Torture Precludes Government From Prosecuting 9/11 Terrorist
Torture Precludes Government From Prosecuting 9/11 Terrorist
Susan Crawford, the “top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial,” tells Bob Woodward in today’s Washington Post that the United States military tortured Mohammed al-Qahtani, one of the planners of the 9/11 attacks. As a result, Crawford decided the U.S. could not prosecute Qahtani:
“We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. “His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that’s why I did not refer the case” for prosecution. [...]
“I sympathize with the intelligence gatherers in those days after 9/11, not knowing what was coming next and trying to gain information to keep us safe,” said Crawford, a lifelong Republican. “But there still has to be a line that we should not cross. And unfortunately what this has done, I think, has tainted everything going forward.”
Crawford dismissed the charges against Qahtani last year. Though military prosecutors refiled charges by using evidence they claim was not coerced, Crawford said she would not allow it to go forward. And now that torture has precluded Qahtani’s prosecution, his status is in question. “He’s a very dangerous man,” Crawford said. “What do you do with him now if you don’t charge him and try him?”
Qahtani is hardly the only detainee whose charges have been dropped due to improper treatment. In October, the Pentagon dismissed cases against five terror suspects, including Binyam Mohamed, a former British resident accused in the “dirty bomb” case:
He has claimed he was tortured while in American custody or in countries to which he said the United States sent him. His lawyers argued Tuesday that the government was trying to avoid having to answer his accusations.
“They have been cornered into doing this to avoid admitting torture,” said Clare Algar, the executive director of Reprieve, a legal organization that represents Mr. Mohamed.
Similarly, detainee David Hicks was released from Guantanamo and sent back to his native Australia in a deal — apparently arranged by Vice President Cheney and then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard — requiring him to renounce his claims of torture and abuse at the hands of the U.S. military.
Far from making us safe, torture is creating a legal morass in which we cannot lawfully and thoroughly prosecute — and sentence — terrorist suspects.
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Well, Susan Crawford sure isn’t going to be invited to any fundraiser dinners for the rest of her damn life. Doesn’t she know how the BushCo DoJ is supposed to work? Sit, beg, roll over. Repeat as necessary. I’m sure Gonzo wrote a memo on it. Or maybe he forgot to.
“He’s a very dangerous man,” Crawford said. “What do you do with him now if you don’t charge him and try him?”
Maybe, maybe not. But you know who has been proven to be dangerous by all this? The Bush administration. We can’t afford to let them go free.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:35 pmHeckuva job, Chimpy.
WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:35 pmOkay, so the charges have been dropped. Does this mean al-Qahtani will be released, then? I certainly hope so.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:39 pmGood point there ElBruce
January 14th, 2009 at 1:40 pmInsiders and outsiders
Must do the dog tricks
Well, if Jack Bauer does it, it has to be cool, right?
January 14th, 2009 at 1:40 pmI’m serious, if Obama takes the approach that we are facing crises of several fronts and now is not the time to look back, I’m going to be majorly pissed off!
There have been crimes committed, war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of the Constitution, war-profiteering, and a criminal mismanagement of the treasury, and we must investigate, file charges if appropriate, and bring those who both authorized and those who actually followed the policy to justice.
It is the only way to re-establish our values and honor the rule of law.
PEACE
January 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pmTonight on Fox News, “Susan Crawford, Satan’s Spawn”.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pm.
Nothing like chopping off one’s nose despite one’s face, NO?
.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pmSo thier desire to torture has undermined their ability to prosecute……who would ever have thought that might be a problem?
January 14th, 2009 at 1:42 pmPentagon official speaks out on torture six days before Obama’s inauguration? Might it be to grease the skids for Bush pardons? Stay tuned…
January 14th, 2009 at 1:43 pmIf only Americans has bothered to listen to the soldiers this wouldn’t be news. I know the Media only gave what the White House Propaganda Department issued and of coure the Generals including Petraaus wouldn’t say a word about it. Now we see soldiers convicted of crimes they were ordered to do by the Torture Policies signed by Rummy, Cheney and Bush. Not one Law Makers or General has spoken up for the wrongly convicted soldier. Even Martha who cried about how many soldiers came back die has nothing to say about the jailed soldiers. This is what Americans and Law Makers mean when they say SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. But this is really on the beginning of the Shockers to come out.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:45 pmIf all the evidence they have was garnered through torture, they’ve got nothing. We don’t even know if they are actually bad guys. Frankly under half that treatment I’d tell you I parachuted off one of those jets on 9/11.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:46 pmBehind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience.
-T. ROOSEVELT
A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.
-Alexander Hamilton
January 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pmSick as it makes me that terrorists may be released unpunished, untried, for their crimes, it makes me sicker that BushCo is the reason for this bitter outcome. Seeing Susan Crawford’s morality in action, however, reminds me that our country DOES have ethical people on tap, who may help us all to regain first our self-respect as a nation, and then our standing as a MORAL nation in the international community.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pmA Patriot Acting Says:
Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience.
