(NOTE: Under the rubric of “National Security” US politicians can cover up their crimes for 50 years or more.
It has been over 50 years since factions in the US Government murdered John Kennedy in Texas, and the public still hasn’t been allowed to see the evidence withheld for “national security.” In every devious event from Waco to 9-11, from the war on Iraq to the overthrow of Ukraine … the US Government covers up its role for the sake of “national security.”
Every war America was dragged into was precipitated by the US Government, and the evidence was buried. Meantime, the NSA spies and listens to every communication in the world, including those of Americans. The US Government doesn’t trust us, but it demands that we trust it. Why Americans might believe anything the government says is beyond me.
The US Military, down through the years, has tortured captive soldiers. Meanwhile Americans were fed propaganda claiming that the other nations used torture on captive US soldiers.
In the so called “War On Terror” the Bush administration popularized the use of “extraordinary rendition” where suspects were flown to willing countries outside the US to be tortured in secret.
It always shocks me to see how hypocritical and blood thirsty Americans can get with a little cheer leading from the politicians and military leaders. Whatever hard times may befall Americans, they’ve earned it. -ed.)
May 22, 2015
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Senate’s nearly 7,000-page report on the CIA’s torture practices during interrogations in the wake of 9/11 will not be made public, marking a setback for civil liberties advocates.
So far, Senate leaders have only released the 480-page executive summary of the so-called torture report, which revealed numerous gruesome details about the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation practices. The fate of the full report has been up in the air, however, since Republicans took control of the Senate during the most recent midterm elections.
Washington, DC US District Judge James E. Boasberg, in his 26-page decision, said the complete report compiled by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the related “Panetta review,” are exempt from the dictates of the Freedom Information Act. He said the Senate Committee report remains under congressional control and Congress made sure to exempt itself from FOIA requests.
Senator Diane Feinstein (D-California), as committee chairwoman when Democrats controlled the Senate in December 2014, forwarded a copy of the full report to the CIA and the White House. She sent a letter to President Barack Obama encouraging him to use the full report in the future development of CIA programs. Yet she held off seeking declassification of the full study.
Her successor on the intelligence committee, Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), has demanded the Obama administration return all copies of the final report immediately, and that it “not be entered into any Executive Branch system of records,” which would make it susceptible to an FOIA request.
Elsewhere, prosecutors investigating the use of Scottish airports by the CIA for rendition flights have called for an unredacted copy of the US Senate’s CIA torture report, it has emerged.
The prosecutors have confirmed that investigations of airports in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Prestwick and Aberdeen are under way, British anti-torture charity Reprieve revealed on Sunday.
The charity noted that US authorities have been requested to provide Scottish prosecutors with the unredacted version of the report into CIA interrogation.
The investigation follows a 2013 request from the Lord Advocate, Scotland’s chief prosecutor, to examine the use of Scottish airports in the transportation of CIA detainees.
In a letter sent to Reprieve in early May, the Lord Advocate confirmed that a request for the document had been submitted to the US government.
Reprieve has urged the Scottish and UK governments to support the investigation.
“A full, unredacted version of the Senate’s report is a crucial piece of evidence for the investigation into the use of Scottish airports by CIA torture flights. It is therefore encouraging that this request has been made,” the charity said.
“However, with the response not yet clear, it is vital that the US is left in no doubt of how serious Scotland is about getting to the bottom of this. Ministers from both the Scottish and the UK governments must do everything they can to back up this request, if they are serious about showing that this country does not tolerate torture.”
Reprieve’s call for support comes a week after it was reported that no evidence has yet been uncovered to link the use of Scottish airports to CIA detainee flights.
The US Senate’s 480-page report on CIA torture revealed the brutal techniques used by US forces on detainees in recent years. Published in December 2014, it was received with anger by critics who claimed the US had behaved deceptively about its use of torture.
The investigation into Scottish airports began in 2013 after an academic study claimed to have “conclusive proof” that airports were being used to transport prisoners to secret prisons.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said a probe into “extraordinary rendition is ongoing.”
“Inquiries to date have not uncovered evidence of detainees being on board aircraft which stopped in Scottish airports,” he added.
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