC is torture. If this is the case then every corporation in america is guilty of torture for having AC installed when someone gets cold at work, then they'd be guilty for removing the units. Any infant would be guilty of "torture" because they wake parents up in the middle of the night constantantly. Construction workers are "tortured" because they work in the sun and are on their feet all day. Anyone who has to skip a meal because they snoozed too many times to get to work ontime is being tortured by their boss who expects them to be at work.

PLEASE you're all quite ignorant. Educate yourselves on what torture truly is... look up what the japanese did on a constant and daily basis to our POW's in WWII, (and if you have a gentle stomach avoid any information regarding to what they did to our women POW's.) watch the movie "The Great Raid". Watch the movie "escape from Sobibor" for an idea on "torture" Nazi style. Look up the Gestapo and the "techniques" they used to truly torture. Look farther back to the roman empire and their methods of execution... THAT was torture. Look at the soviet unions death camps, MILLIONS DIED OF TORTURE at the hands of the soviets just like they did at the hands of the Nazi's. Compared to those examples none of our soldiers or leaders are guilty of torture. If anything they are guilty of being inconvenient to the captor. After all they are allowed to observe their religion, not something our POW's are allowed. They are fed better than some of your free american neighbors. Heck they've eaten better than my family before when we went through some hard times. This "torture" garbage is just that GARBAGE. I've studied the romans, persians, I've been to the remains of the Nazi concentration camps in Germany, I've studied the Bataan "DEATH MARCH" and the treatment of our military personal by the Japanese in WWII. Educate yourselves on what real torture and inhumane treatment is before you go calling your fellow Americans and our soldiers torturers. Your pathetic mantra about everything being Bush's fault is ignorant and boring.

James - "In fact, the U. S. Supreme Court back then specifically ruled that a writ of habeas corpus did NOT apply to foreign aliens detained outside of the United States, even if detained by Americans. "

Very correct.

On the other hand, the Supreme Court has ruled, numerous times, that the Guantanamo Bay military facility is essentially American territory, given the perpetual nature of it's occupation.

Therefore, under the terms of the Constitution of the United States, which clearly states :

"Section 9:

“ The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. "

That applies to EVERYONE...visitors, prisoners, illegals, everyone....that are imprisoned or otherwise resides anywhere on the territory of the United States...and that includes Gitmo.

There are only two conditions that Habeas Corpus may be suspended on the territory of the United States....the constitution is quite clear on that.

Those are : Invasion, or Rebellion. And neither condition are met. The United States has neither been invaded, nor is there open rebellion by it's citizens.

You should try another route, cuz we're not buying that one.

Little by little the noose is tightening around war criminals Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Pearle, Bolton and their gang. It will be a great day to see them go to their just reward, through the courts system, which is a luxury they have been so willing to deny others.

Taguba was asked to report then his results were silenced. We're glad to see him back in the spotlight, following up on the original report. Someday we will look on these last few years as the darkest of US modern history. If these people are not brought to justice, America will not regain its respect and honor. We are too good a country to have allowed this!

Vicki, you wrote: "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and the rest of these criminals are guilty of the worst things imaginable (torture)." Let's see the Bush Administration's efforts to prevent another attack against the United States VERSUS the terrorists beheading and burning our soldiers; committing suicide bombings that kill hundreds of innocent people at a time! Sorry, I don't agree!

Go on vilifying Pres. Bush and by extension America herself,
self-righteous gents.
You can have the luxury of burning your country's flag without fear of prosecution.While the enemies who want to destroy America enjoy the legal protection of the American Supreme Court.If this is not True Democracy then
i don't know how to call it.
The American torturers are exposed and
condemned,at least morally,by Americans
themselves.The enemy torturers and murderers of Americans,and of their
own people too, are hailed as heroes
by their leaders and by not a few
American citizens who pride themselves
as being "pr0gressive","liberal","br0ad
minded" and so on.
The Elder Vlad The Bad once said smugly that the Capitalists were selling him with credit the rope he will use to hang them.
The enemies of America today, among them the Younger Vlad The Bad, would
say along that she is raising the generation of citizens who will hang
her for them, for free.
If you think that the w0rld minus
America would be a better place, then go ahead.

GOD Blesses America !
For being so tolerant.

Judy Babar.....I wasnt happy with Bill Clinton when he lied on TV to all of us, BUT...I was still proud to be an American....you must have very little affection for this country that allows you to speak freely.....shame

What is real torture is having to put up with BUSH for 5 more months..BUSH and CHENEY are WAR CRIMINALS PERIOD.

Bush and Cheney are war criminals, period. The United States has turned into a rogue state for condoning torture of POWs and the bombing of innocent civilans in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a cursed country and it has lost its moral authority. Taguba should be declared aa true American hero for telling the truth. He's the onlky saving grace left for the Americans who have become the worst kind of human beings - totally without emphathy for the downtrodden and suffereing people of the world.....

...he gets a pension from the country he appears to hate. <-- typical inflammatory blind lock-step, attack the messenger, conservative crap we always hear from conservative apologists.

It reminds me of "They hate us for our freedom" and "we know Exactly where they (WMDs) are..." and "Dead or Alive" where are the WMDs, Where is Osama" WHERE ARE THE ANTHRAX TERRORISTS!?

...9-11 was the imputes for war, Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, was NOT a threat, they had NO WMDs and bush KNEW IT! BUSH WANTED THE OIL!!! and he was willing to lie, torture, & murder to get it!