-T. ROOSEVELT
A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.
-Alexander Hamilton
Beautifully and concisely expressed.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:50 pmPatriot Acting, Bush’s continued bumbling on behalf of his rich friends pulled back the curtain on that invisible government. The public owes him a debt of gratitude for that long, eight year peek.
Bush killed trust in government, just as Wall Street offed investing. Both used greed and hypercompetition.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pmSo where is that crew from the other day that kept explaining how obvious it was that torture works and is needed to keep us safe?
January 14th, 2009 at 1:54 pm9/11 was an INSIDE job! Why not seriously investigate 9/11??!!!
January 14th, 2009 at 1:55 pmWhere is the Pentagon footage?!
Investigate the actions of Dick Chenney on that day!
Explain what was an E-4B plane doing flying over Washington on that day!
Who placed put options on the airlines stock market!
What were those Israeli mossad agents celebrating when the twin towers collapsed!
Explain the total collapse of WTC 1, 2 and 7!
Explain how concrete was turns to dust in less than 10 seconds.
Explain how come you have so many witnesses said they saw and heard explosives.
Bring Dr. Steven Johnes to the investigation team! His scientifc explanation of controlled demolition fits perfectly with the observed events on that day, while the official ‘Fiction’ does not!
Explain how a concrete and steel structure had TOTAL collapse!
Explain the TOTAL collapse of WTC7!
We are told the enhanced techniques have saved lives, but we are never told how they saved lives. As our moral soul is ripped out of the country, we must ‘trust’ these ‘patriots’ to do the right thing. These folks have never done the right thing, including even being elected in 2000.
You can be sure that if any good intelligence came from using these techniques, bushco would be parading the perps all over Fox news. All I hear are …crickets.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:55 pmThe real results of their torturing won’t be heard.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:55 pmThey used it to brainwash the ‘detainee’ into believing that the U.S. government had no hand in 911.
B-but it always works out for Jack Bauer!
I appear to have been misled.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:57 pmObama ^ Read this article please, forward it to Burris, thanks.
There is so much evidence that Bush/Cheney are guilty of WAR CRIMES that they are not going to be able to ignore it.
Moving forward is fine, as long as these two WAR CRIMINALS go to jail for life, and hey, we will save a fortune in SS guards for them.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:01 pmCan we now tack another accusation of treason onto Bush/Cheney/Woo/Addington/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Ashcroft/Rice?
If ever there was an act that undermined the American Government it was the authorizing of torture by the Bush Administration. Treason because it has left us with many potential detainees who would do harm to Americans but cannot be prosecuted/convicted due to the inadmissability of the evidence against them. This criminal act by the Bush cabal has directly undermined the possibility of fair trials for many of the detainees. The authorization of torture is in itself a war crime and within America should be prosecuted under the RICO Act for the extensive planning and colusion involved in the crime and the coverup. However, fouling the well with their illegal interrogations has also made it nearly impossible to obtain a conviction even if we had sufficient evidence. These self-serving thugs deserve the ultimate punishment for what they have done to our Country. Treasonous criminals each and every one.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:04 pmI disagree, I think Americans are ready for government to start doing it’s job for a change.
If what you say is true then why didn’t the American people let them take social security out of the governments pervue?
January 14th, 2009 at 2:06 pmfrom the WP today:
‘A former military prosecutor said in a declaration filed in federal court yesterday that the system of handling evidence against detainees at Guantanamo Bay is so chaotic that it is impossible to prepare a fair and successful prosecution.
Darrel Vandeveld, a former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, filed the declaration in support of a petition seeking the release of Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan who has been held at the military prison in Cuba for six years. Jawad was a juvenile when he was detained in Kabul in 2002 after a grenade attack that severely wounded two U.S. Special Forces soldiers and their interpreter.
Vandeveld, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was the lead prosecutor against Jawad until he asked to be relieved of his duties last year, citing a crisis of conscience. He said the case has been riddled with problems, including alleged physical and psychological abuse of Jawad by Afghan police and the U.S. military, as well as reliance on evidence that was later found to be missing, false or unreliable.’
January 14th, 2009 at 2:06 pmTrolls, here is your chance; Is there one thing the Cheney/Bush regime did not totally make a mess of? Just one thing!
January 14th, 2009 at 2:08 pmsacopenapa, let’s also hope that the Obama Adminisrtation will take Sybil Edmunds seriously.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:10 pmNo one could have foreseen that torturing prisoners would lead to not being able to proscecute them.
