According to a bipartisan Senate Armed Service Committee report, Bush approved of the torture of the detainees at Guantanamo and stated that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to Bush’s war with Al Qaeda.
The executive summary also traces the erosion of detainee treatment standards to a Feb,. 7, 2002, memorandum signed by President George W. Bush stating that the Geneva Convention did not apply to the U.S. war with al Qaeda and that Taliban detainees were not entitled to prisoner of war status or legal protections.
“The president’s order closed off application of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment,” the summary said.
Members of Bush’s Cabinet and other senior officials participated in meetings inside the White House in 2002 and 2003 where specific interrogation techniques were discussed, according to the report.
As result of the policies of Bush, Rumsfeld and some other top Bush members, numerous detainee murders occurred. According to autopsy results, some detainees died as a result of trauma.
It is probably inevitable that some prisoners who reportedly die of “natural causes” in truth died of homicide. However, the nature of Armed Forces’ medical investigations made this kind of error more likely. The AFME reported homicide as the cause of death in 10 of the 23 death certificates released in May 2004. The death of Mohamed Taiq Zaid was initially attributed to “heat”; it is currently and belatedly being investigated as a possible homicide due to abusive exposure to the hot Iraqi climate and deprivation of water.
Eight prisoners suffered “natural” deaths from heart attacks or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Threats, beatings, fear, police interrogation, and arrests are known to cause “homicide by heart attack” or life-threatening heart failure. People with preexisting heart disease, dehydration, hyperthermia, or exhaustion are especially susceptible.[11–15] No forensic investigation of lethal “heart attacks” explores the possibility that these men died of stress-induced heart attacks. There are a number of reports of “heart attack” following harsh procedures in rounding up noncombatants in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A typically sketchy US Army report says, “Detainee Death during weekend combat …. Army led raid this past weekend of a house in Iraq … an Iraqi who was detained and zip-locked (flexi-cuffed with plastic bands tying his wrists together) died while in custody. Preliminary information is that the detainee died from an apparent heart attack.[16]” Sher Mohammad Khan was picked up in Afghanistan in September 2004. Shortly thereafter, his bruised body was given to his family. Military officials told journalists that he had died of a heart attack within hours of being taken into custody. No investigation, autopsy, or death certificate is available.[17]
Instead of exposing the Bush administration for their criminal behavior, the media is consumed with the Blagojevich story. It’s true that Blagojevich has done unethical and illegal activities. No one died because of Blagojevich’s poor judgement. Many Iraqis, Afgans and 4000+ Americans have lost their lives because of Bush’s illegal behavior and poor judgement. The difference in the stories is sensationalism. Our media is so focused on sensational stories that other more important news gets passed by.
Read more about this at Slate.com. Glenn Greenwald has more to say about this lack of integrity by our media.
Special thanks to Buzzflash for the link to this story. While you are visiting Buzzflash, check out their “Premiums“.
Guantanamo
From Kamelot “Human Stain”… that’s what Bush is leaving on the world. His nasty stain.
Organizing for Change 
3 replies on “Bush and The Detainees”
SCOTUS has now prevented itself from acknowledging the question whether Obama is or is not a “natural born citizen” (as distinguished from “citizen”) three times and counting: First before the Nov 4 general election and twice before the Dec 15 vote of the College of Electors. Other cases on the same question are at, or are heading to, SCOTUS. Whether SCOTUS ultimately decides if Obama is or is not a “natural born citizen” only after the Electors vote, only after Congress acts on the Electors’ vote, prior to Obama’s inauguration, or only after Obama’s inauguration, SCOTUS will have to decide — or the people and/or the military will. The issue no longer is Obama. The issue is SCOTUS.
You need not worry about this, Ted. Hawaii was granted statehood the year after Obama was born there so Obama remains a native born citizen. Too bad you aren’t, a patriot, that is.
And SCOTUS did the right thing. They recognized that these lawsuits are nonsense. Boy, you racists are having a difficult time finding something to stick. My suggestion is that you start focusing on helping get our country back on track. Our economy is in VERY serious trouble and we need every American to help re-build our economy. Stop wasting your time on bs. It’s non-productive and doesn’t help our nation.