Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey endorses CIA torture, aka “enhanced interrogations” according to Newsweeks’ Michael Isikoff:
“[I]n a series of private meetings arranged by chief of staff Josh Bolten prior to the nomination, Mukasey, 66, reassured top hard-liners, such as Federalist Society executive Leonard Leo and former A.G. Edwin Meese. According to three sources, who asked not to be named discussing the private meetings, Mukasey said that he saw “significant problems” with shutting down Guantánamo Bay and that he understood the need for the CIA to use some “enhanced” interrogation techniques against Qaeda suspects.”
Yet Democrats are expected to swiftly confirm him. Perhaps support for Bush’s torture regime is a criterion for Democrats to confirm a nominee. After all, they helped confirm Alberto Gonzales despite knowing full well his record in support of torture.
UPDATE:
The New York Times describes Mukasey’s cavalier approach to reports of US citizen detainee beatings and other civil liberties:
It was Oct. 2, 2001, and the prisoner, Osama Awadallah, then a college student in San Diego with no criminal record, was one of dozens of Arab men detained around the country in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks as potential witnesses in the terrorism investigation.
Before the hearing, Mr. Awadallah told his lawyer that he had been beaten in the federal detention center in Manhattan, producing bruises that were hidden beneath his orange prison jumpsuit. But when his lawyer told this to Judge Mukasey, the judge seemed little concerned.
“As far as the claim that he was beaten, I will tell you that he looks fine to me,” said Judge Mukasey….
Even though Mr. Awadallah was not charged at the time with any crime and had friends and family in San Diego who would vouch that he had no terrorist ties, Judge Mukasey ordered that he be held indefinitely, a ruling he made in the cases of several other so-called material witnesses in the Sept. 11 investigations. A prison medical examination later identified the bruises across his body.
Sounds like just the type of guy we want as Attorney General. Now I’m certain the Democrats will rapidly confirm him.
September 23rd, 2007
Joel Kovel is a former psychoanalyst, known among progressive psychoanalysts as the author of the classic White Racism: A Psychohistory, among other works. He’s written a new book, apparently critical of Israel and Zionism: Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine.
The book has aroused a fierce reaction from the pro-Israel lobby, according to an article from its publisher, Pluto Press:
Pluto Press Under Attack by Israel Lobby
By ROGER van ZWANENBERG
About three weeks ago Pluto books and the University of Michigan Press - our US distributor - came under attack by Stand With Us (a Zionist lobby group) who were objecting to the publication of Overcoming Zionism by Joel Kovel which resulted in the book being withdrawn in the US. The vitriolic attack questioned the University’s relationship with Pluto generally and denigrated Overcoming Zionism.
Since then the Executive Board of the University has considered the matter and issued a public statement. Joel’s book has now been reinstated but they plan to review the ongoing relationship between Pluto and UMP in October.
Pluto Press’s importance & presence in the US is under threat.
Joel is setting up a network to rally support for Pluto as we are determined to defend ourselves. We hope you will help and support our efforts in the US by writing to Joel and Kathy who are co-ordinating the campaign jskovel@gmail.com and Ellajaja@aol.com.
If you have your own networks, please first go through Joel and Kathy, as they are co-ordinating the campaign
In the meantime we intend to get the UK media to take notice of these events.
Warmly
Roger
Roger van Zwanenberg (Dr)
Chair & Commissioning Editor www.plutobooks.com
Pluto Press
345 Archway Road
London N6 5AA
Tel 020 8374 2192 ( Direct line)
0044 20 8374 2192 from Outside UK
Company No 4770976
Now I haven’t read Kovel’s book, and have no idea if I will or what I will think of it if I do. But I do know that this type of attempted censorship poses an extreme threat to democratic discussion on a topic of vital importance to everyone. We should all stand up to these bullies.
September 23rd, 2007
NPR interviews Johnny Heald of the British ORB polling company on their recent survey estimating 1.2 million Iraqi deaths. Listen here.
September 23rd, 2007
Gilbert Burnham and Les Roberts have written a, so far unpublished, op-ed on the multitudinous casualties from the Iraq war:
Ignorance of Iraqi death toll no longer an option
Not wanting to think about civilian deaths in Iraq has become almost universal. The average American believed approximately 9,900 Iraqis had died as a result of the war according to a February 2007 AP poll. Unfortunately, recent evidence suggests that things in Iraq may be one-hundred times worse than Americans realize.
News report tallies suggest some 75,000 Iraqis have died since the US-led invasion. A study of 13 war affected countries presented at a recent Harvard conference found over 80% of violent deaths in conflicts go unreported by the press and governments. City officials in the Iraqi city of Najaf were recently quoted on Middle East Online stating that 40,000 unidentified bodies have been buried in that city since the start of the conflict. When speaking to the Rotarians in a speech covered on C-SPAN on September 5th, H.E. Samir Sumaida’ie, the Iraqi Ambassador to the US , stated that there were 500,000 new widows in Iraq . The Baker-Hamilton Commission similarly found that the Pentagon under-counted violent incidents by a factor of 10. Finally, a week ago the respected British polling firm ORB released the results of a poll estimating that 22% of households had lost a member to violence during the occupation of Iraq, equating to 1.2 million deaths. This finding roughly verifies a less precisely worded BBC poll last February that reported 17% of Iraqis had a household member who was a victim of violence.
There are now two polls and three scientific surveys all suggesting the official figures and media-based estimates in Iraq have missed 70-95% of all deaths. The evidence suggests that the extent of under-reporting by the media is only increasing with time.
Being forthright about the human cost of the war, perhaps over a million deaths to date, is in our long-term interests. How can military and civilian leadership comment intelligently about security trends in Iraq, or if any security policies are working, if they are not detecting most of the 5000+ violent deaths that occur per week? Can American plans for the future of Iraq be respected within Iraq if they do not openly address the toll that they imply? Avoiding the issue of Iraqi deaths will likely come back to haunt us as young people in the Middle East grow up with ingrained hostility toward America.
In the Zimmerman Telegram, Barbara Tuchman describes the resentment in Japan over the 1913 California Alien Land Law designed to prevent Japanese immigrants from buying land. This resentment almost enabled Germany to persuade Japan to attack the US during WWI and probably helped set the stage for it happening a quarter century later. We cannot yet tell what consequences will arise from our invasion of Iraq . Ignoring the consequences of our actions, or striking a tone of belligerence rather than contrition, will not build long-term relationships we need in the Middle East . Established methods for estimating deaths exist, even in times of war. Discussion of trends and policy effects based on meaningful and validated measures such as median income and death rates would make our leaders more accountable and leave us better informed. Deliberately ignoring the numbers of dead Iraqis is not an option worthy of the United States , or in our enlightened self-interest.
Gilbert Burnham
Les Roberts
Gilbert Burnham is a MD and Professor of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Les Roberts is an Associate Professor at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
September 23rd, 2007