Still a registered Democrat, I’m feeling like a man without a Party.

I wouldn’t give up hope just yet. We haven’t even completed the first act where the characters are all introduced.

The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him

Does it specify that the person in question relates only to governmental and military employees/members? Were those doctors in fact guided by that law?

When it says ‘provided a moral choice’ does that go further in saying that they had to believe that what they were doing was immoral? What does being provided a moral choice mean exactly?

Also, is it possible for them to construe that the prisoners were never truly tortured as they are of a belief system which does not fear such things and, instead, longs to be killed (martyred) and ’sent’ to meet Allah their maker? How can you torture someone who would kill themselves with a ’suicide vest’?

Whatever decision about torture they certainly violated the ‘First, do no harm’ rule and should lose their medical license.

The Guantanmo SOP now provides official documentation that, at the time of the Rumsfeld memo and despite its warnings regarding the techniques’ potential illegality and physical and psychological dangers, isolation was routinely used by the Defense Department at Guantanamo on all new detainees. The Rumsfeld memo complements the SOP in that it documents the central role of “medical and psychological review,” and, thus, medical and psychological personnel in the administration of this technique.

Isolation is as damaging as other, more prominent, abusive interrogation techniques. The recent Physicians for Human Rights-Human Rights First report, Leave No Marks: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality, details the negative effects of isolation and sensory deprivation:

“People who are exposed to isolation for the first time develop a group of symptoms that include `bewilderment, anxiety, frustration, dejection, boredom, obsessive thoughts or ruminations, depression, and, in some cases, hallucination’….

Prolonged isolation has been demonstrated to result in increased stress, abnormal neuroendocrine function, changes in blood pressure and inflammatory stress responses….”

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Guan…..al_torture

One year ago, Francisco Lacerda, a professor of linguistics at Stockholm University, and Anders Eriksson, professor of phonetics at the University of Gothenburg, published an article in the International Journal of Speech Language and the Law, a magazine for voice experts working for the police and security services. The article entitled “Charlatantry in forensic speech science” gave an overview of the last fifty years of research in the field of lie detectors. The article’s conclusion is that there is no scientific evidence to show that lie detectors actually work. ”

http://www.su.se/english/about…..gal_action

OK, I’m obviously biased, but the psych “diagnosis” here really is key.

Behaviorally, the diagnosis “antisocial personality disorder”
essentially describes those who – free of substance abuse or other
biological psych condition – repeatedly and remorselessly harm others.

Biologically, some studies founds folks with antisocial personality
disorder have a major problem: their physical capacity to experience
what most of know as “anxiety” is quite impaired. So, they have
trouble getting frightened about what frightens most of us. Oh, and
most if not all of the physiological responses that go into the shams
we call “lie detectors” measure changes in the physical variables the
studies suggest vary less in folks with antisocial p/d.

Who TF cares?

Well, people who really meet diagnostic criteria for antisocial p/d -
people commonly known as “sociopaths” – these folks have all the lying
skills required to carry off truly stupendous systematic deceptions
[item: global finance].

Of course, they seldom have a viable business plan to sustain the
deception. [item: global finance].

WRT veracity, this diagnosis is a fancy way of saying remorselessly deceitful.

Surprising as it may seem after this rant, I wish McClatchy had
emphasized what the diagnosis really means: con artist in the witness
stand.

http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com…..abf6c.html

” “I’m not going to let this case drag on, or any of the other cases on my calendar, indefinitely while the government embarks on what it calls its diplomatic process, because I have seen in the past that that diplomatic process can indeed span months and years, and I have some serious concerns as to whether it’s yet and still another ploy . . . to continue with his deprivation of his fair day in court.”

Sullivan threatened to have government attorneys return to court in 14 days to report on the progress of freeing Batarfi “and every 14 days thereafter.” “

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/65608.html

“It’s important for us to use all of our influence to encourage the parties to resolve these issues in ways that are equitable. I think that my presence here can help do that,” the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

The presidential motorcade rolled past troops standing to attention as it travelled to a meeting with several hundred of the 139,000 US forces stationed in the country.

Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, told reporters on the plane that Obama had decided to make the trip to Iraq because it is close to Turkey, which he has just visited, and because he wanted to show his appreciation of US troops. “

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..iraq-visit

It’s unclear what information the witness, who wasn’t named, provided against Batarfi or the other detainees. The Justice Department decided last week to release Batarfi, signaling that it no longer had sufficient evidence that he was an enemy combatant although he was held for seven years. (emphasis mine)

What’d they do — lose it on the subway? Bulls**t — they never had evidence. Period.