The OIL MONOPOLIES are pulling an ENRON on us and it's going to plunge us into another GREAT DEPRESSION!

CLOSE THE ENRON LOOPHOLE! Bring back tariffs & bring back American Industry!

with the PNAC crowd in charge we have seen 9-11 (pear harbor) Katrina corruption in the White House, DOJ, obstruction of justice in a TREASON case, unPatriot act, Katrina, torture in Abu Ghraib prison, spying, cheneys SECRET energy task force,record deficit, $136 billion corporate tax cut, 380 tons of explosives in Iraq, ENRON, mortgage fraud, millions of Americans loosing their homes, jobs, health care, MONOPOLIES taking over our government, and the list goes on and on and on... stop making excuses, it's time for BIG BIG CHANGES, get the BIG MONEY out of government, break up the MONOPOLIES, BRING BACK THE CONSTITUTION & RESTORE DEMOCRACY!!!

yea this war is pathetic, this administration is pathetic, i hope they do get charged for these crimes...

i am sad what they did to our country and our constitution...

this is exactly why john mcsame cant get elected as you his completely in step with the president...

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN?????
Not as long as Bush and his Admin. is in Office! Evict, Convict, and Throw the Book at them for Killing Thousands,
and Lieing to The People who Uphold
The Constitution of the United States!
In God We Trust!

Not George W. Bush

To those that have been in a war zone, we understand that war is ugly as hell. Nothing pretty about it. We live in an 'information age' where one cannot do anything without it being reported; unprecedented in our history. There were reporters (lots of them, believe me) out in the bush in Vietnam; what was the difference in reporting? I don't know; My Lai was widely reported and was probably a 'whitewash' when it came to handing out 'punishment' for the 'torture' that went on there. The problem is that when one is in a war zone, it is difficult, if not impossible to remain objective. This is not to excuse 'torture' in any manner of speaking. There are no easy answers here. We would all like easy answers. We would like to have our military honor restored around the globe. How do we do that? I am not sure. I remember during one operation, a reporter was hanging about and my boss pulled a 9 millimeter and suggested he leave the area. Please don't forget two things: War is hell, and the enemy does things to our soldiers that is never reported for worldwide consumption.

I don't believe anything a republican or military spokesman says if they work for this administration and agree with Bush. If by a miracle they disagree with Bush they are being brave and honest and they are standing up for all of us. Bush and Cheney always get rid of the ones who won't go along with their wickedness. You have to be with them or you are out.

"Just because torture is something we did, doesn't mean it's something we would do." - Jon Stewart

This president and his vice president have trampled our government's laws and our constitution. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and the rest of these criminals are guilty of the worst things imaginable (torture). They bring shame on our country. Bush and his subordinates threw out anyone who had integrity and knew right from wrong. And no, nothing is being done. There are too many rubber stamping republicans allowing Bush and Cheney to get away with anything and everything. They are spineless, useless men and women apologists for their leaders.

The U. S. justice system has NEVER previously been afforded to detainees taken during war (and that includes our own Civil War). In WWII there were some 300,000 German POWs detained under American command. NOT ONE of these had their day in court. They were not released until Germany surrendered. In fact, the U. S. Supreme Court back then specifically ruled that a writ of habeas corpus did NOT apply to foreign aliens detained outside of the United States, even if detained by Americans. So when we detained these terrorist as "enemy combatants," it was under the previous ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court. This most recent decision overturned that previous WWII ruling.

President Bush issued orders early on that the detainees, in spite of not falling under the Geneva Convention's definition of "prisoners of war" and therefore not specifically covered by the Geneva Convention, were to BE AFFORED the same treatment that is outlined within the Geneva Convention. There were only three exceptions, that being the three individuals who were waterboarded. And these three individuals provided enough details that it has thus far enabled us to foil all subsequent attempts at further attacks. The other cases of torture that is alleged to have occurred was not a part of the systematic treatment of these detainees. It was abuse by rogue soldiers.

Many of you are complaining about how that the Bush Administration has trampled on the U. S. Constitution. Are you aware that the U. S. Constitution gives ONLY the Legistative and Executive branches the authority over war decisions? The President, as Commander-in-Chief, is given the sole authority regarding decisions made "on the battlefield." Congress has the sole authority to declare war and to appropriate the money to finance the war. Then there are some areas in which both the Congress and President share responsibility. In these areas Congress can place limits on the power of the President. But where there are no restrictions the President is free to act (pending post-action limitations).

The U. S. Supreme Court has NO authority regarding war decisions! Therefore it usurped the authority of that of the Legislative and Executive branches. So it was the U. S. Supreme Court that has trampled on the U. S. Constitution. That is what happens when you have activist judges rather than strict constructionists.

George W. Bush, in a September 2006 interview with katie Couric: "I've said to the people that we don't torture, and we don't."

Happy JUNEteenth!
Saps.

Another day, another Bush lie. Another Bush scandal. I'm so sick of this administration I want them out yesterday. Even one more day of their filthy lies, immorality, and corruption is too much for this country to bear. I want Bush impeached, NOW.

For Bush administration officials, chain of command and acting in official capacity giving unlawful orders...it is all over but the shouting.

The only question is will the remain on U.S. soil so no one is able to take them to the Hague or any other tribunal whose citizens were caught in that web.