I'm hoping that Matthew Waxman finds the courage to find a way to share what he knows about the detainee abuse issue and how some of the practices that have made their way into our system were promulgated and condoned by senior officials.

Translation:

Matt -- email me, and I'll shoot you my cell
phone number

:)

Steve -- Excellent work! questions abound: how did Waxman last so long at the Pentagon. Was he a legion of ONE? Who recommended him for the job? What kind of budget did he have while at the Pentagon? Who did he report to?

That aside, what do you know about legislation (i think) that denies habeas corpus to torture victims and detainees ? Is that still on the books? If so, wouldn't something like this make the McCain ammendment only window dressing?

Policy Planning Staff

Is this a reasonably accurate charter? Looks like a bureaucratic toe-tagging exercise to me, or special projects duty, if you prefer. Perhaps a reminder that if you need friends in the D.C., get a Blog.

I don't think "bureaucratic toe tagging" is an accurate description of serving on the Policy Planning staff at State -- in fact, many many people who have served in "S/P" in their thirtysomething years have gone on to much bigger things later.

Of course, speaking of age, going "off the reservation" a la Larry Wilkerson, while it takes a lot of courage at any stage in life, is a bit easier to do if you're 60-ish and at the end of your career, as opposed to 35-ish (?) like Waxman...

Speaking of going "off the reservation," I made a long post to my blog today about the prospect of James H. Webb running as a Democrat against George Allen next year. I think that while he'd be a controversial candidate in some ways -- a bit conservative for the party base -- he'd also have a lot to contribute (from a 'realist' perspective) to the Democratic party in terms of forming and articulating a better national security strategy.

yo steve. just caught your appearance on www.ianmasters.org - excellent piece. big ups for pushing wilkerson to come forward - i wasn't aware you were so involved. i wonder if you will ever take a look at global environmental issues with the energy you put into domestic and foriegn policy?

thanks again.

Steve srites that “Waxman has been arguing for the spirit and law of the Geneva Conventions.”

Can you believe that, within living memory, every American soldier was required to abide by the Geneva Conventions when handling enemy prisoners?

Each soldier carried written policy instructions saying “As a member of the U.S. Military Forces, you will comply with the Geneva Prisoner of War Conventions of 1949 to which your country adheres.”

I know that sounds like something from the “greatest generation”, from our black-and-white memories of WWII, but in fact, the provenance of those words is more recent.
When I served in the American Army in Indochina, every soldier arriving in the Republic of Vietnam was issued a GTA (General Training Aid) entitled "The Enemy in Your Hands" on a laminated card.

We were required to keep this card on our person at all times. To ensure that no local commander could countermand these instructions, the card was signed by the Commander in Chief, President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Did a card signed by the president work as perfect prophylaxis against abuse? Certainly not.

But it ensured that none of us could hide behind any ambiguity in American policy on torture and abuse. Prisoner abuse occurred, and, for the most part, abusers were punished under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Perhaps it is time for all Americans to look into this mirror of our former selves.

Do we really believe that the world has changed so much that we do not want our young men and women in Iraq to abide by the principles on that card we all carried in an earlier American war?

Here is what it said on the front and back of that card signed by the Commander in Chief (please take special note of #5)

The Enemy In Your Hands

As a member of the U.S. Military Forces, you will comply with the Geneva Prisoner of War Conventions of 1949 to which your country adheres. Under these conventions:

You Can And You Will

Disarm your prisoner
Immediately search him thoroughly
Require him to be silent
Segregate him from other prisoners
Guard him carefully

You Cannot And Must Not

Mistreat your prisoner
Humiliate or degrade him
Take any of his personal effects which do nothave significant military value
Refuse him medical treatment if required and available

1. Handle Him Firmly, Promptly, but Humanely

The captive in your hands must be disarmed, searched, secured, and watched. But he must also be treated at all times as a human being. He must not be tortured, killed, mutilated, or degraded, even if he refuses to talk. If the captive is a woman, treat her with all respect due her sex.

2. Take The Captive Quickly To Security

As soon as possible evacuate the captive to a place of safety and interrogation designated by your commander. Military documents taken from the captive are also sent to the interrogators, but the captive will keep his personal equipment except weapons.
3. Mistreatment Of Any Captive Is A Criminal Offense.

Every Soldier Is Personally Responsible For The Enemy In His Hands It is both dishonorable and foolish to mistreat a captive. It is also a punishable offense. Not even a beaten enemy will surrender if he knows his captors will torture or kill him. He will resist and make his capture more costly. Fair treatment of captives encourages the enemy to surrender.

4. Treat The Sick And Wounded Captive As Best You Can

The captive saved may be an intelligence source. In any case he is a human being and must be treated like one. The soldier who ignores the sick and wounded degrades his uniform.

5. All Persons In Your Hands, Whether Suspects, Civilians, Or Combat Captives, Must Be Protected Against Violence, Insults, Curiousity, and Reprisals Of Any Kind

Leave punishment to the courts and judges. The soldier shows his strength by his fairness, firmness, and humanity to the persons in his hands.

Wouldn't we all feel a little prouder of our country if we knew that our current Commander in Chief had signed these orders and instructed that every soldier in Iraq be instructed in their meaning and intent?

John Stuart

I take it the B.Bush rumor is more serious than you're letting on.

Can someone explain why anyone thought that the "war on terror" had to be fought using different rules of conduct? Is it all due to the "ticking time bomb" rationale?

My oh my. Reaching out to the Monkey Boy's mommy. Gadzooks, did any of us imagine there would EVER be such a pathetic presense in our nation's Oval Office??? Well, seeing as how Steve has broken the ice, I too would like to offer Barbara some friendly advice.....

Barbara, spank the little whelp, and cut off his allowance. Its time he grew up.