Note: That is sarcasm. I actually seem to remember that argument being brought up a long, long time ago.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:10 pmSorry for the misspell, s/b Sibel Edmonds
January 14th, 2009 at 2:13 pmThe ultimate in irony and Catch 22.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:15 pmWell ya see, we had to torture them to get information. They knew all this good stuff that became null and void twenty minutes after they were captured. Now that we know things about what might have been but is certainly not anymore, well we can’t put them on trial and tell how we violated US and international law.
The saddest part is this logic isn’t just immoral, its stupid.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:20 pmFred Says:
So thier desire to torture has undermined their ability to prosecute……who would ever have thought that might be a problem?
The Bushies knew this would be a problem. That’s why they had John Yoo and his friends try to redefine torture. When this didn’t work, they tried to invent a new legal system bypassed the question of torture.
This was all very deliberate, and very sick and twisted.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:20 pmThe topic of war crimes is being brought up more and more. I hope the MSM starts to look into the situation – unless of course they were threatened with torture for doing so.
Where have all the good journalists gone?
January 14th, 2009 at 2:24 pmScott Horton splains more of the legal significance.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:28 pmThey are no longer concerned about the prisoners. Their attempts at manipulating morals and laws failed. They were hoping that charges would have been brought on someone for these crimes by now (thus the big media hussle about this very subject, and the ‘admissions’ that ’slipped’ out). With less than a week, it does not look like anyone will be being prosecuted in time for a timely presidential pardon.
So, the question remians — can the president pardon someone for something that has not been brought before a court in an official accusation? It is highly illogical, and an admission of guilt, and an admission by the president that he was accessory to the action (by knowing of it and ignoring it, and then pardoning it). The safety net of pardons is getting smaller.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:29 pmI hope I’m never perceived as a troll, but here goes:
BACON. It’s still great.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:33 pmI am no Constitution lawyer but I do believe that the one crime that cannot be pardoned, preemptively or not, is treason. Sedition may be another.
I don’t think it would take a Clarence Darrow to make the link between war crimes and treason, though I believe Bushco is more guilty of sedition.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:39 pmThis makes an interesting litany.
1) It was bad enough that a loyal Bushie called it torture / coerced confession ?
Must have been pretty bad.
2) The Bushie says we can’t prosecute and has blocked efforts to refile ?
Must have been pretty bad.
3) So now we have a guy that at least Bush thinks is a main person plotting 9/11. We can’t prosecute them. We can’t hold them indefinitely without filing charges and having a trial. So as anyone knows who watches CSI and “24″ when you goof up on their rights you have to release them.
Must have been pretty bad.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pmso is ice cream but thanks to bush they both now cost too much.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pmWhere have all the good journalists gone?
Is this another line in the old Pete Seeger song?
Where have all the good journalists gone?
January 14th, 2009 at 3:14 pmLong time passing
Where have all the good journalists gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the good journalists gone?
unemployment lines every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
As we have known all along torture is illegal, immoral and does not work. So why did these people do it and why was it authorized by Bu$hco? Innocent people have been tortured and driven insane – and they are labeled dangerous – but we can’t be sure of that. Is it all a smokescreen to prevent us from discovering the real perpetrators of 9/11? Is Bu$hco just a bunch of sadists who derive some sick pleasure from all this?
Another thing we do know is that since the tortures of Abu Graib came to light – more people were recruited into committing “terrorist” acts and possibly as many as 1000 American troops have been killed because of torture.
Heckuva Job, Georgie!
January 14th, 2009 at 3:31 pmArt Says:
No one could have foreseen that torturing prisoners would lead to not being able to proscecute them.
Note: That is sarcasm. I actually seem to remember that argument being brought up a long, long time ago.
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Exactly. It was indeed. Several legal scholars said torturing detainees would lead to letting dangerous people go because they would not be able to be prosecuted as it is obvious that information from torture would not be allowed into court. How many times will we do this two step dance.
Left tells the right dont do A because it will cause B
Right denigrates left, dismisses left questions our patriotism
Left turns out to be absolutly correct Right snivels and blames the left.
This dance is OLD. Time for the right to wake up and stop screwing up AMERICA.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:57 pmTorture is state-sponsored terrorism.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:58 pm.
R E M E M B E R:
The President of the USA is obligated to “preserve” the laws of this land.
Had George W. Bush ensured that laws concerning torture had been “preserved” and not shredded by him, I have faith that Mohammed al-]Qahtani would have stood trial.
And yet, a failure to be faithful to one’s Oath of office is an acceptable excuse to do nothing by Congress?
.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:06 amPlease see my online research at http://andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com/2008/12/george-w-bush-criminally-tortured.html “George W. Bush criminally tortured others.”
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
ONLINE ANTI-BUSH SCHOLASTIC RESEARCH: LISTING OF MAJOR ISSUES
http://andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com/2008/10/bush-is-worst-president-in-american.html
January 15th, 2009 at 2:51 am