Torture is more than a repugnant series of "procedures" applied to the fourteen "high-value detainees" at "black site" CIA prisons--procedures described with chilling and patient particularity in this authoritative report. Torture is a critical issue in the present of our politics. By torturing, the United States has wounded itself and helped its enemies in what is inherently a political war. And by torturing prisoners, many of whom were implicated in committing great crimes against Americans, the United States has made it impossible to render justice on those criminals.

By Mark Danner

The following is the text of the report:

red-cross-torture-report

All I can say is, I pray the government never takes it upon itself to assume that I am guilty of something, because if they do you may as well claim me dead.

The Bush administration didn't have to prove any right or wrong being done by anybody or to anybody -- they were the LAW.   These prisoners weren't even recognized as having BEEN a prisoner, let alone tortured while being one.  And these doctors who profess to wanting to save lives and heal the sick and those in pain -- should be found and sent away to their own prison.

Most of all, former President George W Bush and VP Dick Cheney should pay for their war crimes --- IMMEDIATELY!

If President Obama allows this torturing and spying and lies to be brushed aside, I will not vote for the man in 2012.  Plain and simple.  I don't care if he does save our economy, gets us off oil dependency and starts up health care. The same holds true toward the Democrats in Congress.  If they can't do their jobs, they don't deserve American's votes.

However, I'm willing to wait till the summer of 2010 to see if they do anything.  That would be the best time to hand it over to a special prosecutor.  Most of what Pres. Obama plans on doing will be accomplished by then (health care, economy picking up, the beginning of not being dependent on oil and education reform) hopefully, and if Democrats want to be re-elected in Nov of 2010, they'll be PUSHED into doing something about the torture and war crimes.  If not, they could very well lose their seats in Congress. 

Many Americans voted for President Obama and the Democrats because they didn't like what was happening with the prisoners and with the wars.  If Democrat's fail to DO ANYTHING -- they will lose lots of votes and they know it.

The special prosecutor will have most of his/her results by election 2012 if they start in 2010.  Facts will begin leaking, as they always do.  Those facts would once again remind voters just what the Bush admin and the GOP did to America's image during those 8 years in office.  Voters will not want to see a rerun by voting for a majority of Republicans in 2012.  It would be like saying, "Hey, you guys did alright, no harm done....go do it again."

Our Constitution and our human rights come before anything else in America -- or we cease to exist as a free country.

If the president releases the Bush torture memos, Republicans are promising to "go nuclear" and filibuster his legal appointments. Scott Horton reports on a serious threat to Obama's transparency.

Senate Republicans are now privately threatening to derail the confirmation of key Obama administration nominees for top legal positions by linking the votes to suppressing critical torture memos from the Bush era...

A Republican Senate source confirms the strategy. It now appears that Republicans are seeking an Obama commitment to safeguard the Bush administration's darkest secrets in exchange for letting these nominations go forward.

I'm calling upon all my readers to call their congressman or senator to demand the release of the torture memos and for them to stop threatening the President's legal nominees with going nuclear.

This is outrageous! The GOP cannot be allowed to keep Americans from hearing the TRUTH about what the Bush administration did or did not do.  These people work for the American people -- WE are the boss -- not Congress.

Those in the media should immediately begin asking each and every congressmen/woman or Senator if they are threatening the President of United States by not allowing him to be transparent with government information that the American people have a right to?

The GOP seem to be nothing but a PRIVATE CLUB keeping Americans out and in the dark with what they do.  SHAME ON THEM!

I'm curious.  Have we or any other nation offered Kim Jong-Il of North Korea, to take some of his Korean citizens onto their homeland by giving them a place to relocate?

The reason I ask this is, aren't they over populated and isn't that one reason they are always demanding food and oil to provide for their people?

Yes, I know he won't ALLOW them to leave or anyone to enter; but perhaps our negotiators should use a little reverse psychology instead and offer to take some of his citizens off his hands in exchanged for stopping his nuclear ambitions.

Is there any reason why we couldn't offer memberships to the WTO to both North and South Korea and possibly Iran.  Let them have a say in what happens in trade.  Wouldn't  having a specific power give them the sense of belonging to the world and therefor responsible for it?

Go ahead and tell me if I'm nuts -- cause I don't have any experience with these nations.  Just thinking out loud here.