Memorandum for John Rizzo: Bush Torture Memos reviled.

Where credit is deserved, credit can be expected to be given! Four years is a long time in politics for either civil servants or government, while throughout the tenure of the Bush Administration, all main echelons of bureaucrats must have have handled the criticism levelled at them really well.  

We may all want to harangue our national governments for not being truly honest with us, or for keeping guard over certain strands of information which have ridiculously been kept secret in the first place for far too long. 

 But, in terms of the recent declassification and public release of particular U.S Department memos, which discuss the effectiveness of certain torture techniques on the mental health of both ex-operative Al Qaeda prisoners and US student military cadets who commence with a certain SERE military training, I believe it would difficult to presume that there was’nt any kind of authorative wariness shown by officials prior to their availability on the Web.

Some of the pages speak about the holding and interogation of an Al Qaeda Operative named Abu Zubaydah, there is a brief rundown on his psychological profile, detail on his duties as senior lieutenant to Usama Bin Ladan, his managing of a network of two terrorist training camps, one inside Pakistan and Afghanistan, between places and times which range from 1996 -1999 and 1999 – 2000.

There is word on what legally defines torture. A reponse is given by someone who writes in answer to another correspondent’s request for advice prior to conducting an interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. 

From a certain legalistic document called the United States Code,
a certain Section 2340A contained within this code helps to guide an interrogator’s conduct duriing interviewing a detainee. 

The thrust of quite a few of these memos revolves around someone writing to ask for advice on where the use of propriety applies to how the interview is conducted.  

There are pieces of information saying that an “increased pressure phase” will be entered into. Belief that use of these torture techniques would force Zubaydah to divulge what he knows was also expressed. 

 Weblinks:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002340—A000-.html

http://www.extraordinaryrendition.org/

http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Torture.htm

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6138465.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6112947.ece