I'm curious if anyone knows the status of the additional torture photos / video that came out of Abu Ghraib. There was a suit for their release ... did they ever come out, or are they mired in appeals?

curious -

jack

How pathetic is it that we seriously are asking the President's mother to clean up his room? Or is it better Babs than no Babs?

"I'm curious if anyone knows the status of the additional torture photos / video that came out of Abu Ghraib. There was a suit for their release ... did they ever come out, or are they mired in appeals?"

Posted by jackifus maximus

And the missing two thousand pages of the Taguba report.....and Phase Two .... and..... yadayadayada...

By the way, while we are looking for "missing" elements....

WHERE THE HELL ARE THE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE REPRESENTING OUR BEST INTERESTS??? Why are WE asking where these items are??? Why aren't the mewling cowards that are SUPPOSED to be our representatives demanding that these documents and policy investigations be produced AS PROMISED??? When are these sons of bitches in Washington going to start doing their jobs?

Yes, I mean YOU, Hillary. Who cares if someone is burning our flag if our soldiers are shoving light sticks up Muslim asses at the behest of that sick bastard Cheney?

And Kerry, why don't you retreive your balls from the plaque on Blackwell's wall and show some of the guts you had in the '60s?

And Conyers, they are IGNORING your ineffective and mewling "letters". Don't you think its time you raised your voice and started SCREAMING from the rooftops for these bastards to be held accountable???

And Biden, you opportunistic political puke, why don't you crawl back under the ROCK you share with the Republican political opportunists who partisan talking points while they SCREW the American public.

And YOU, Lieberman, why don't you SWIM your treasonous two faced fat posterior over to Israel so you can at least HONESTLY portray your alliances?

Did I miss anyone?

Of course I did.

But you get the point.

I thought taxation without representation was a no-no here. Well, tell me, just who in God's name IS representing us???

Mamma Bush has been noted in the past to be pro-choice. Now we know why. I am sure she has had regrets about Jr. and her alleged use of tranqulizers and booze throughout her pregnancy.

amid the crooks, some integrity...

I had never heard of Matthew Waxman and I am particularly interested in doing whatever I can to stop the torture.

Thank you for letting us know about the courageous work he has done.

The following websites are doing a lot to help those in US Concentration/Torture Camps. The protesters of Witness to Torture are now at the Gates of Hell (Guantanamo Bay) and are blogging and have taped messages from Gitmo Gates. They have a Solidary Letter, please sign, it is truly courageous what they are doing to stop the torture.

http://www.cageprisoners.com/
http://www.witnesstorture.org/

Thank you for sharing The Enemy in Your Hands, John Stuart. I often post on the neutral site of AOL Messageboard which used to be conservative and now is more balanced. I first found out about the political side of the Internet at AOL Messageboard and try to post links for people who are aware something is wrong but also do not know about the wealth of information on liberal blogs.

Often there are wingnut comments about giving luxuries to those "ragheads" who cut off the heads of Americans and calls to nuke them and I will post the Enemy in Your Hands along with Steve's URL next time I go on AOL Messageboard.

I think most of our soldiers would be prouder to be an American and I have read of soldiers refusing to abuse prisoners but don't know what happened to the soldiers who refuse to go along with the "new world, new war" argument.

C.S. Lewis wrote that morality was pretty much the same around the world in different societies and when people try to get other people to ignore their conscience they don't argue that the morality is wrong just that this happens to be an exception. The Bush Regime has made good use of their horrific MK-ULTRA mind control experiments and I hope that Steve is wrong about the insane Cheney regaining any standing or power and still hope that Fitzgerald and/or the Abramoff prosecutors and the members of Congress like Rep. Hinchey and 40 others who asked Fitz's to help investigate the forged Niger documents and who was responsible and Fitz does have the originals of the Niger docs so I hope he will help the Congress impeach the whole evil bush regime.

Last I heard bush was defying the court order that stated he had to release the photos from a very brave judge who did not buy the national security, danger to our troops if the photos were released though he did consider it for a while.

The horrific White Phosphorus photos did not get the reactions from the American people hoped for by Kossacks and DUers. I keep hoping that the American people will stop being in denial that America is torturing and the PBS ads for their courageous program on torture which stated that the American goverment is culpable said that torture is so horrible that most people turn away and don't want to look at it.

Rep. Murtha is said to be acting with the approval of top military and Gen. Pace contradicted Crumbsfeld and stated that any US soldier seeing a captive abused has the responsibility to stop it right then. I downloaded the short video from Crooks and Liars and emailed the Defense Dept with support of Gen. Pace statement:

Where can I write or email General Pace to thank him for his defending the honor of the military and the American people?

The American people are sickened by the ongoing torture and rendition of innocent Arabs who are caught "the way one catches and sells a fish" as one victim spoke of his capture by bounty hunters.

I try to keep up with Amnesty, ACLU and http://www.CagePrisoner.com. As PBS said in their recent brave expose of the torture that is being practiced on the orders of the bush regime, it is so horrible, you want to turn away but "In order for evil to flourish, it is only necessary that good people do nothing."

What General Pace did on National television was so brave considering the vengeful bush regime that people thought they were dreaming. If I can find it on Crooks and Liars, I will download it and watch it again and again to prove to myself that however dark the bush crime family has made our world there is still hope if a General will speak the truth to power in public.

Thank you General Pace.

Sincerely,

===Bravo to General Pace, Semper Fi MARINE [Incident: 051202-000015]
Date: 12/2/2005 9:56:05 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: dlink@afis.osd.mil Response (Directorate for Public Inquiry and Analysis) - 12/02/2005 09:46 AM
Dear Correspondent:

Thank you for your comments. You may write to General Pace at the following address:

General Peter Pace, USMC
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301